Controversial 9/11 Film Airs Abroad -- Here Are Edits -- More Changes in U.S.?

By: E&P Staff [The article that follows was written before the film aired in the U.S. llater Sunday night. The U.S. version was very similar, possibly exactly the same, as the edited film described below. An article about the U.S. version appears elsewhere on this site.]

With the first part of the controversial "The Path to 9/11" movie set to air on ABC in the U.S. tonight, no one yet knows exactly what scene or lines may have been cut since criticism of the movie ramped up this week.

However, the film has already aired in some countries abroad, and one enterprising viewer in New Zealand has put up several clips (with liberal commentary) at YouTube. The clips reveal some significant edits, but by no means the elimination of certain scenes or flashpoints that so alarmed liberal critics and former Clinton officials (and Bill Clinton himself).

A link to the clips was posted at the popular liberal blog DailyKos this afternoon. At the same time, many conservative sites are also monitoring the edits, concerned about ABC caving in to liberals' demands and noting carefully what has gotten trimmed or re-cast.

In other words, everyone across the political spectrum has their eyes on the edits, which were made under pressure.

The two scenes that received the most attention this week were one involving a near-attack on bin Laden's camp in Afghanistan called off by Clinton aide Sandy Berger, and the other in which Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was fingered for tipping off bin Laden about a missile attack by notifying Pakistan in advance. E&P earlier this week screened the review copy of the film, before last-minute edits.

The Berger scene, E&P now observes via YouTube, remains largely intact -- at least for New Zealand -- but no longer shows him ending the conversation by suddenly cutting the phone call. It does drop some of the on-the-scene shots from Afghanistan that underscored how close we were to bin Laden's camp. (That may be because, according to the 9/11 Commission, this specific episode did not take place.) The scene still cuts directly to Afghan rebel Massood calling Americans "cowards."

The Albright scene has new dialogue, and some old dialogue cut, but still indicts her for telling Pakistan about the attack, as required since cruise missiles had to go over Pakistani territory and might have set off nuclear fears, Albright explains.

Another key scene, in which a composite CIA agent named "Kirk" complains about Clinton's lack of action, is now softened somewhat in the dialogue. A sharp line about the administration viewing terrorism as just a "law and order problem" now appears to be missing. But the scene still cuts to the president's famous assertion that he did not have "sexual relations" with Monica Lewinsky. In the new edit, however, Richard Clarke, the terror expert, now says that Clinton's people had assured him that the president was not distracted from terrorism by the sex scandal.

Again: This was the New Zealand edit, as clipped at YouTube, and could possibly be different in the U.S. Sunday night. It is also airing on the BBC in England and in other countries.