I find it funny how the left demanded that Fahrenheit 9/11 be taken as gospel, as a TRUE documentary, while at the same time believe the new ABC mini-series is a work of fiction. Newsbusters has all the facts to dispute the lefts rantings:
Regardless of Clarke’s lack of credibility, as a result of his position on what he perceived were inaccuracies in the ABC miniseries, TP’s editor, Judd Legum – who, like Kos, has apparently also not seen this “offensive” program for himself – concluded:
In short, this scene — which makes the incendiary claim that the Clinton administration passed on a surefire chance to kill or catch bin Laden — never happened. It was completely made up by [screenwriter] Nowrasteh.
Really? Well, pages 110 through 115 of the 9/11 Commission report quite disagreed. In this section, subtitled “The CIA Develops a Capture Plan,” the commissioners chronicled a 1997 – 1998 strategy to capture or kill bin Laden in Afghanistan:
A compound of about 80 concrete or mud-brick buildings surrounded by a 10-foot wall, Tarnak Farms was located in an isolated desert area on the outskirts of the Kandahar airport. CIA officers were able to map the entire site, identifying the houses that belonged to Bin Ladin’s wives and one where Bin Ladin himself was most likely to sleep. Working with the tribals, they drew up plans for the raid. They ran two complete rehearsals in the United States during the fall of 1997.
By early 1998, planners at the Counterterrorist Center were ready to come back to the White House to seek formal approval.
Does it sound like Nowrasteh “completely made up” this plan? As to who stopped this covert action, the Commission wasn’t sure:
Impressions vary as to who actually decided not to proceed with the operation. Clarke told us that the CSG [Counterterrorist Security Group headed by Clarke] saw the plan as flawed. He was said to have described it to a colleague on the NSC staff as “half-assed” and predicted the principals would not approve it. “Jeff” thought the decision had been made at the cabinet level. Pavitt thought that it was Berger’s doing, though perhaps on Tenet’s advice. Tenet told us that given the recommendation of his chief operations officers, he alone had decided to “turn off” the operation. He had simply informed Berger, who had not pushed back. Berger’s recollection was similar. He said the plan was never presented to the White House for a decision.
Hmmm. So, the 9/11 Commission wasn’t really sure who was responsible for putting the kibosh on this plan. However, given Clarke’s lack of credibility, and the fact that Sandy Berger was so intent on covering up the missteps of the Clinton administration that he actually stole documents from the National Archive just prior to testifying before the Commission, their take on this matter seems easily discounted.
And that’s just one of the lefts complaints. It all boils down to the fact that they cannot stand to hear that their god, Bill Clinton, screwed the pooch, and badly. So they go in attack mode, as usual. Deny, smear, attack. Modus operandi for the left.
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