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Editor's Note: Below are readers' comments about ABC-TV's "The Path to 9/11" and other concerns about the Republican partisan exploitation of the fifth anniversary. But first an interesting blog entry by Max Blumenthal about the Path to the Path to 9/11, which he posted on Friday:

Discover the Secret Right-Wing Network Behind ABC's 9/11 Deception
Less than 72 hours before ABC's "The Path to 9/11" is scheduled to air, the network is suddenly under siege. On Tuesday, ABC was forced to concede that "The Path to 9/11" is "a dramatization, not a documentary." The film deceptively invents scenes to depict former President Bill Clinton's handling of the Al Qaeda threat.

Now, ABC claims to be is editing those false sequences to satisfy critics so the show can go on -- even if it still remains a gross distortion of history. And as it does so, ABC advances the illusion that the deceptive nature of "The Path to 9/11" is an honest mistake committed by a hardworking but admittedly fumbling team of well-intentioned Hollywood professionals who wanted nothing less than to entertain America. But this is another Big Lie.

In fact, "The Path to 9/11" is produced and promoted by a well-honed propaganda operation consisting of a network of little-known right-wingers working from within Hollywood to counter its supposedly liberal bias. This is the network within the ABC network. Its godfather is far right activist David Horowitz, who has worked for more than a decade to establish a right-wing presence in Hollywood and to discredit mainstream film and TV production. On this project, he is working with a secretive evangelical religious right group founded by The Path to 9/11's director David Cunningham that proclaims its goal to "transform Hollywood" in line with its messianic vision.

Before The Path to 9/11 entered the production stage, Disney/ABC contracted David Cunningham as the film's director. Cunningham is no ordinary Hollywood journeyman. He is in fact the son of Loren Cunningham, founder of the right-wing evangelical group Youth With A Mission (YWAM). The young Cunningham helped found an auxiliary of his father's group called The Film Institute (TFI), which, according to its mission statement, is "dedicated to a Godly transformation and revolution TO and THROUGH the Film and Televisionindustry." As part of TFI's long-term strategy, Cunningham helped place interns from Youth With A Mission's "global training network" in film industry jobs "so that they can begin to impact and transform Hollywood from the inside out," according to a YWAM report.

Last June, Cunningham's TFI announced it was producing its first film, mysteriously titled "Untitled History Project." "TFI's first project is a doozy," a newsletter to YWAM members read. "Simply being referred to as: The Untitled History Project, it is already being called the television event of the decade and not one second has been put to film yet. Talk about great expectations!" (A web edition of the newsletter was mysteriously deleted yesterday but has been cached on Google at the link above).

The following month, on July 28, the New York Post reported that ABC was filming a mini-series "under a shroud of secrecy" about the 9/11 attacks. "At the moment, ABC officials are calling the miniseries 'Untitled Commission Report' and producers refer to it as the 'Untitled History Project,'" the Post noted.

Early on, Cunningham had recruited a young Iranian-American screenwriter named Cyrus Nowrasteh to
write the script of his secretive "Untitled" film. Not only is Nowrasteh an outspoken conservative, he is also a fervent member of the emerging network of right-wing people burrowing into the film industry with ulterior sectarian political and religious agendas, like Cunningham.

Nowrasteh's conservatism was on display when he appeared as a featured speaker at the Liberty Film Festival (LFF), an annual event founded in 2004 to premier and promote conservative-themed films supposedly too "politically incorrect" to gain acceptance at mainstream film festivals. This June, while The Path to 9/11 was being filmed, LFF founders Govindini Murty and Jason Apuzzo -- both friends of Nowrasteh -- announced they were "partnering" with right-wing activist David Horowitz. Indeed, the 2006 LFF is listed as "A Program of the David Horowitz Freedom Center."

Since the inauguration of Bill Clinton in 1992, Horowitz has labored to create a network of politically active conservatives in Hollywood. His Hollywood nest centers around his Wednesday Morning Club, a weekly meet-and-greet session for Left Coast conservatives that has been graced with speeches by
the likes of Newt Gingrich, Victor Davis Hanson and Christopher Hitchens. The group's headquarters are at the offices of Horowitz's Center for the Study of Popular Culture, a "think tank" bankrolled for years with millions by right-wing sugardaddies like eccentric far right billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife. (Scaife financed the Arkansas Project, a $2.3 million dirty tricks operation that included paying sources for negative stories about Bill Clinton that turned out to be false.)

With the LFF now under Horowitz's control, his political machine began drumming up support for Cunningham and Nowrasteh's "Untitled" project, which finally was revealed in late summer as "The Path to 9/11." Horowitz's PR blitz began with an August 16 interview with Nowrasteh on his FrontPageMag webzine. In the interview, Nowrasteh foreshadowed the film's assault on Clinton's record on fighting terror. "The 9/11 report details the Clinton's administration's response -- or lack of response -- to Al Qaeda and how this emboldened Bin Laden to keep attacking American interests," Nowrasteh told FrontPageMag's Jamie Glazov. "There simply was no response. Nothing."

A week later, ABC hosted LFF co-founder Murty and several other conservative operatives at an advance screening of The Path to 9/11. (While ABC provided 900 DVDs of the film to conservatives, Clinton administration officials and objective reviewers from mainstream outlets were denied them.) Murty returned with a glowing review for FrontPageMag that emphasized the film's partisan nature. "'The Path to 9/11' is one of the best, most intelligent, most pro-American miniseries I've ever seen on TV, and conservatives should support it and promote it as vigorously as possible," Murty wrote. As a result of the special access granted by ABC, Murty's article was the first published review of The Path to 9/11, preceding those by the New York Times and LA Times by more than a week.

Murty followed her review with a blast email to conservative websites such as Liberty Post and Free Republic on September 1 urging their readers to throw their weight behind ABC's mini-series. "Please do everything you can to spread the word about this excellent miniseries," Murty wrote, "so that 'The Path to 9/11' gets the highest ratings possible when it airs on September 10 & 11! If this show gets huge ratings, then ABC will be more likely to produce pro-American movies and TV shows in the future!"

Murty's efforts were supported by Appuzo, who handles LFF's heavily-trafficked blog, Libertas. Appuzo was instrumental in marketing The Path to 9/11 to conservatives, writing in a blog post on September 2, "Make no mistake about what this film does, among other things: it places the question of the Clinton Administration's culpability for the 9/11 attacks front and center... Bravo to Cyrus Nowrasteh and David Cunningham for creating this gritty, stylish and gripping piece of entertainment."

When a group of leading Senate Democrats sent a letter to ABC CEO Robert Iger urging him to cancel The Path to 9/11 because of its glaring factual errors and distortions, Apuzzo launched a retaliatory campaign to paint the Democrats as foes of free speech. "Here at LIBERTAS we urge the public to make noise over this, and to demand that Democrats back down," he wrote on September 7th. "What is at stake is nothing short of the 1st Amendment."

At FrontPageMag, Horowitz singled out Nowrasteh as the victim. "The attacks by former president Bill Clinton, former Clinton Administration officials and Democratic US senators on Cyrus Nowrasteh's ABC mini-series "The Path to 9/11" are easily the gravest and most brazen and damaging governmental attacks on the civil liberties of ordinary Americans since 9/11," Horowitz declared.

Now, as discussion grows over the false character of The Path to 9/11, the right-wing network that brought it to fruition is ratcheting up its PR efforts. Murty will appear tonight on CNN's Glenn Beck show and The Situation Room, according to Libertas in order to respond to "the major disinformation campaign now being run by Democrats to block the truth about what actually happened during the Clinton years."

While this network claims its success and postures as the true victims, the ABC network suffers a PR catastrophe. It's almost as though it was complacent about an attack on its reputation by a band of political terrorists.

I think this documentary should not be shown because it is not accurate and gives false information about the realities of 9/11. I will think very poorly of any Network that perpetuates such lies.

I also want you to know that I was two blocks away from the World Trade Center on 9/11.

Friends died. Personal Friends. I saw things that day I will never forget. Horrible things.

What you are doing by perpetuating a lie about this day and the deaths of so many Americans and my friends is something I will never forget of forgive. Trust me, I am not alone in this Belief!

Sean Lewis

This quote from Front Page suggests someone with lots and lots of clout was behind this:

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=23865

FP: Tell us how you came to write and produce this miniseries.

Nowrasteh: Early last year (2005) I was approached by ABC and asked if I'd be interested in writing/producing a miniseries based on the 9/11 Commission Report. I met with executive producer Marc Platt and Governor Kean, Chairman of the 9/11 Commission, who agreed to serve as a consultant on the project. I was provided an incredible amount of research materials and high-level advisors from the FBI, CIA, Secret Service, Diiplomatic Security, etc......more"

Would it be unfair to speculate that this could be a WH/RNC initiated project through Disney?

They have been buying commentary both in Iraq and in the US, most recently in Miami, so why wouldn't they initiate a project for the 9-11 anniversary?

bob reynolds

As you know, ABC/Disney has decided to ingrain right wing propaganda into the nation's psyche - admitting they will knowingly lie to the American public - joining in the right's mind controlling efforts by enacting the strategy outlined in Orwell's words from 1984:

"He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future."

So, in an attempt to toss a grappling hook onto a tad of reality - I have gathered some of the ways Bush blew 911 in one place for your reference and perusal - and to refresh your memories.

Not a complete list by any means, but it does show how the Bush administration failed - particularly with regard to Hart Rudman and the bills congress presented to the administration in March of 2001, efforts which actually begged Bush to act - and he didn't.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/9/9/0644/75403

here's a couple that keep my head shaking:

In May of 2001, while announcing he was telling Hart Rudman and the congressional proposals to pound sand, Bush actually said the threat was: "not immediate."

After Bush was dragged kicking and screaming for a year and a half into working with congress to create a Homeland Security Department, when Bush finally agreed in June of 2002, Joe Allbaugh issued a statement from his FEMA office saying:

"I congratulate the President for his bold and innovative proposal. ... President Bush is an agent for change and this is a great step in the right direction."

later,

phillip

In other words, I think it's time for Congress to seriously consider impeaching Bush!

Linds0328

In defending his policy, Bush has not hesitated to use Al Qaeda pronouncements regarding their intentions to attack us as the truth. But he refuses to believe their stated reasons for why they are attacking us, our meddling in Islamic countries and our support of Israel. Instead he continues to rely on the worn out cliché, they hate us for our freedom. This inconsistency should be obvious to the people in the press, but he is not being challenged on it.

Elwood A. Anderson, Las Vegas

Mr. Parry,

Your piece is about 5 years late. This nation was attacked and drawn into war on September 11, 2001. They started it, we will finsh it. This war will end at a time and place of our choosing and it will end with total victory. The President laid out the size and scope of this war in his speech to the joint session of Congress, the nation, and the world on September 20, 2001. I refer you to (2) excerpts form that speech which was received with overwhelming approval by both parties and by the entire nation.

Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated. (Applause.)

Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes. Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen. It may include dramatic strikes, visible on TV, and covert operations, secret even in success. We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place, until there is no refuge or no rest. And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. (Applause.) From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010920-8.html

In the 5 years since 9/11, the liberals have taken to changing the scope the war. Defiing it as they see it. A war against the exact perpetrators of 9/11 itself. They describe the war on terror, Afghanistan, Iraq as separate entities, which they are not. They are all fronts or battle fields in the same war. The GLOBAL war on islamic fascism. Just as the war in the Pacific, North Africa, Sicily and continent of Europe were all fronts in the same World War 2. And I believe there will be more fronts before this war comes to its successful conclusion.

May God give the wisdom to our leaders in Washington to see this all the way thru and may God watch over our commanders in the field and especially to courageous young men and women who are sacrificing eveyday so we at home can live in security.

Bill Malesich
Greenville, South Carolina