We've added a panel to this cartoon every year since 2002. Sadly this year could have been a repeat of last year, because not much has changed in regard to Iran -- Bush is still waging a war of words, and Ahamadinejad is coming to New York again. Instead, for the fifth anniversary, we're highlighting people who seem to prefer deflecting responsibility for 9/11 over identifying and confronting our enemies.
Little Green Footballs notes that the Council on American Islamic Relations is Pressuring Schools to Whitewash 9/11. Quoting an article from the The Sacramento Bee:
Some Muslims say the texts unfairly paint all people of their faith as terrorists. They say frequent references to “Arab terrorists,” “Muslim terrorists,” “Muslim extremists,” or “Islamic fundamentalists” give schoolchildren a negative impression of their religion.“Because these terms are repeated so many times, it’s very alarming,” said Maren Shawesh, of the Sacramento chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations. “We don’t want these younger students to grow up with that perception of Islam and Muslims.”
The ABC miniseries movie The Path to 9/11 apparently puts some of the blame for that day on inaction by the Clinton administration. Democrats have complained about the fictionalizing of historical details, and now Variety reports: Pols pound 'Path'; Under fire, ABC mulls yanking mini. Dick Morris has responded to some of the complaints. And even The New York Times praised The Path to 9/11"
I can't comment on the movie, but if it's essentially accurate in the required summation and fictionalization of events, then the movie should stand whether the particulars match history or not. "Fake but accurate" is not an acceptable standard for journalism, but it is absolutely necessary for art. And this is a movie not a documentary.
And lastly, five years later there's no shortage of conspiracy theories about 9/11, one even from a Florida Democratic candidate. It shouldn't even be necessary, but some people are vigilantly debunking of the deniers:
Screw Loose Change by Mark Iradian is an excellent site dedicated to debunking a video known as "Loose Change" that propagates leftist 9/11 conspiracy theories.
MEMRI has just released a new online documentary: The Arab and Iranian Reaction to 9/11 -- Five Years Later. It uses footage from Middle East television and is narrated by actor Ron Silver. One quote from the film by an Middle East columnist: "I have a sneaking suspicion that George W. Bush was involved in the operations of September 11, as was Colin Powell." (See YouTube trailer here.)
UPDATE -- Sept. 11: Michelle Malkin has more on the conspiracy theorists or, as she more aptly calls them, the 9/11 tinfoil hat brigade.
UPDATE II: Hot Air has an excellent video debate between the "Loose Change" conspiracy nuts and the Popular Mechanics editors, who wrote the book Debunking 9/11 Myths. The value of this video is its demonstration of how conspiracy theorists operate, which is to take their subjective, ignorant assertions and cloak them in scientific jargon, all the while presenting no evidence to support their "theories" and completely evading contradictory evidence. In other words, a total disregard for reason.
UPDATE III -- Sept. 12: Watching the bonus video included in the Hot Air link above, I realized that describing the "Loose Change" guys as "nuts" was far too kind. An 11-year-old boy was killed on one of the 9/11 flights. Prior to the flight, the boy expressed a fear of flying, and his father reassured his son about death. Perfectly normal behavior, and utterly tragic in hindsight. Yet one of the "Loose Change" guys takes this as "evidence" that the father was in on some conspiracy. They mock the death of the boy, the grief of the father, and all those who died and lost loved ones that day. The word for that is not "nuts"; it's sadistic.
UPDATE IV -- Sept. 13: If you had any doubts that the "Bush Did It!" seniment existed, see this photo at LGF.
And the New York Post published an editorial by PM editor James B. Meigs that puts the conspiracy theorists in their place: CONSPIRACY CRANKS. (via InstaPundit)
In every single case, we found that the very facts used by conspiracy theorists to support their fantasies are mistaken, misunderstood or deliberately falsified.Posted by Forkum at September 8, 2006 04:28 PM
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