ABC's piece of fiction, written by Rush Limbaugh's personal friend and
marketed heavily in wingnut circles, bills itself as "objective" and a "docudrama". It includes the
following scene, as recounted by Limbaugh:
So the CIA, the Northern Alliance, surrounding a house where bin Laden is in Afghanistan, they're on the verge of capturing, but they need final approval from the Clinton administration in order to proceed.
So they phoned Washington. They phoned the White House. Clinton and his senior staff refused to give authorization for the capture of bin Laden because they're afraid of political fallout if the mission should go wrong, and if civilians were harmed...Now, the CIA agent in this is portrayed as being astonished. "Are you kidding?" He asked Berger over and over, "Is this really what you guys want?"
Berger then doesn't answer after giving his first admonition, "You guys go in on your own. If you go in we're not sanctioning this, we're not approving this," and Berger just hangs up on the agent after not answering any of his questions.
Wow. Sounds horrible! Except the reality is much different:
1. Contrary to the movie, no US military or CIA personnel were on the ground in Afghanistan and saw bin Laden.
2. Contrary to the movie, the head of the Northern Alliance, Masood, was no where near the alleged bin Ladin camp and did not see UBL.
3. Contrary to the movie, the CIA Director actually said that he could not recommend a strike on the camp because the information was single sourced and we would have no way to know if bin Laden was in the target area by the time a cruise missile hit it.
This is "objective" and a "docudrama"? No wonder ABC had to yank its blog for the movie after being called on their fictional horseshit.
Clarification
1) This is not a documentary...
2) This is not a right wing agenda movie...By the way, we are also being accused of being a left wing movie that bashes Bush.
-D. Cunningham
Wed, Aug 30, 2006 22:01
Further clarification
This movie is well-supported and well-documented. But everyone should be aware, and we say so upfront in a long legend -- "The following dramatization...has composite and representative characters and incidents, and time compressions have been used for dramatic purposes."
...Whoever wants to write and talk about this movie is free to do so, and we've been very open in talking to them. We can't control who writes what...
-Cyrus Nowrasteh
Fri, Sep 1, 2006 16:59
Even Further Clarification
...The redundant statement about Clinton and the emphasis to protect his legacy instead of trying to learn from the failures of BOTH administrations smells of "agenda".
...Watch the movie! Then let's talk. If you haven't seen the movie with your very own eyes - don't castigate the movie out of ignorance.
-David Cunningham
Sat, Sep 2, 2006 16:48
Note, no one has accused this movie of being a "left wing movie that bashes Bush." Why? Because it is pure fantasy by Limbaugh's "personal friend" which feeds into the pathetic right-wing need to blame everything on Clinton. And further note that "watch the movie!" is particularly idiotic thing to say when conservative media has received advanced screenings, but no one on the Left has enjoyed the same privilege.
That ABC is airing the film is gross negligence. They are now no different than Fox News, and should be treated as such.
Update: Scholastic Books is joining the charade as well.