The Path to 9/11

Honestly...if you remove all the political banter that surrounded this production & actually viewed the broadcast for what it was, which was a 'dramatization' of events that led up to the 9/11 attacks, then anyone could see that this wasn't a 'bad', 'evil' or 'smear' movie. On the contrary, it provides a very intriguing commentary on how the terrorists pulled this off, how we tie our own hands through bureaucratic inaction & red tape, and can be distracted, while bickering along party lines (which continues to this day). What's dishonest is to deny that the 'path' to these events occurred during both the Clinton and Bush administrations (from 1993 - 2001, which is the time frame for this documentary). Things were overlooked & mistakes were made by all parties...the signs were there, but we dropped our guard. And what is unfounded is why we're still not allowed to further scrutinize this production through a DVD release? Step up Disney/ABC...be bold & brave...this is not the era of informative oppression...this is an important piece of work that we should be allowed free & open opportunity to see/buy/discuss, IMHO.

This was one of the most flagrantly dishonest movies I've ever seen. About the only facts there were correct were that we did have a president named Bill Clinton, there is a country called Afghanistan, 9/11 happened and Bush was president at the time of 9/11. Other than that, it was pure fiction. People who were portrayed vehemently objected to their portrayal. The movie didn't even get the airline Atta flew on correct or the airport he flew out of. This was a sloppily researched movie from beginning to end. And of concern to me was that it was aired without commercials. The only other movie that I'm aware of that was aired without commercials was "Schindler's List." And it well deserved to be. Disney/ABC was well aware of the flaws in this movie a year before it was broadcast. Two FBI officials either quit or, after reading the script, refused to participate. No Clinton official was asked for any input to the movie. I also think it's sad that the movie's main character was John O'Neill who, tragically, died in the Towers on 9/11. Mr. O'Neill wasn't around to comment on his character as portrayed in the movie. But plenty of Clinton officials were.

I think most people who follow American politics would agree that the Clinton administration was not hawkish. Many of his opponents criticized him for this, while many supporters applauded him – especially as he drastically reduced defense spending shortly after taking office in 1993. There is not a lot of controversy there, and whether you supported this or not, it was intelligible to a certain degree, since a US territory had not been attacked since WWII. Many Americans did not see a threat, and most were caught off-guard on 9/11.

Therefore, by depicting the Clinton Administration's political cautiousness to not go on the offensive without precedence, especially during a scandal, and later a heated election between Gore and Bush, was not a political attack on Clinton, but a fair assessment of what was happening in Washington at the time. Clinton may have been weak on national security, and fearful of creating turmoil in the Middle East, but he certainly would have been criticized from the right by putting boots on the ground while campaigning for Gore. This was even acknowledged in the movie.

As far as the dialog, I'm not sure if anyone involved with this movie had any first or second-hand knowledge of comments made by Secretary Albright or George Tenet; or if Barbara Bodine was really that nasty. However, I think the general description of where the main players stood was generally accurate, and is supported by the 9/11 report and what facts are known.

Overall, I think this was a great movie, and if anything, I hope people realize that the real enemies are the terrorists, who are still a threat, and will attack if left alone.

From an outsiders perspective, both this film and F9/ll scare me senseless.

You are the largest superpower in the world (hopefully not for long) with the most power and influence across the globe. Yet the two films highlight serious flaws in decision making ability of your governments.

If a film like F9/11 was released in Britain which reflected so poorly on our government and essentially made such harsh and frightening accusations, our public would at least expect an enquiry, or questions to be answered.

in the US, asking questions of your government who swear blindly that are protecting you is deemed unpatriotic. Its as if your government can draw the shutters and say 'we're not listening to you, you traitors' It just wouldn't stand over here. Our government is picked apart on the smallest things. Tony Blair's popularity has fallen so much over the Iraq debacle that people haver expected him to resign, or have at least asked him to. I may be wrong, but it doesn't look like there is any chance of GWB being asked to resign or leave office after starting an unjust, and lets face it, a never-ending war. Do you not hold him accountable? Why do you allow your government to ignore you? If allegations that Tony Blair had called off our military from killing a known terrorist when they had him more or less trapped, there would be absolute outrage. there would be riots in the street.

"i really didn't spend that much time thinking about him" GWB talking about OBL when they lost him.

I'll be honest. I didn't know this movie was made until all the talking heads started complaining about it, or defending it, whichever the case may be. So I decided to watch it. Not bad. Not bad at all.

In case you've been actively trying to avoid the hype as I had, "Path to 9/11" uses various sources, including the official 9/11 Commission Report, to portray the events leading up to the 9/11 attacks. The movie delves into the bureaucratic pissing contest that took place among many government agencies.

As a thriller, it was good. Harvey Keitel played special agent Jonh O'Neill, who followed the growth of terrorism for over eight years. Newcomer Prasanna Puwanarajah played our inside man, Ishtiak, a smart but nervous Islamic snitch who gave the CIA dirt on Ramzi Yousef (played with much anger by Nabil Elouhabi) and Osama bin Laden. And Donnie Wahlberg was totally believable as "Kirk," a CIA secret agent.

Also good was the make-up jobs, particularly Penny Jerald Johnson (as Condaleezza Rice) and Shirley Douglas (as Madeline Albright), who looked just like the characters they played.

My biggest problem was the length of the movie. at five hours without commercials, it's pretty damn long. It dragged on in several spots.

Another note: Did anyone notice that a vast majority of the votes are either 1 or 10? A bit of partisanship, maybe? Those of you who voted 1, did you see the movie, or did you hear that the Clinton staff was angry about it and refuse to watch it?