From Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/...
It looks like the progressive blogsphere are not the only folks upset about the forthcoming docudrama on 9/11. Richard Clarke (who ought to know) weighed in on a key scene in the movie when National Security Adviser Sandy Berger ostensibly refuses to give the order to the CIA to take out bin Laden described by Rush Limbaugh with these blandishments:
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.
Ouch. The only problem with Rush's narrative, as Clarke points out for ThinkProgress is that it is utterly false. Here are Clarke's talking points:
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.
ABC & Scholastic Books are now apparently in the business of promoting historical horseshit.
Updated: Hat tip to mini mum for pointing out this link:
http://thinkprogress.org/...
That allows you to direct an email to Robert Iger, president & CEO of the Walt Disney company.