Me
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Joined: 16 Jul 2006
Posts: 431
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 Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 1:18 pm Post subject: National Geographic Censors 9/11 Story |
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I must say right up front, I'm no fan of Peter Lance. He pushes the strategic incompetence argument which is false. This idea that Bin Laden "outwitted" our intelligence agencies is absurd but it goes to show just how far the level of censorship has gone in this country. Lance's heavily watered down version of the 9/11 story is even being stifled by the corporate elite.
Bin laden is an asset of the CIA. Make no mistake of it. Lance's version is almost like that of Michael Moore where it was monumental bumbling stupidity & ignorance that allowed 9/11 to occur as opposed to careful inside planning. This opens the door for the scapegoating of lower level officials in the FBI, CIA etc. in order to exonerate guys like Cheney who were really calling the shots and overseeing the entire operation.
http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/191092/3/
Author: Book about 9/11 was watered down for TV
| Quote: | What was already expected to be a controversial documentary that charges that Osama bin Laden's top spy infiltrated three different branches of U.S. national security has gotten even hotter, with veteran investigative reporter Peter Lance calling the TV documentary based on his book a whitewash that's "like doing 'Schindler's List' from Hitler's perspective."
The documentary, "Triple Cross," is scheduled to air on the National Geographic Channel Aug. 28, with Lance's book of the same name set for publication a few weeks later. But their accounts of the way bin Laden's master spy Ali A. Mohamed outwitted the CIA, the FBI and the U.S. Army may be overshadowed by the acrimonious war of words between Lance and the network.
Lance, who in early treatments of the "Triple Cross" script functioned as the on-screen narrator, was so infuriated by the program's eventual direction that he refused to appear. National Geographic's producers at one point held back transcripts of interviews they were supposed to share with Lance, and still won't let him see the final documentary unless he signs what they call a "non-disparagement agreement."
As the dispute has mushroomed, some sources interviewed for the "Triple Cross" documentary have contacted National Geographic, asking to be removed from the program.
"We went in under the impression that this documentary was based on Peter Lance's book and his findings," said Russ Caso, chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., whose office has investigated the Mohamed case. "But after a while, we didn't think National Geographic was doing a 100 percent job ... We felt we weren't looking at an unbiased piece."
Though screen adaptations of novels often turn rancorous, it's virtually unknown in the world of documentaries, where authors usually work closely with filmmakers who buy the rights to their books. "It's probably happened before," said John Ford, executive vice president of programming at National Geographic Channel, "but I can't tell you when. I certainly don't know of a case."
Ford says his network stands behind the documentary, which underwent its finishing touches last week. And he strongly denies that it's a puff piece or whitewash.
"It exposes how different parts of the U.S. national security apparatus failed to connect the dots on Ali Mohamed over a decade and a half," he said. "They all had information that could have shut him down, if they'd shared it. It's like a Tom Clancy thriller, but true."
Mohamed turned up in FBI surveillance photos as early as 1989, training radical Muslims who would go on to assassinate Jewish militant Meir Kahane and detonate a truck bomb at the World Trade Center. He not only avoided arrest, but managed to become an FBI informant at the same time he was smuggling bin Laden in and out of Afghanistan, writing most of the al-Qaida terrorist manual and helping plan attacks on American troops in Somalia and U.S. embassies in Africa.
Finally arrested in 1998, Mohamed cut a deal with the Justice Department. His whereabouts remain shrouded in official secrecy.
Lance, an Emmy winner who spent nine years as a producer-reporter at ABC, was one of the first journalists on the trail of the Mohamed story.
"The FBI allowed the chief spy for al-Qaida to operate right under their noses," Lance said. "They let him plan the bombings of the embassies in Africa right under their noses. Two hundred twenty-four people were killed and more than 4,000 wounded because of their negligence."
When the FBI finally realized what was happening, he said, it buried the story to hide not just its kid-gloves treatment of Mohamed, but other misbehavior by agents in the case.
But early versions of the documentary script, Lance said, made it look just the opposite. FBI agents and Justice Department officials were interviewed sympathetically and at length, he said. "The overwhelming impression was that the FBI was on top of Ali Mohamed," Lance said. "It was outrageous ... They hijacked my research and watered down key findings in order to appease some prominent feds." |
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