There has been so much discourse over ABC's "Path to 9/11." This "docudrama" allegedly blames the Clinton administration for 9/11. Go to Democratic Underground's forums, and you'll see that it has been the main topic of conversation for the past several days.
Is it free speech to fictionalize actual history? Particularly when it's a recent and well-documented event? Or is it defamation when the onus, unfairly, is placed on one person or group of persons? What about when Scholastic, Inc. issues talking points to thousands of public school teachers for discussion of said "docudrama" in classrooms (to Scholastic's credit, they are hurriedly amending their package)? What if the network admits to fictionalizing several scenes? I seem to remember a similar uproar over the fictionalized "The Reagans", which was merely about the life of a president and his family, and not about an event that affected an entire nation's psyche.
Me thinks...the Clinton administration, perhaps, dropped the ball on assessing what Osama Bin Laden was capable of. However, would the American populace have accepted an assassination, and the collateral damage of innocent dead, on a man whose major crime, at the time, was simply calling for violence on American citizens? What about the consideration of the fact that he has since perpetuated violence on our soil, and we're still no closer to capturing him? And we would now (since 9/11) be more immune to the collaeral damage, given what we have suffered over here, on our soil?
I DO feel the response to the attack on the USS Cole (Oct. 2000) and any assessment of Al Qaeda intentions, thereafter, falls squarely on the Bush administration. They were fairly warned by Clinton's people that a major attack was imminent, and they ignored such. Perhaps they were too busy covering up nude statues at DOJ, or vacationing in Crawford, Texas.
Will I watch "Path to 9/11?" I don't know. I will acknowledge that I'm pulled towards anything controversial. I always want to be "up on the latest," whether it's for the purpose of informing myself, or educating "them."
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