HOLY SHIT! This is probably the most reasonable, rational, sane statement I've heard from a democrat in close to 5 years! To think , "shunning Michael Moore", would have been a good idea. Moore, a fat pig, limosousine-liberal, seemingly only interested in indicting this country for every wrong in the world and providing an endless stream of propaganda to our enemies, an ANTI-patriot if ever there was one, ..... ( I could go on and on about this loathesome fat-pig idiot... OK one more, the guy that is tipping the scales at 400+ pounds is now complaining about healthcare..) Thank you Captain for a glimpse of what sanity once looked like. I'll include you on the very small list of Democrats I don't detest.
I'm not trying to get into a pissing match with you, but I don't understand your problem with this series. What they presented last night was precisely what we have been told for years, namely that the Clinton administration treated terrorism as a law enforcement issue, with all the red tape that entails. That they had a chance to grab or kill bin Ladin in afghanistan but killed the mission because they were worried about the fallout if children got killed. That the cruise missile attack failed because the State Department warned the Pakistani government which tipped bin Ladin. We know from the 9/11 Commission that disparate elements in the federal government had the keys to unraveling 9/11 but failure to cooperate and share information doomed it. That an FBI field office was on to the pilot training but they were frustrated by suits in Washington. That legalistic hurdles erected by the Clinton administration, principally Jamie Gorelick, made investigation difficult. I think it is disingenuous to deride this series as overly fictionalized. I can understand that the players don't like being made to look like idiots after the fact, but you accept certain risks in public life and that is one of them. The parts that were fictionalized appear to me to be minor, in context and in accordance with what has been made public.
Try to spin this any way you want, but the bottom line, and it won't be lost on the public, is that Clinton & Co had the chance to take a real bad guy out and blew it. All because they had to pull their finger out of their ass and wet it to see which way the wind blows. Our good friend, Many Z, posted elsewhere about how 911 should have been approached as a LEGAL matter with the enemy PROSECUTED, not as a military action. This is all you need to understand about how liberals, and especially modern day Democrats, view the world. I always thought Jimmie Carter would go down as the worst president post WWII. Now I think Clinton has a real good chance of passing him. What an honor.
ZZZ, "Bush had the world on his side, any collateral damage would have been understood....yet he let Bin Laden escape...so he could go after Saddam. Tell me AAA, if you can be honest, why the repuliklans continue to ignore this fact? " I think it is a valid point, and I am curious to see how the docudrama addresses it. It was one battle however, in the context of a successful campaign. One important distinction is that Bush at least made an attempt to get him. You can quibble about the execution, but I am reasonably sure if Gore had been President , he would not have invaded Afghanistan. Another factor is the border issue with Pakistan. I doubt they would have been agreeable to large numbers of American troops suddenly appearing on their border, particularly since many in the highest levels of their military support bin Ladin and helped create the Taliban. Of course, we didn't have to ask their permission, but it would have made our life much more difficult if they had turned hostile on us.
The first part was excellent. The producers took some obvious stabs at clinton, openly suggesting that the missile launches were directly related to the Lewinsky affair for instance. Aside from that and a few other pointed swipes at Clinton, etc..., the film was not overly political. Considering how well Richard Clarke's character came across, I'm sure he was instrumental in reconstructing the first few board meetings in which Berger,Albright were portrayed as paralyzed with indecision. Not surprising, considering Clarke took it upon himself to apologize to the 9-11 widows and victims... "...Your government failed you, I failed you...." The Democrats now look ridiculous after demanding the film be pulled last week. Historians will not be referencing this film to determine legacies. (Not exactly the same genre of film, as Mr. Barbara Streisand playing Ronnie "Mommie" Reagan in his life-story.) It's doubtful that Part II will go as far the Iraq war. That's where Bush has the potential to look VERY, VERY bad.
Looks to me like the difference is the sun night episode is exactly what happened, while on mon night it is a dramatization. That is what it says, isn't it?
Democrats are going to lose again this November. Sad, that half of this country can't come up with anything more constructive to say than to bitch about Bush. How stupid. They have lost 2 times for the same reason and it sure looks they will be losing this time around too... With all due respect, what a bunch of idiots...(Democrat politicians)