We are entering the stretch run for the most important mid-term elections in our lives. At stake America, is your very soul. At stake is the precious liberty that so many have fought and died for. At stake is our form of government. Currently, we are governed by a would-be-king. A man who brazenly admits to ignoring over 800 laws in this country. A man who thinks nothing of condoning torture, calling it a "necessary tool" in his never ending war on terror. Our would-be-king has consistently thumbed his nose at the American people. He has reinserted his destruction of the Social Security System, despite the protests of all of America. He has lied right to our faces about always using the FISA Court, until it was revealed that he actually was illegally wiretapping US citizens. What has he done since then? Has he recognized the error of his ways? No, he has gone after the whistleblowers who would dare question the almighty ruler of the "free" world. Why has our would-be-king been allowed to commit these and so many more egregious examples of totalitarianism? Because Congress has abdicated its duty to you, to him.
There has been no Congressional oversight and no checks and balances in this country for the past 5 years and it needs to stop this November. Make no mistake about it though, the ruling party will not go without a fight and that fight is expected to get real nasty, the closer we get to Election Day. We can expect new terror threats, bin Laden tapes, the capture of the number 2 guy in al Qaeda for the 7th time, and possibly even a new "attack". All will be designed to scare the public and get them to vote republican in the fall. Never mind that the GOP track record on terror has actually been abysmal. Never mind that terrorist attacks in which people have been killed or wounded have quadrupled since 2001. The GOP has not only drunk the George Bush Kool-Aid, they have received a transfusion of their blood with it. They have no singular accomplishments to run on. The economy is one housing bubble pop away from a deep, protracted recession. Foreclosures are the highest in history. Bankruptcy is harder to accomplish and millions less people are covered by health insurance. Millions more people are living in poverty and nearly all children are being left behind by a do-nothing Republican Party; or as I like to call them, The Rubber Stamp Gang. The first salvo in the GOP offensive is slated to be fired by the GOP media machine and it consists of the vilest form of revisionist history.
The ABC Corporation has decided to air a two-night docudrama, entitled "The Path to 911." For the uninformed, ABC is owned by Disney, who also refused to run Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911 because it was critical of Bush, costing their stockholders over 200 million dollars. They claimed at the time that they did not want to appear partisan, even though at the same time, ABC was carrying Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity on nearly all of their national radio stations. That hypocrisy aside, it is time to officially bury the right-wingnut fantasy talking point that the media has a liberal bias. This docudrama, officially confirms what we have all known for some time. The increased deregulation under George W. Bush has created a corporate media machine, wielded by the GOP when they wish to deceive the American people. This 911 docu-farce is the quintessential example of that.
It is not just the writer that is suspect; the "facts" in this docu-sleaze are also fabricated. Remember the goal is to lay blame for that horrific day at the feet of the democrats and to absolve the republicans, two months before a crucial election. In a key scene from the docu-pile-of-horse-manure, we see a CIA field operative radioing the White House to tell National Security Advisor, Sandy Berger, that they have "Osama bin Laden within sight." The heroic CIA agent begs for the go-ahead to take out public enemy number one only to have his line go dead, not-so-subtly indicating that Berger was too panicked to give the order to take bin Laden out and hung up on the agent. One problem with this scene America. It is all fake. None of it even remotely happened. Richard Clarke, former Counterterrorism Czar under three presidents (two of which were republican) has stated that, "this depiction is "utterly invented" and "180 degrees from what happened." Clarke went on to say that there were no military or CIA personnel on the ground in Afghanistan that ever saw bin Laden. In fact, the CIA Director at the time actually recommended not engaging a strike because the Intel was single sourced and there were no guarantees bin Laden would even be there. The 911 Commission Report, which Nowrasteh claims was his inspiration, actually concluded, "President Clinton had given the green light to every "operation that had been cleared by the C.I.A. to kill bin Laden." This can lead us to only one conclusion. The writer is lying. He has fabricated the entire scene in the docu-dung to give the impression that Clinton passed on a golden opportunity to take out public enemy number one. Since he is lying, thus so is ABC.
That is not the only inaccuracy. At one point in the film, a CIA character complains that "ever since the Washington Post disclosed that we intercepted his calls, [Osama bin Laden] stopped using phones altogether." The only problem with this is that the 911 Commission actually concluded it was the decidedly conservative Washington Times that published the bin Laden phone story, not the more moderate Washington Post. Subtle? Maybe, but it speaks to the overall tone of this docu-hitpiece. Even the minor framing and backdrop, had to be phrased to slam democrats and protect republicans.
You want to know how biased this docu-fabrication is going to be, look no further than how ABC has handled the promotion of it. Advanced copies of this film have been provided to Rush Limbaugh, as well as right wing bloggers Patterico and Hugh Hewitt. This of course is to start the drum beat going throughout the GOP corporate media machine about the film and to play up the lies, as fact. Bill Clinton, Sandy Berger and Madeline Albright have also requested an advance copy and have been denied by ABC. When the public outcry reached the doors of ABC, their tepid response was that the film was a dramatization, not a documentary and that they would run a disclaimer saying it was not a documentary. As if lying is ok, as long as it is not a documentary. Do you want to know how sick ABC is in their pursuit of lies and ideology over truth? They have sent letters to 100,000 high school teachers urging them to explain to their students how they can watch the film! Indoctrinating the youth of this country to a "dramatization" that is riddled with outright lies designed to blame the only administration that paid any attention to al Qaeda prior to 911 and excuse the one administration that is most at fault for doing nothing but clearing brush while America's enemies plotted against her, is beyond irresponsible and despicable.
Remember America, there are reasons why everything happens. There are reasons why ABC is releasing this docu-garbage two months before the most important mid-term elections of our lives. They are banking on the perceived gullibility of the American people. They cannot escape two truths however. One is that this piece of trash represents the worst results of media consolidation we can imagine. A world where lies are packaged and sold to you and when it is pointed out that it is lies, the company shrugs it's collective shoulders and says, "so what, it is a dramatization." The second undeniable fact is that even if people buy the lies, the GOP has made us less safe over the past five years. The statistics do not lie.
Take the power back this November America. Return true Congressional oversight and checks and balances to our democracy. Send the message to our would-be-king that he does not have the right to torture people in your name, ignore over 800 laws and contribute to the lies that infest our society through Corporate Media. We can do better than a communist media structure in this country. Tell ABC in no uncertain terms that there is a price to pay for lying to the American people. It is time to boycott not only the advertisers, as Rob Kall has suggested, but ABC in general. Email them, fax them, and call them. Let them know that your American pride and overall sense of what is right is not for sale. The truth still matters in this country, even if ABC has forgotten it. Here is a link where you can add your name to the outraged in this country that feel playing politics with the memories of 911 is simply not tolerable:
http://thinkprogress.org/tellabc
Here is the link to the plea from Rob Kall to hit them where it hurts, their wallets:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_rob_kall_060906_boycott_advertisers_.htm
Awhile back the GOP whipped their base into a frenzy over another "dramatization", called The Reagans. They felt it inaccurately portrayed Ronald Reagan, their deified President. In this case, they are on the other side, defending a dramatization that deals with horrific events of 911, in a way that tramples the truth, denigrates the lives lost on that day, and cheapens our national discourse. They do so with a straight face America. It is what they stand for. They have no conscience about using the collective sadness and fear of a nation against themselves, using a Corporate media machine to feed you lies bundled up as "drama", in the hopes that you do not restore the democracy to this country in November. Show them that they are mistaken.
