NEW YORK - ABC made several editing changes to the first part of its
miniseries "The Path to 9/11" following furious protests by Clinton
administration officials that it fabricated scenes about their actions prior to
the terrorist attacks.
But the network resisted calls to cancel the US$40 million miniseries, airing
commercial-free over two nights. Part two is scheduled for Monday, with an
interruption for President Bush's address to the nation.
This photo, supplied by ABC, shows Harvey
Keitel who plays FBI counterterrorism expert John O'Neill, in a scene from
ABC's miniseries'The Path to 9/11.' The two-part film is a dramatization
of the events detailed in The 9/11 Commission Report and other sources
which airs on Sunday. Sept. 10, and Monday, Sept. 11, 2006. Former Clinton
administration officials criticized the miniseries, saying it distorts
history so drastically that it should be corrected or shelved.
[AP]
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Several scenes were cut or changed from the movie that aired Sunday and
finished 20 minutes shy of its three-hour time slot. ABC has called it a
dramatization, not a documentary.
One scene, in a copy of the movie given to television critics a few weeks
ago, indicated President Clinton's preoccupation with his potential impeachment
may have hurt the effort to go after Osama bin Laden.
In the original scene, an actor portraying White House terrorism czar Richard
Clarke shares a limousine ride with FBI agent John O'Neill and tells him: "The
Republicans are going all-out for impeachment. I just don't see in that climate
the president's going to take chances" and give the order to kill bin Laden.
But in the film aired Sunday, Clarke says to O'Neill: "The president has
assured me this ... won't affect his decision-making."
O'Neill replies: "So it's OK if somebody kills bin Laden, as long as he
didn't give the order. It's pathetic."
Another scene in the critics' cut showed O'Neill asking Clarke on the
telephone: "What's Clinton going to do (about bin Laden)?"
Clarke replies, "I don't know. The Lewinsky thing is a noose around his
neck."
This was cut entirely from the film that aired Sunday.
Another scene in the movie that depicted a team of CIA operatives poised
outside of bin Laden's fortress in Afghanistan, ready to attack, was
substantially shortened from the original. Pictures of the waiting Afghanistan
operatives are interspersed with those of officials in Washington, who had to
approve the mission.
The original version depicted national security adviser Samuel R. Berger
hanging up on CIA chief George Tenet as Tenet sought permission to attack bin
Laden. The movie aired Sunday did not include Berger hanging up.
The effect of the editing in that scene is to deflect specific blame. It ends
with actor Donnie Wahlberg, portraying the head of the CIA team in Afghanistan,
saying: "Are there no men in Washington, or are they all cowards?"
In the critics' version, Wahlberg's statement is followed directly by
archival footage of Clinton's video testimony about his relationship with Monica
Lewinsky. Sunday, that footage was not included.
Twice, the network de-emphasized the role of the commission that investigated
the terrorist attacks in its film.
The critics' version contained a note in the opening credits that the film is
"based on the 9/11 commission report." That was omitted Sunday.
In a separate disclaimer that ran three times Sunday, ABC said the material
is "drawn from a variety of sources including the 9/11 commission report and
other published materials and from personal interviews." That differs from a
note in the critics' version that said the dramatization "is based on the 9/11
commission report and other published sources and personal interviews."
The disclaimer emphasized that the movie was not a documentary.
"For dramatic and narrative purposes the movie contains fictionalized scenes,
composite and representative characters and dialogue, as well as time
compression," the note said.
Clinton spokesman Jay Carson said in a statement Sunday night that ABC and
its parent, The Walt Disney Co., "chose fiction over fact and entertainment over
education in airing their TV show."
Critics, such as historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr., said it was "disingenuous
and dangerous" not to include accurate historical accounts in the movie.
Thomas Kean, head of the commission that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks
and a backer of the film, said on ABC's "This Week" Sunday that he hadn't seen
the final cut of the movie but urged Americans to watch it.
"If people blame Bill Clinton after seeing this, then the miniseries has
failed," said Kean, the former Republican New Jersey governor. "That's wrong and
it shouldn't happen."
John Lehman, another Republican commission member, said on the ABC News show
that he's told the film is equally harsh on the administrations of President
Bush and his father.
"And if you don't like the hits to the Clinton administration, well, welcome
to the club," Lehman said. "The Republicans have lived with Michael Moore and
Oliver Stone and most of Hollywood as a fact of life."