FBI Agent Quit 9/11 Movie Because "They Were Making Things Up"

[kpete]

FBI Agent Who Consulted On Path to 9/11 Quit Halfway Through Because ‘They Were Making Things Up’

James Bamford, an author and journalist who has written about security issues, appeared on MSNBC to discuss “The Path to 9/11.” Bamford revealed that an FBI agent who worked as a consultant to the film quit halfway through production of the mini-series because he believed the writers and producers were “making things up.”

BAMFORD: It’s made-up. This is fiction. This is not real. One of my friends actually was a consultant to this production — an FBI agent who worked on 9/11. He quit halfway through because he thought they were making things up.

Video at:
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/09/07/fbi-agent-quit/

[stepnw1f]

1. KABOOM! Lawsuit.......

and I hope after they are sued, we break up the media giants and reinstate some more efficient regualtions. Yes conservatives... regulation. Fuck your bottom line.

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. The fact that they're pushing this into the school rooms suggests

that they're trying to indoctrinate kids. This sounds like it's a massive social engineering project.

[JohnnyBoots]

12. It is, so that future generations don't question what may or may not of

actually happened leading up to and during 911. Revisionist historical indoctrination to cover their collective asses. What else could it be?

[The Backlash Cometh]

25. One major mistake they have made. IF the Democrats keep up this

resistance and succeed in outing the ruse, it will show the kids a real life example of propaganda. This will have the opposite effect the the Republicans are looking for, and the kids will learn early not to trust the media.

[JohnnyBoots]

39. I truly hope the backlash comes...soon n/t

[Cronus Protagonist]

62. We have to MAKE it come soon

[Straight Shooter]

24. I actually had nightmares about "The Path" in schoolrooms.

Last night, I literally felt ill before I went to bed. Having read through several threads on DU about this mockumentary, I realized how vast this campaign of misinformation and disinformation is spreading. It's totally unprecedented. I had nightmares of shiny-faced children sitting in perfectly aligned rows in a classroom, listening to a shiny-faced teacher tell them "all about 9/11."

I don't have kids, but I know how impressionable they can be. Once they get an idea in their heads, it's very hard to dislodge it, even if the facts collide with that idea. When their parents reinforce the lies and beliefs based on ignorance, then you have a newly indoctrinated mind.

[geardaddy]

78. na-na-na-na-na-Leeaader!

a la Simpsons

[bobbolink]

44. Oh, I'm shocked. That couldn't possibly be so!

After all, EVERYBODY knows it's only the liberals who "catapult the propaganda".

Only liberals would even consider "indoctrinating kids"!!

:sarcasm:

[bdamomma]

45. preaching lies to kids not very good at all

it is rather sickening.

[fooj]

77. They have taken McCarthyism to an entirely new level.

[still_one]

29. sue for what?

a dramatization...

now that everyone has jumped up and down before the damn thing has even broadcast, has just given ABC free publicity that it would have never gotten

In fact, I doubt that they would have had that many viewers. You can bet they will now

[acmejack]

40. Lies should just be allowed to go unchallenged.

Ignore them and hope they go away. You know that doesn't work, the "free advertising" angle is weak. Haven't you figured out anything from the last six years?

[bobbolink]

47. Yes, your strategy worked so well for Kerry against the

swiftboaters.

:silly:

[rman]

64. To tell fiction and call it dramatization equates to lying.

Dramatization means to dramatize the truth, not to fantasize.

[AntiFascist]

67. This type of publicity can only hurt in the long run....

much better that they are exposed for what they are: propagandists, than to let this go unchallenged, particularly in light that this material will be used in public education. Hopefully some enlightened educators of the future will use this as material illustrating the great propaganda machine driven by oil interests.

[krkaufman]

72. They were NOT advertising it as a "dramatization" ...

... until people started complaining, and I'm sure they haven't snuffed the "docudrama" nonsense fully. Nor do I expect that they're backing off on saying it is based on the 9/11 Commission Report. (I'm sure they're not going to emphasize how *loosely* based it is, instead relying on people's nature to assume a fairly accurate representation -- because most people still trust the mainstream networks.)

[StraightDope]

54. "...we break up the media giants and..."

"...reinstate some more efficient regualtions." My God, can you believe what an effect that would have in the right direction? None of the bullshit that we've had to put up with for the last six years would have been possible without a subservient corporate media. If truly independent journalism ever makes a resurgence, as opposed to the news-er-tainment that exists today, Republicans are completely fucked and they know it.

EDIT: typo

[stepnw1f]

58. Absolutely

It needs to be done, that way we can put a lid on the bullshit propaganda.

[PegDAC]

76. And also reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine! n/t

[stepnw1f]

79. yes... (nt)

[liberal N proud]

2. This country is just making me sick

We never thought it would get this bad, NEVER in my wildest nightmares would I ever have thought that it would be possible for a mad man and his regime to take over the nation such as the bu$h regime.

I always thought that our democracy had enough protection in it to stop such things from happening, that Congress would never give up power so easly to a monster destroying what the founding fathers had set forth.

[Borgnine]

8. Look at it like this...

...three years ago, nobody but us loony left-wing forum goers would be raising a stink over this. Hell, the Democratic party would be bending over and asking for ABC to push harder.

The times are changing. We went to the brink of fascism and now sanity is slowly prevailing.

[slampoet]

28. That is BS.

Almost everyone who was independant enough to know the truth about American history questioned this war.

Every person I know who was Jewish, Black, Disabled, Gay, Artistic, or Elderly enough to remember the prohibition 20's questioned things like this.

There were a LOT and are STILL a LOT of people who have always been against this stuff. Just because Bush used to have a 90% approval doesn't mean that even 40% of the people TRUSTED him.

[redqueen]

30. I like your style.

:thumbsup:

[bobbolink]

50. Unfortunately, we were warned that the downfall would come from

the inside.

We, as a nation, don't do warnings very well.

:cry:

[mnhtnbb]

51. This is why my husband and I are building a retirement home in Panama

You could see this coming prior to the 2004 election. Nothing to stop this power mad, evil cabal of neocons. With all branches of government and the media under their control, what's to stop them?

[Crabby Appleton]

3. What's the agents name?

[krkaufman]

74. Haven't seen the name. James Bamford is the guy relating ...

... the story, but it is a friend/acquaintance of his who quit the production.

[FoxOnTheRun]

4. James Bamford

got the Norhwoods documents for his book, do I need to say more?

[rman]

23. For the sake of clarity,

Bamford wrote a book on various activities-that-can't-really-stand-the-light-of-day of the intelligence community, titled Body of Secrets - Anatomy of the ultra-secret National Security Agency.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385499086/qid=1097456926/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i2_xgl14/102-0156328-3491357?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
http://summeroftruth.org/northwoods.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bamford

Among other things it deals with "Operation Northwoods", a plan for a false flag operation involving an staged attack on a US passenger plane, to be blamed on Castro and used as pretext to invade Cuba.

From FoxOnTheRun's comment i gather that it was Bamford who managed to get the (initially secret) documents on Operation Northwoods released to the public.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwoods
...
In response to a request for pretexts for military intervention by the Chief of Operations, Cuba Project (Col. Edward Lansdale), the document lists methods (with, in some cases, outline plans) the author believed would garner public and international support for US military intervention in Cuba. These are staged attacks purporting to be of Cuban origin, with a number of them having real casualties. Central to the plan was the use of "friendly Cubans"—Cuban exiles seeking to oust Fidel Castro.

The suggestions included:

# Staging mock attacks, sabotages and riots at Guantanamo Bay and blaming it on Cuban forces.
# Firebombing and sinking an American ship at the Guantanamo Bay American military base—reminiscent of the USS Maine incident at Havana in 1898, which started the Spanish-American War—or destroy American aircraft and blame it on Cuban forces. (The document's first suggestion regarding the sinking of a U.S. ship is to blow up a manned ship and hence would result in U.S. Navy members being killed, with a secondary suggestion of possibly using unmanned drones and fake funerals instead.)
# "Harassment of civil air, attacks on surface shipping and destruction of US military drone aircraft by MIG type planes would be useful as complementary actions."
# Destroying an unmanned drone masquerading as a commercial aircraft supposedly full of "college students off on a holiday". This proposal was the one supported by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
...

[FoxOnTheRun]

38. It was him who made the documents famous

From FoxOnTheRun's comment i gather that it was Bamford who managed to get the (initially secret) documents on Operation Northwoods released to the public.

Bamford has two weapons: the tenacity needed to exploit the Freedom of Information Act and the patience to wade through mounds of public papers in archives around the country. They have both served him well.

In 1979, while researching "The Puzzle Palace," Bamford wanted information on an NSA operation called Shamrock: an illegal program to read all international telegrams sent out of the U.S. The NSA would not respond to any queries, but he heard of a 1975 investigation by the Department of Justice. One FOIA request and nine months later, he received an impressive (and incriminating) 300-page document summarizing the program. On his next visit to the unhelpful public relations offices at the NSA, he showed people there the document. They freaked, and tried desperately to get it back.

The NSA waited for 1981 and a new president, and started applying pressure on Bamford. The Department of Justice claimed that the document was "accidentally" declassified and should be returned. (At the time, the law specifically stated that once something was declassified, it could not be reclassified, which the Reagan administration later changed.) A few tense meetings and threatening letters followed, but Bamford held firm. Shamrock was described fully in "The Puzzle Palace."

William Friedman founded America's first peacetime code-breaking agency -- the Black Chamber -- shortly before World War II and is considered the father of the NSA. After he retired he had a falling out with the NSA. He stopped trusting the agency, and it started regarding him as a security risk. At his death, he left his papers to the Virginia Military Institute and not with the NSA. Even so, NSA officials drove down to VMI, examined everything and persuaded the archivist to lock up a bunch of the documents in a vault at the institute. Also during his "Puzzle Palace" research, Bamford went to VMI to read Friedman's papers, noticed the omissions and convinced the archivist to release those papers. He also found former NSA director Marshall Carter's papers there; the NSA didn't even know about them. When the NSA tried to have Bamford prosecuted after the publication of "The Puzzle Palace," these papers were what the NSA considered to be government secrets.

"The Puzzle Palace" was a landmark book, and widely read in circles that knew something of the NSA. Inside the NSA itself, where the agency's secrecy prevents its employees from knowing much about their own history, it was a bestseller. The book was a history of American intelligence from 1917 and was both shocking and pedestrian. Operations like Shamrock were exposed for the first time, but Bamford also spent a lot of pages simply explaining how the NSA was organized. Nobody knew anything, so it was all interesting.

Twenty years later, it is not enough to simply explain how the NSA is organized or the history of its creation. For "Body of Secrets," Bamford issued dozens of FOIA requests and would badger the NSA every few days about them. He waded through the papers at the National Archives, the Naval War College, the National Defense University -- even at the NSA's own museum. And with the Cold War over, he found that many of the actual intercept operators -- the people staffing the eavesdropping stations on ships, planes and remote corners of the planet -- were willing to talk.

Among the more shocking things Bamford learned is that in 1962, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff approved something called Operation Northwoods. Fortunately never implemented, it involved committing random acts of terror on Americans in the United States and then blaming them on Cuba. Most of the documents detailing this Bamford found in the National Archives, among the thousands of papers the Joint Chiefs of Staff released about the Cuban missile crisis.

I've heard that someone has leaked the document before 911 in 2001 and it was declassfied, although it wasn't intended to be declassified.
I remeber hearing an interview that stated that someone tipped him off where he could find it in the National Security Archives.

[rman]

53. Body of Secrets; there's a april 2002 reprint,

(source: amazon.com)

apparently it was first published in may 2001 (definitely before 9-11):
http://www.public-action.com/911/northwds.html


As an aside, Amazon's Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs) of the book are rather interesting:

ditching bags, intercept operators, bomber overflights, secret intranet, worldwide listening posts, eavesdropping missions, intercept tapes, codebreaking machines, other listening posts, ghost aircraft, intercept antennas, eavesdropping gear, ferret flights, crypto equipment, crypto machines, emergency destruction, eavesdropping satellites, senior intelligence official, cipher systems, other intercepts, intercept station, cipher machines, intelligence budget, secret memorandum.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385499086

-

Thanks for that interesting bit of background, what's the source of it?

[alfredo]

42. They also talked of killing John Glenn and then blaming it on

Castro.

Bamford's book is well worth reading. I can vouch for his account of the USS Liberty murders. It was right on the money.

[rman]

55. I guess the book is next on my list

re the USS Liberty: don't get me started :)
http://www.ussliberty.org/
http://www.thedossier.ukonline.co.uk/video_cover-ups.htm ("Dead in the Water" - BBC)

[alfredo]

59. Same here. If you haven't yet read

"Imperial Hubris." He speaks with authority on the blunders made by bush and his neo con handlers. Dean's newest book "Conservatives Without Conscience" is required reading too.

[rman]

63. added no my list

thanks for the suggestions

[alfredo]

66. "Imperial Hubris" will scare the shit out of you. So will

Dean's book. If you are into the war and discussion of it, "Imperial Hubris" is the way to go. If you like a good true war story, "Jawbreaker" by Gary Bernsten will go down easy.

[Ignis]

80. Here's a second recommendation for _Imperial Hubris_.

Outstanding book. It's a bit dry at points, but it's worth slogging through a few chapters for the amazing points made by the author.

[alfredo]

81. Sometimes the list of fumbles is mind numbing. It starts to

seem as though the bush junta wanted a holy war between Christians and Muslims. At times you start to wonder what side are these people on?

[Coexist]

5. HA! I was WATCHING when he said that!

Thanks for getting the transcript up - you rock!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2069927&mesg_id=2069927

[Double T]

6. What we have with the "Path to 9-11" is 'malicious propoganda'.....

with the sole purpose of blaming the Clinton Administration for the bush administration's complete failures and total incompetence. It is NOT going to be allowed to happen!!!!

[FoxOnTheRun]

43. I know more malicious propoganda

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K5M0xtxQVQ

"Let us never tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories concerning the attacks of September the 11th; malicious lies that attempt to shift the blame away from the terrorists, themselves, away from the guilty."
-George W. Bush at the United Nations, November11, 2001

[Double T]

49. Thanks for that link............

bush's own words once again come back to haunt HIM. What an ASS!!

[K8-EEE]

7. Slam Dunk -- WAKE UP UH-MURKA THEY ARE LYING TO US!

God what do people need, in order to realize they've been suckers all along on this "terra" conjob?

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. Stick around, people don't make comments like that on DU unless they

know that it can be backed up. Oh, and btw, buh-bye.

[Generic Other]

14. Your sig line proves you are an idiot

Enjoy your delusions.

[walldude]

15. Try reading the 9/11 commission report, dork

or did you have to skip it because there were no pictures...

[StaggerLee]

17. bwahahahhahaha

:rofl:

[frylock]

70. or did you have to skip it because there were no pictures..

The 9/11 cOmission Report: A Graphic Adaptation.



http://www.amazon.com/11-Report-Graphic-Adaptation/dp/0809057387/sr=1-1/qid=1157659288/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-1428026-1867341?ie=UTF8&s=books

[electropop]

16. Welcome and buh-bye, freepie

Try reading the 9/11 Commission's report. Then read the August 6th PDB that Bush ignored. If you don't get angry, then you are deliberately ignoring reality.

[guruoo]

18. Welcome to DU n/t

[ProfessorGAC]

19. Unbrilliant

An extraordinarily weak effort on your part. Extraordinarily so.
The Professor

[MsKandice01]

20. "You people believe anything"

That's hilarious...especially since the man you idolize lies to you every time he opens his mouth.

[Marr]

21. Haha- a 29%er who says other people will "believe anything".

George truly is the Hero of the Stupid.

[LostinVA]

22. Suck eggs, souless Freep

[TahitiNut]

27. Sir Gregor the Coprophageous? You're well-known!

Chow down on those dog turds Baby Ruths, son!

[Catherine Vincent]

31. How does it feel to be posting among greatness?

Enjoy your short stay, troll. LOL!

[redqueen]

34. If only they'd learn through osmosis.

:7

[redqueen]

33. Yeah, but y'all believing bushco makes you what... skeptical?

:rofl:

[uppityperson]

36. I have no tolerance for your crap, waste of time

[ms liberty]

37. Bless your poor, deluded little heart...

That stuff you do that you call "thinking?" In the real world it's called REGURGITATION.

Welcome to DU, and enjoy your brief stay.

[Catherine Vincent]

11. KPete you are awesome with the info!

Thanks! :hi:

[sandnsea]

26. How did Alex Witt miss this?

She just had a segment where she accused the Clinton administration of being defensive and "not wanting you to see" this movie. This other segment must have been one of the early morning ones when the truth occasionally sneaks out.

[Imagevision]

32. Hey, the election is in 62 days, Bushco/GOP desperate in painting

a better picture while ABC staff insist to Dens; "It's only a dramatization not a documentary, stop being cry babies"??...

[Kurovski]

35. If only Tom Keane of the 9/11 Commission had as much integrity.

Alas...he did not.

[JPZenger]

61. He's trying to get Junior Elected to the US Senate

Tom Kean Sr. is trying to get Tom Kean Jr. elected to the US Senate in November. Anything he can do to stem a backlash against the Republicans is in Junior's favor.

[flyarm]

75. or this is payoff to get jr elected through a stolen election perhaps??

or is jr a payoff for the white wash of the commission??

remember kean saying..we didn't expose norad or faa lying to the commission because it might have effected the 2004 election..

hmmm

hey commissioners..you are all guilty of treason to this nation!

fly

[NCSTATER3]

41. Lawsuit

Absolutely!

[mnhtnbb]

46. It just gets better and better. I want the whole world to know what liars

these media whores are.

[Zambero]

48. Sounds like an expert witness for any subsequent lawsuit

Of course by then the mini-series will have accomplished its goal of duping and misleading millions of viewers into believing that an event that happenced on Bush's "watch" can be pinned on Clinton.

[bdamomma]

52. this is absolutely crazy what these desperate men in this regime

are doing. They will again place blame on the Clinton Administration and to not take the blame for anything that they have done to this country, it is getting sort of sick now, but again, we all know by now that they are sick bunch of delusional lunatics.

[Rex]

56. ABC needs to push this for their RW overlords

or so they thought, before election day. Looks like it totally backfired on them and the GOP.

Hear that GOP? That is the sound of even more people voting Dem this Fall.

Thanks ABC, for showing America we really do live in a RW dictatorship. I hope you go out of fucking business. You fascism enablers.

[LuckyLib]

57. Why are we not surprised?

[JPZenger]

60. Link to Conservative Review of Muckudrama

Here's a link to a review of the Path to 9-11 that was published on many arch-conservative websites. It gushes about how badly the movie makes the Clinton Administration look.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=16621

[ieoeja]

68. Reviewing the Review

"shows the CIA and the Northern Alliance surrounding Bin Laden’s house in Afghanistan" ... "but they need final approval from the Clinton administration in order to go ahead."

1. As the representatives of the officially recognized government in Afghanistan, why the fuck would the Northern Alliance call us for permission to do dick in their own country?

2. Why was the CIA there? If they were sent there to get bin Laden, why would they have to phone home to get permission? If they were not sent there to get bin Laden, what were they doing? This entire sequence makes no sense.


"Berger in essence tells the team in Afghanistan that if they want to capture Bin Laden, they'll have to go ahead and do it on their own without any official authorization."

So the United States could then technically deny responsibility. The masses who worshipped bin Laden could be told, "it was the Northern Alliance, not the United States". Isn't this WHY we do covert as opposed to overt operations in the first place?


The director says, "The worst example is the response to the October, 2000 attack on the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen where 17 American sailors were killed. There simply was no response. Nothing."

While the reviewer says, "since Bush was in power for only eight months when 9/11 occurred, he can hardly be blamed".

So eight months is not enough for Bush to have deterred bin Laden between the USS Cole and 9/11, but three months should have been plenty of time for Clinton. Actually, given the relative level of competency between the two presidents, the reviewer may have a point here.

[The Wizard]

65. This is the

21st Century version of "Reefer Madness."

[JPZenger]

69. Great Collection of Links on this Issue

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/9/7/154647/2021

[Name removed]

71. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Nutmegger]

73. The "libural" media eh?

[mhatrw]

82. A Radical Evangelical Christian Group Funded This Adventure

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2073411&mesg_id=2073411