"One of the people whose opinion I'm relying on is John Podhoretz, a conservative columnist for the NY Post and National Review. He's seen the original, unedited movie and while he has no love lost for the Clintons and their staff, he found parts of the movie blatantly inaccurate."

A conservative columnist? and you are relying on him to give an unbiased review? If he found many parts of the movie blatantly inaccurate imagine how the Democrats feel. Whats sad, is the mostly uniformed population of our country will believe this movie! It sickens me knowing that the republicans are using this mega U.S. disaster to elevate their image before elections. At least Michael Moore made a real documentary.

Les, I think you err in comparing ABC's actions to Michael Moore. The distinction, I think, is this: when Michael Moore released "Fahrenheit 9/11," he at least had the balls to admit publicly that he was trying to sway an election. Everybody and their brother knew what he was up to, because he said so himself; he stated repeatedly that he was trying to get Bush defeated.

ABC, on the other hand, is casting this propaganda piece as "history." This has a much more insidious effect: those watching it who aren't blogaholics may have no clue that there's even a controversy surrounding it.

Furthermore, Hugh Hewitt received an email on Tuesday from an alleged ABC insider which said (after it was decided to edit some of the more reprehensible lies from the program):

The changes are done only to appease the Clinton team - to be able to say they made changes. But the blame on the Clinton team is in the DNA of the project and could not be eradicated without pulling the entire show.

To place such corruption, such collusion, and such lies in the same category as the gadflies Oliver Stone and Michael Moore misses the point of ABC's duplicity.

--Socialist With A Gold Card

Didn't watch the ABC mini-series last night. Don't know if I will watch the story tonight. Starting watching a few minutes of it, changed over to the CBS 9/11 firefighter documentary, much more interesting, real, spellbinding.

I feel your comparision to JFK and Fahrenheit 9/11 is a little off, viewers paid (thus wanted) to see JFK and Fahrenheit 9/11.

ABC made their fictionalized story available on network TV, no cable or satellite required, and free of commercials. Yes, you can change the channel, as did I, but it was made available virtually FREE to practically everyone in the US.

I watched Peyton v. Eli (after getting back from the Titans game). ABC entertainment (not news) produced the show. I don't know how many watched it or if everyone who watched it believed it. ABC certainly isn't promoting Republicans. ABD put on a show they thought people would watch.

There's a lot of blame to go around, for 9/11 and terrorist attacks before. We need to learn lessons. In many ways, I believe we have. At least we're debating what we ought to be doing. Terrorists wanting to kill us is now, rightly, on most everyone's radar screen. Before September 11, it was mostly something that happened "over there", not here.

Partisans will all be out touting their policies, from Hillary Clinton and Rudy Gulliani on the Today show this morning, to the pundits tonight. President Bush and every other elected official should recognize 9/11. We should all never forget.

<I>One can fairly criticize Clinton in general for not taking fundamentalist Islamic terrorism seriously.</I>

Wingnuts just cannot quit obsessing about Clinton. Lets review for the wingnuts:

1. Clinton repeatedly said terrorism was the biggest problem facing the United States. He said so during his time in office and he said the same thing to the GOP idiots in the Bush administration when he left office. The GOP and Bush administration did not think so, and tossed aside all work that was already in motion.

2. Clinton tried to increase wiretapping during his administration to better track terrorist activity, because he thought they were such a threat. The GOP in the Senate refused to pass laws allowing this to happen.

3. Clinton did make efforts to deal with OBL, and as the head of the CIA and other agencies have publically said, he gave them everything he possibly could to help fight them, except when the GOP stopped him, as listed above.

One cannot fairly criticize Clinton in general for not taking fundamentalist Islamic terrorism seriously. He took if very seriously, and dealt with it as best he could when not being prevented by the GOP controlled Senate and House. That drug addicted, alcoholic, coward Bush, however,did not take OBL seriously. Even when presented with memos saying "Bin Laden Determined to Strike US," he did not take fundamentalist Islamic terrorism seriously and did nothing to prevent attacks from happening. Get your facts stright.

I can’t tell you how flabbergasted I am to think that Americans think like some of you. How can you become so stupid? Is it really Dems vs Repubs or do you really think we’re not at war? Do you really believe that these terrorists don’t want to kill us all and take over the world, or is it just politics?

There is no doubt in my mind that had we not gone on the offense, the jackass creeps would have attacked us already again and again; over and over. They said so after the Cole attack. OBL’s group said they were so shocked that we did nothing after attacking one of our ships and killing Navy personnel, so they figured we would be easy pickings; just simple push-overs.

I do think and believe that WAR, IS THE ANSWER! A strong offense will keep the enemy away and us safe. The NSA has harmed NOT ONE of you and not one American can save with any ounce of truth that any of our liberties or freedom has been taken away. Yet the terrorists have been hit hard and will yet be hit hard with those measures in place.

There is nothing you can say that will convince me that Our President isn’t working to protect you, your family, and us. I just don’t know how we have produced so a large amount of idiots in America. I guess our government school system has failed us again.

If you want to maintain the freedoms and lifestyles you currently have, you better fight for them, there are plenty of people, including some of you, that would turn this GREAT COUNTRY into a hell if you could. Real twisted thinking you have.

If I could send that slob Michael Moore to Afghanistan, I would do it in a second. He’d be dead of starvation within a week. In-fact, I have a list of people I would love to send to Afghanistan; I guess to teach them how good we have it here.

Wake up America, before we loose this great Country.

Look, NO ONE TOOK TERRORISM SERIOUSLY, until 9-11.

NOW WE'RE AT WAR, AND YOU BETTER KNOW THAT THEY WANT TO KILL YOU.

Has NOTHING to do with Bush or Clinton......it's just so simple, support our troops and give them everything they need, including your support of the war, to WIN the war.

It's not that hard.

bizgrrl:

Separate the two; 9-11 is one war and Iraq is another.

We are in Afghanistan because of 9-11. That's one war. Leave it there. Don't confuse Iraq with 9-11.

We are in Iraq because they are were a Country supporting terrorism. They would give anything to harm us. They have dozens of terrorism camps in nothern Iraq. They would pay 25,000 dollars to each family of a suicide bomber.

We are also at war with the terrorist in the Philippines, South America, Africa; anywhere we can find them.

So there are many fronts to this war. Afghanistan is the only one connected directly to 9-11. All the others are to fight the war against those who want to KILL you.

See, it's not that hard.

I have to give ol' Les at least some credit for sort of defending the Clinton administration, and for admitting the mocumentary is full of misrepresentations.

(According to some other bloggers, even the opening scene was made up. American Airlines is portrayed as ignoring a security alert on Atta. This actually happened in Portaland Maine while he was boarding a regional airline owned by another carrier. If he was making a connecting flight at Logan, they presumably wouldn't even have checked him again. This is not clear in the 9/11 Commission report, but it is very explicit that this occurred in Portland, not Boston.)

I agree fully, and I think most of the electorate will demonstrate those lessons learned come November.

Socialist, I fear that you are underestimating the incredible gullibility of the American electorate.  Bush's machine is going into high gear with their fear mongering and GOB's just like GBA (not verified) will suck it right up and run to the polls.

Add to that the ability to "tweak" a few Diebold units in Ohio and, Bob's your uncle: another victory for the defenders of the faith.

Take a look at MSNBC's Cagle political cartoons for a pretty good idea of how GWB really looks at 9/11. 

According to Charlie Cook's Political Report, GOP motivation is the lowest it's been since 1982, when unemployment hit 10% the month before the election, or (his words) it may be at the lowest point since 1974, after Watergate. Link... - see "Chilling Numbers for the GOP."

I guess if my choice was to stay home or help promote the mongrels who've perpetrated the catastrophically wrongheaded response to 9/11 on the American public, I'd find a lot of gardening to do, too.

That said, it really chaps my ass when wingers accuse those of us against BushCo's tactics of being some out of touch idealogues wandering lost in the forest somewhere. It doesn't take a tree full of owls to realize that if you use the wrong ammunition to shoot at the wrong target, you aren't going to be able to accomplish jack. I'd be all for capturing bin Laden and wringing that sucker's neck for the world to see. As it stands, a full five years after 9/11, he's free; Bush is responsible; and sooner or later he's going to be held accountable for that indisputable fact.

Part II of the movie was really good. I don't think it was to far off from reality, some of it that I know personally.

Overall I would give ABC an A+ for there efforts.

For those that didn't watch it, save you're comments, I could care less.

No matter what your stance is on the war in Iraq, this is a very powerful and extremely well-written piece that kept running through my mind long after I finished reading it, and it will no doubt stay in my mind for a very long time!

Please take the time to read the attached essay by Dr. Chong. It is without a doubt the most articulate and convincing writing I have read regarding the War in Iraq. If you have any doubts please open your mind to his essay and give it a fair evaluation.

I had no idea that Dr. Chong is or the source of these thoughts... so when I received them, I almost deleted them - as well-written as they are. But then I did a "Google search" on the Doctor and found him to be a retired Air Force Surgeon of all things and past Commander of Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio. So he is real, is connected to Veterans affairs in California, and these are his thoughts. They are worth reading and thinking about! (The same Google search will direct you to some of his other thought-provoking writings.)

GBA

Subject: Muslims, terrorists and the USA....A different spin on Iraq war.
This WAR is for REAL!
Dr. Vernon Chong, Major General, USAF, Retired
Tuesday, July 12, 2005

To get out of a difficulty, one usually must go through it. Our country is now facing the most serious threat to its existence, as we know it, that we have faced in your lifetime and mine (which includes WWII).

The deadly seriousness is greatly compounded by the fact that there are very few of us who think we can possibly lose this war and even fewer who realize what losing really means.

First, let's examine a few basics:

1. When did the threat to us start?
Many will say September 11, 2001. The answer as far as the United State is concerned is 1979, 22 years prior to September 2001, with the following attacks on us:

* Iran Embassy Hostages, 1979;
* Beirut, Lebanon Embassy 1983;
* Beirut, Lebanon Marine Barracks 1983;
* Lockerbie, Scotland Pan-Am flight to New York 1988;
* First New York World Trade Center attack 1993;
* Dhahran, Saudi Arabia Khobar Towers Military complex 1996;
* Nairobi, Kenya US Embassy 1998;
* Dares Salaam, Tanzania US Embassy 1998;
* Aden, Yemen USS Cole 2000;
* New York World Trade Center 2001;
* Pentagon 2001.

(Note that during the period from 1981 to 2001 there were 7,581 terrorist attacks worldwide).

2. Why were we attacked?

Envy of our position, our success, and our freedoms. The attacks happened during the administrations of Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton and Bush 2. We cannot fault either the Republicans or Democrats as there were no provocations by any of the presidents or their immediate predecessors, Presidents Ford or Carter.

3. Who were the attackers?
In each case, the attacks on the US were carried out by Muslims.

4. What is the Muslim population of the World? 25%.

5. Isn't the Muslim Religion peaceful?
Hopefully, but that is really not material. There is no doubt that the predominately Christian population of Germany was peaceful, but under the dictatorial leadership of Hitler (who was also Christian), that made no difference. You either went along with the administration or you were eliminated. There were 5 to 6 million Christians killed by the Nazis for political reasons (including 7,000 Polish priests). (see Link... )

Thus, almost the same number of Christians were killed by the Nazis, as the six million holocaust Jews who were killed by them, and we seldom heard of anything other than the Jewish atrocities. Although Hitler kept the world focused on the Jews, he had no hesitancy about killing anyone who got in his way of exterminating the Jews or of taking over the world - German, Christian or any others.

Same with the Muslim terrorists. They focus the world on the US, but kill all in the way -- their own people or the Spanish, French or anyone else. The point here is that just like the peaceful Germans were of no protection to anyone from the Nazis, no matter how many peaceful Muslims there may be, they are no protection for us from the terrorist Muslim leaders and what they are fanatically bent on doing -- by their own pronouncements -- killing all of us "infidels." I don't blame the peaceful Muslims. What would you do if the choice was shut up or die?

6. So who are we at war with?

There is no way we can honestly respond that it is anyone other than the Muslim terrorists. Trying to be politically correct and avoid verbalizing this conclusion can well be fatal. There is no way to win if you don't clearly recognize and articulate who you are fighting.

So with that background, now to the two major questions:

1. Can we lose this war?

2. What does losing really mean?

If we are to win, we must clearly answer these two pivotal questions

We can definitely lose this war, and as anomalous as it may sound, the major reason we can lose is that so many of us simply do not fathom the answer to the second question - What does losing mean?

It would appear that a great many of us think that losing the war means hanging our heads, bringing the troops home and going on about our business, like post Vietnam. This is as far from the truth as one can get.

What losing really means is:

We would no longer be the premier country in the world. The attacks will not subside, but rather will steadily increase. Remember, they want us dead, not just quiet. If they had just wanted us quiet, they would not have produced an increasing series of attacks against us, over the past 18 years. The plan was clearly, for terrorist to attack us, until we were neutered and submissive to them.

We would of course have no future support from other nations, for fear of reprisals and for the reason that they would see, we are impotent and cannot help them.

They will pick off the other non-Muslim nations, one at a time. It will be increasingly easier for them. They already hold Spain hostage. It doesn't matter whether it was right or wrong for Spain to withdraw its troops from Iraq. Spain did it because the Muslim terrorists bombed their train and told them to withdraw the troops. Anything else they want Spain to do will be done. Spain is finished.

The next will probably be France Our one hope on France is that they might see the light and realize that if we don't win, they are finished too, in that they can't resist the Muslim terrorists without us. However, it may already be too late for France. France is already 20% Muslim and fading fast!

If we lose the war, our production, income, exports and way of life will all vanish as we know it. After losing, who would trade or deal with us, if they were threatened by the Muslims. If we can't stop the Muslims, how could anyone else?

The Muslims fully know what is riding on this war, and therefore are completely committed to winning, at any cost. We better know it too and be likewise committed to winning at any cost.

Why do I go on at such lengths about the results of losing? Simple. Until we recognize the costs of losing, we cannot unite and really put 100% of our thoughts and efforts into winning. And it is going to take that 100% effort to win.

So, how can we lose the war?

Again, the answer is simple. We can lose the war by "imploding." That is, defeating ourselves by refusing to recognize the enemy and their purpose, and really digging in and lending full support to the war effort if we are united, there is no way that we can lose. If we continue to be divided, there is no way that we can win!

Let me give you a few examples of how we simply don't comprehend the life and death seriousness of this situation.

President Bush selects Norman Mineta as Secretary of Transportation. Although all of the terrorist attacks were committed by Muslim men between 17 and 40 years of age, Secretary Mineta refuses to allow profiling. Does that sound like we are taking this thing seriously? This is war! For the duration, we are going to have to give up some of the civil rights we have become accustomed to. We had better be prepared to lose some of our civil rights temporarily or we will most certainly lose all of them permanently.

And don't worry that it is a slippery slope. We gave up plenty of civil rights during WWII, and immediately restored them after the victory and in fact added many more since then.

Do I blame President Bush or President Clinton before him?

No, I blame us for blithely assuming we can maintain all of our Political Correctness and all of our civil rights during this conflict and have a clean, lawful, honorable war. None of those words apply to war. Get them out of your head.

Some have gone so far in their criticism of the war and/or the Administration that it almost seems they would literally like to see us lose. I hasten to add that this isn't because they are disloyal. It is because they just don't recognize what losing means. Nevertheless, that conduct gives the impression to the enemy that we are divided and weakening. It concerns our friends, and it does great damage to our cause.

Of more recent vintage, the uproar fueled by the politicians and media regarding the treatment of some prisoners of war, perhaps exemplifies best what I am saying. We have recently had an issue, involving the treatment of a few Muslim prisoners of war, by a small group of our military police. These are the type prisoners who just a few months ago were throwing their own people off buildings, cutting off their hands, cutting out their tongues and otherwise murdering their own people just for disagreeing with Saddam Hussein.

And just a few years ago these same type prisoners chemically killed 400,000 of their own people for the same reason. They are also the same type of enemy fighters, who recently were burning Americans, and dragging their charred corpses through the streets of Iraq.

And still more recently, the same type of enemy that was and is providing videos to all news sources internationally, of the beheading of American prisoners they held

Compare this with some of our press and politicians, who for several days have thought and talked about nothing else but the "humiliating" of some Muslim prisoners -- not burning them, not dragging their charred corpses through the streets, not beheading them, but "humiliating" them.

Can this be for real?

The politicians and pundits have even talked of impeachment of the Secretary of Defense. If this doesn't show the complete lack of comprehension and understanding of the seriousness of the enemy we are fighting, the life and death struggle we are in and the disastrous results of losing this war, nothing can.

To bring our country to a virtual political standstill over this prisoner issue makes us look like Nero playing his fiddle as Rome burned -- totally oblivious to what is going on in the real world. Neither we, nor any other country, can survive this internal strife. Again I say, this does not mean that some of our politicians or media people are disloyal. It simply means that they are absolutely oblivious to the magnitude, of the situation we are in and into which the Muslim terrorists have been pushing us, for many years.

Remember, the Muslim terrorists stated goal is to kill all infidels! That translates into ALL non-Muslims -- not just in the United States, but throughout the world.

We are the last bastion of defense.

We have been criticized for many years as being 'arrogant.' That charge is valid in at least one respect. We are arrogant in that we believe that we are so good, powerful and smart, that we can win the hearts and minds of all those who attack us, and that with both hands tied behind our back, we can defeat anything bad in the world!

We can't!

If we don't recognize this, our nation as we know it will not survive, and no other free country in the world will survive if we are defeated.

And finally, name any Muslim countries throughout the world that allow freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, equal rights for anyone -- let alone everyone, equal status or any status for women, or that have been productive in one single way that contributes to the good of the world.

This has been a long way of saying that we must be united on this war or we will be equated in the history books to the self-inflicted fall of the Roman Empire. If, that is, the Muslim leaders will allow history books to be written or read.

If we don't win this war right now, keep a close eye on how the Muslims take over France in the next 5 years or less. They will continue to increase the Muslim population of France and continue to encroach little by little, on the established French traditions. The French will be fighting among themselves, over what should or should not be done, which will continue to weaken them and keep them from any united resolve. Doesn't that sound eerily familiar?

Democracies don't have their freedoms taken away from them by some external military force. Instead, they give their freedoms away, politically correct piece by politically correct piece.

And they are giving those freedoms away to those who have shown, worldwide that they abhor freedom and will not apply it to you or even to themselves, once they are in power.

They have universally shown that when they have taken over, they then start brutally killing each other over who will be the few who control the masses. Will we ever stop hearing from the politically correct, about the "peaceful Muslims"?

I close on a hopeful note, by repeating what I said above. If we are united, there is no way that we can lose. I hope now after the election, the factions in our country will begin to focus on the critical situation we are in, and will unite to save our country. It is your future we are talking about! Do whatever you can to preserve it.

After reading the above, we all must do this not only for ourselves, but our children, our grandchildren, our country and the world

Whether Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal and that include the Politicians and media of our country and the free world!

Please forward this to any you feels may want, or NEED to read it. Our "leaders" in Congress ought to read it, too. There are those that find fault with our country, but it is obvious to anyone who truly thinks through this, that we must UNITE!

If you would like to see who this fellow is go to this Air Force web
sight and look him up.
Link...

Return of "the Chairman".