Path to 9/11 Writer Slams Critics, Defends Movie As Totally Accurate
I am neither an activist, politician or partisan, nor an ideologue of any stripe. What I am is a writer who takes his job very seriously, as do most of my colleagues: Also, one who recently took on the most distressing and important story it will ever fall to me to tell. I considered it a privilege when asked to write the script for “The Path to 9/11.” I felt duty-bound from the outset to focus on a single goal—to represent our recent pre-9/11 history as the evidence revealed it to be. The American people deserve to know that history: They have paid for it in blood. Like all Americans, I wish it were not so. I wish there were no terrorists. I wish there had been no 9/11. I wish we could squabble among ourselves in assured security. But wishes avail nothing.
I’m used to Republicans lying, twisting facts, and making up “facts” out of whole cloth in order to support their immoral, power-mad, AmeriKKKA uber Alles agenda. So, yes, it takes a lot to really offend me. Cyrus Nowrasteh, however, makes me want to puke. When the very first sentence of his self-serving defense of his work on “The Path to 9/11” is a complete, total, abject lie, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see where things are headed.
It’s one thing to make stuff up wholesale. It’s another to act as if you are some sort of purveyor of Truth, all while you reveal what a complete and utter moral reprobate you are. Jeebus, I realize that Republicans lie, but Norasthe’s self-serving rearrangement of reality makes me want to toss my breakfast.
I am neither an activist, politician or partisan, nor an ideologue of any stripe?? WTF? My God, the man can’t even tell a lie objectively. Why do I say this? Well, check this out:
The writer of the movie is an unabashed conservative named Cyrus Nowrasteh. Last year, Nowrasteh spoke on a panel titled, “Rebels With a Cause: How Conservatives Can Lead Hollywood’s Next Paradigm Shift.” He has described Michael Moore as “an out of control socialist weasel,” and conducted interviews with right-wing websites like FrontPageMag.
No idelogue he, eh?
Of course, Nowrasteh is free to his opinions, and he is free to express them. Such is the beauty of America, where ANYONE can speak there mind, no matter how craven, partisan, and just plain dishonest and deceptive they are. What you are NOT free to do is to paint yourself as some sort of pure-as-the-driven-snow Truth-seeker who’s simply trying to remove the veil of ignorance from the eyes of us ignorant, Liberal sheep.
The hysteria engendered by the series found more than one target. In addition to the death threats and hate mail directed at me, and my grotesque portrayal as a maddened right-winger, there developed an impassioned search for incriminating evidence on everyone else connected to the film.
And just what in the Hell do you expect when you devote four full hours to smearing Bill Clinton under the guise of a “docudrama”? Evidence? Who needs it? Dramatic license? Well, it IS a “docudrama”, after all, so the truth can be massaged, altered, or simply butchered outright in order to tell an interesting, compelling, and ultimately dishonest and inaccurate story. While Nowrasteh may tout his “docusham” as based on evidence and marinated in Truth, but how does he explain the scene with Sandy Berger at the end of the first night? In the original cut, Berger could have given the order to kill Osama bin-Laden. Instead, he waffles, sweats profusely as he stews in his own cowardice and indecision, then ultimately hangs up on the CIA officer on the other end of the phone. It makes for great drama, but there’s just one little problem with the scene- IT NEVER HAPPENED. PERIOD.
And “The Path to 9/11” was about telling the Truth? Cyrus Nowrasteh wouldn’t know the truth if it bit him on the ass…and I’m incensed that he is provided with yet another forum to spread his lies and propaganda. Then again, there are three things in this life that seem to be guaranteed: death, taxes, and the reality that Conservatives stand up for their own. It’s enough to make me want to puke….
Fact-checkers and lawyers scrutinized every detail, every line, every scene? Really? And just how would Nowrasteh explain these jewels:
A scene where former National Security advisor Sandy Berger pulls the plug on a clear chance to take out Osama Bin Laden. According to the 9/11 Commission report, this never happened.
A scene where Madeleine Albright overrules military commanders and insists on informing the Pakistanis about a missile strike on a suspected Bin Laden hideout. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, this never happened.
A scene indicating Bush demanded aggressive action after receiving the August 6 Presidential Daily Brief entitled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US.” According to Condoleezza Rice’s testimony before the 9/11 commission, this never happened.
The politicizing of 9.11 by ABC and Nowrasteh only serves to demonstrate that the ONLY thing that matters to Conservatives is political power: getting it, maintaing it, and increasing it. If you have to turn the story of 9.11 into just so much propaganda…well, that’s just a cost of doing business, eh?
WHAT LIBERAL MEDIA??
Reading Nowrasteh’s self-serving paean to his honesty and impartiality, I can’t help but wonder…is this guy on drugs or what? You’d have to be high as a kite to be this openly and obviously stupid. Jeebus, people…THIS is what passes for truth these days?
STILL GLAD YOU VOTED REPUBLICAN?
