Clintonistas Attack 9/11 Film

"The Path to 9/11" continues to generate controversy even before it has been widely screened. From Howard Kurtz at the Washington Post:

Top officials of the Clinton administration have launched a preemptive strike against an ABC-TV "docudrama," slated to air Sunday and Monday, that they say includes made-up scenes depicting them as undermining attempts to kill Osama bin Laden.

Former secretary of state Madeleine K. Albright called one scene involving her "false and defamatory." Former national security adviser Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger said the film "flagrantly misrepresents my personal actions." And former White House aide Bruce R. Lindsey, who now heads the William J. Clinton Foundation, said: "It is unconscionable to mislead the American public about one of the most horrendous tragedies our country has ever known."

While I'm certainly no fan of the Clinton administration, and watching Sandy PantsBurglar squeal is entertaining, "docudramas" containing "composite characters" and "conflated scenes" are a dangerous medium, especially in this case, given that the producers reportedly slavishly followed the 9/11 Commission Report. If true, that means Able Danger will be swept under the rug by ABC, as it was by the Commission.

I also suspect that much of this pre-release controversy is being generated by ABC's marketing department, and the docudrama may not be quite as critical of Bubba's folks as advertised.