Path to 9/11 - Commentary - O

The first night of the ABC network mini series “Path to 9/11” presented a fairly good concept of the events preceding the bin Laden inspired assault on the US in 2001 with its origin in the initial bombing of the WTC in 1993. While nearly double the number of people watching the mini were tuned into the football game, the fact that the mini struck a cord of fear within the ranks of the former Clinton admin seniors should be telling enough. It became quite clear that Bill and Hillary Clinton were frantic as evidenced by the liberal letter and media campaigned commenced against ABC and Disney. Less important than the specific motivation behind their panic, is the significant level of fear based reaction to a television movie.

It would be interesting to survey Americans asking them who Ramzi Yousef was. It would be interesting to ask Americans the date of the BlackHawk downing in Somalia or when bin Laden initially opened his training camps in Kashmir, Tajikistan or Chechnya. Or how about the name of the Iraqi intelligence officer bin Laden met in February 95.

No doubt, very few Americans would have the answers nor would they care. What they care about is their day to day simple life which is why Paris Hilton’s reality TV show was better received than the ABC 9/11 docudrama. The average Joe wants to know, does he have a job, place to live, basics and can he afford to take a couple of vacations, or buy a jet ski. National security is secondary to the list of primary needs. The names, histories or global connections between bin Laden, Atta, Yousef and Iraq or Afghanistan are not even a daily tertiary concern.

The hype, fear and pre-airing media coverage was actually all that the average Joe probably needed to understand. The fact that Bill Clinton did not want America to see something about bin Laden translates very directly to average Joe’s brain. “Clinton was a liar then and he is a liar now.” The media hammers the fact that Bush lied about Iraq; therefore, who can average Joe trust? He just wants to know when he can expect that $2.00 per gallon gas.

Nice job ABC, I will be one of the first to purchase the DVD and accompanying teachers guide (the one pulled by Scholastic from the educational version of the mini) also under pressure from Clinton.

More on this subject after the second part of the mini ….. stand by