Reply #62: ABC: 9/11 program criticism 'premature'

[Ignacio Upton]

ABC: 9/11 program criticism 'premature'

By DEEPTI HAJELA, Associated Press Writer 4 minutes ago

ABC defended a miniseries on the events leading up to the Sept. 11 attacks after Clinton administration officials said it distorts history so drastically that it should be corrected or shelved.

"No one has seen the final version of the film, because the editing process is not yet complete, so criticisms of film specifics are premature and irresponsible," the network said in a statement Thursday.

Former administration officials and Senate Democrats said in letters to the head of the network's parent company that the "The Path to 9/11" was "terribly wrong."

Former President Clinton, speaking with news reporters after a Democratic fundraiser in Arkansas on Thursday, said he hadn't seen the ABC film.

"But I think they ought to tell the truth, particularly if they are going to claim it is based on the 9/11 Commission report," he said. "They shouldn't have scenes that are directly contradicted by the findings of the 9/11 report."

The Washington Post, citing a network executive it did not name, reported in its Friday editions that ABC plans to make minor changes in response to the complaints from former Clinton administration officials

The ABC executive said the "adjustments and refinements" are "intended to make clearer that it was general indecisiveness" by federal officials that left the country vulnerable to terrorist attacks, "not any one individual," the Post reported. It said the executive requested anonymity because the network is making only written comments.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060908/ap_en_tv/911_film_clinton_officials