The ABC 9-11 Movie

As I mentioned yesterday, we watched the 9-11 movie. I wasn't intending to watch it but I did so because the Democrats tried to get it pulled. Censorship never works because it makes people curious about what would cause such a reaction. I'm glad we watched it, I thought it was important for my kids to understand what's going on. We will be flying to Florida in the spring (the Lord willing :-) and now they will know why they have to take off their shoes and why they aren't allowed a bottle of water on the plane. Plus it's important for them to understand what this war is about and why the terrorists want to attack us. We are at war and they need to understand why.

I thought the movie was interesting and watchable. Did I believe everything in it? No, I didn't believe for a second the scenes with Richard Clark. They reminded me of the scenes in a sitcom where an event is described from the perspective of the different people involved and each person tells the story with themselves being the center of attention and making themselves look better than everyone else. The scenes didn't ring true. And I didn't buy the fact that George Tenet could make the decision to get bin Laden or have the final say so about the drone planes. I believe those types of decisions would rest higher up. It is clear from this movie and the words of Clinton himself, that he didn't get bin Laden when he had the chance.

I was struck by how many people have the blood of the victims on their hands. So many times this could have been stopped but wasn't. So many times people had suspicions but were stopped from taking actions. And from this movie it is clear why Bush is against the Piser courts. I couldn't believe that we couldn't search the laptop of a suspected terrorist, I was yelling at the screen (this I think was the biggest surprise, I think I missed this story when I was reading about the terrorist all these years). That judge has the blood of our fellow Americans on his hands.

I was also struck by what a terrible ally we are. I already knew it because I remember how we let the Kurds down after the first Gulf war. The Northern Alliance isn't the first ally that we allowed to be killed, the Kurds were killed because of us as well. And they won't be the last.

I'm glad I watched the movie because there is something about seeing all the events unfold that helps to put all the bits and pieces together so that you can understand the big picture. I'm a visual person, I knew about all these events but having the picture helps.

This movie was also helpful because it reminded me that there are Muslims out there who don't want the violence associated with their religion. Many of the terrorists plots were thwarted by the efforts of these people who came forward and said they don't want this element taking over their religion. Without their help, we would have had even more incidents of terrorism and wouldn't have caught those responsible for the first attack on the Towers.

And as I mentioned in my last post, we were really saddened by the story of John O'Neil. We cried during the scene at the end when it was clear that he was going to die (I did prepare the girls for his death but Samantha really took it hard). It's been five years since the last time they saw the Towers get hit and fall. Samantha had forgotten the image. She cried for a while after the movie and I was beginning to wonder if I made a mistake letting her watch it. But she was OK the next morning. I think kids need to be warned about terrorists, in the same way we warn them about pedophiles.

Tags: ABC, 9-11