Bob Kerrey Warns ABC: Be "Respectful" of 9/11

[Cooley Hurd]

http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2006/sep/07/bob_kerrey_warns_abc_be_accurate_and_respect_the_story

By Greg Sargent
In his first interview on the controversy over ABC's "The Path to 9/11" miniseries, 9/11 Commission member Bob Kerrey said that both the Clinton and Bush administrations had committeed misteps, said that a miniseries on 9/11 risked "feeding people's distrust" and called on ABC to "be careful" and "respectful" of what happened leading up to 9/11.

In the interview, which he did by phone this afternoon with Election Central, Kerrey said he wasn't ready to pass judgment on the content of the movie as a whole until he'd seen it, and said that such historical fiction isn't inherently flawed. But he questioned the idea of doing a miniseries on 9/11, faulted the notion that the Clinton administration alone was to blame, and questioned the accuracy of the claim that Clinton's national security team failed to let the CIA kill Osama Bin Laden when agency operatives had him in their sights, as the film's depiction of events apparently has it. "It wasn't just Clinton," Kerrey said. "It was Clinton and Bush. It was leading right up to 9/11."

Asked about the bin Laden episode, Kerrey said: "That's totally factually inaccurate. They didn't have somebody on the ground with bin Laden in their sights."

Asked if he thought it was a good idea to do a fictionalized miniseries on 9/11, Kerrey said he thought it risked feeding public mistrust around the already fiercely contested history of the tragedy.

"I don't think it's a good idea to do a miniseries on 9/11," Kerrey said. "You begin with the presumption of a conspiracy . Some people present reasonable scenarios for that conspiracy. Some sound off the wall." A miniseries like this one, Kerrey said, could "feed people's distrust on issues of national security."

More at link...

:bounce:

[AX10]

1. See this:

http://www.thepoorman.net/2006/09/07/the-path-to-911-an-exclusive-the-poor-man-preview

[orwell]

2. Uh, thanks for nothing Bob...

...take your faux outrage elsewhere...

[Cooley Hurd]

3. UPDATE: Kerrey revises his comments...

http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2006/sep/08/bob_kerrey_to_abc_fix_films_inaccuracies

By Greg Sargent

Yesterday I spoke to 9/11 Commission member Bob Kerrey about "The Path to 9/11," and he warned ABC to be "respectful" of the story of 9/11, but was generally unwilling to pass judgment. This morning, however, we spoke again, and after having read the Times's review of the film today, he went much further in his criticism. He said the network had a responsibility to fix the historical inaccuracies and to get "as close to the facts as possible," adding: "If you're saying this is based on the 9/11 Commission report, there are substantial factual discrepancies," Kerrey said, speaking of ABC. "You need to get out."

Kerrey said this morning in the interview that ABC shouldn't be trying to justify the inaccuracies by saying the film's a work of fiction.

"You can’t sit there as ABC and say, `Gee, we don’t have any responsibility,’” Kerrey said. "They should make a good faith effort to get this as close to the facts as possible…They can’t claim it’s just entertainment. This is going to have an impact on the national political scene."
</snip>

[Imagevision]

4. Bob Kerrey hasn't seen p/2 9-11, he should consult with Limbaugh, he has