(Name-mce) ListServ Peddling "The Path to 9/11" to Kids

[bill at billhowe.org]

Note: Interesting article passed on by a subscriber for posting

http://www.counterpunch.org/borowski09072006.html

September 7, 2006


Disney Teams with Scholastic


Peddling "The Path to 9/11" to Kids


By JOHN BOROWSKI

Disney/ABC's "docudrama" "The Path to 9/11", is a slanderous and fictional
illusion about that tragic day five years ago. It will not only be peddled
on our public airwaves, the corporate media is seeking to manipulate our
cherished public school teachers. "The Path to 9/11" an ABC miniseries,
touted on their tagline as "based on the 9/11 Commission Report" plans to
rewrite history and further invoke the bogeyman of terrorism. It airs at
8:00 P.M. (east coast time) on Sunday, September 10th and Monday, September
11th .

100,000 letters apparently were sent to high school teachers so they may
collude in this travesty and only muddle the real history behind the tragic
day of 9/11. Scholastic, Inc., known to children nationwide as the home of
"Clifford, the Big Red Dog" is the catalyst behind the mailing. Go to the
Scholastic website and you may download the "Setup and Prepare lessons" for
September 7th and 8th . There is a follow-up lesson for 9/12. They are
misleading and woefully deficient lessons. Crucial information about the
"apparent" Iraq-9/11 connection, the origin of most of the 9/11 terrorists
and hard data about Osama Bin Laden is missing in action. Disney and
Scholastic have no shame and little integrity for a serious investigation
into the 9/11 tragedies.

Shouldn't we applaud such a civics lesson that ensures a logical and factual
discussion surrounding 9/11? If we ever needed a serious dialogue it is now.
Yet, historians and educators like myself would probably point to five key
points that cast a dark cloud of suspicion on the ABC/Disney production:

* Richard Clarke, the respected counter-terrorism czar for President Clinton
(and consultant for ABC News) describes a key scene in the movie. In the
footage, a CIA agent places calls to get an okay on a plan to kill Osama Bin
Laden: yet, a senior Clinton official hangs up the phone. Clarke states it
is "180 degrees from what happen." A Bush and Clinton counter-terrorism
official, Roger Cressey, calls it, "something straight out of Disney and
fantasyland. It's factually wrong."

* Once again, the Washington Post is accused in the film of blowing the
secret that American undercover experts were tracking Bin Laden's satellite
phone calls: a blatant falsehood.

* If the "Path to 9/11" program is "based on the 9/11 Commission Report" why
was only the Republican co-chair of that Commission, Tom Kean, asked to be
an advisor?

* Why are conservative media outlets screening the program: is this another
example of the liberal media myth?

* Lastly, historic and the 9/11 Commission evidence shows that President
Bill Clinton used every effort to track down Bin Laden. The chief script
writer of "Path to 9/11" Cyrus Nowraseteh chooses to rewrite history by
depicting Clinton as lacking the will to stop terrorism? Ironically, Mr.
Nowraseteh is a friend of Rush Limbaugh.

The discussion guide for teachers includes some noble goals: encourage
students to gain a global understanding of cultures, engage in critical
thinking skills and promote media literacy? Media literacy? If their trusted
teachers are encouraging high school students to watch this film, isn't that
validation enough of its accuracy? Only the most fluent and well-read
teachers could lead their students through this media fiasco.

Teachers must give facts, Scholastic doesn't, ABC misleads

On Student Sheets #1 provided by Scholastic (the last page) it states, "as
part of the war on terror, President Bush has led the United States into
Afghanistan and Iraq and has reorganized the national government in an
attempt to combat terrorist activity." Really? Mr. Bush misled Americans to
believe that Iraq had connections to 9/11. Where is the activity sheet that
discusses that 15 of the 19 terrorists on 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia? Where
is the CIA data on how Bin Laden was trained and supplied with equipment in
the 1980's by US interests? This "fact sheet" claims that Pakistan's
President Pervez Mu sharraf is an ally on the war on terror? Didn't ABC just
report that Pakistan is offering Osama Bin Laden a safe haven in Pakistan?
Reorganize our national government? How? Is the undermining of civil
liberties, the illegal wiretapping of phones and the deliberate desecration
of the Bill of Rights the new centerpiece of a democratic republic?

The general and misleading questions in this "discussion packet" are far
from a farce. It stinks of the worst form of a lie: omission. They denigrate
the role of young adults as civic- minded decision makers. A potentially
healthy discussion is instead a healthy serving of fear and falsehoods. This
is a dangerous exercise that attempts to simplify and sanitize the truth: at
the expense of millions of young minds. During these contentious times in
our democracy where Muslims are grouped together as "Islamofacists" and akin
to the Nazis and high ranking government officials hide facts and distort
information: our citizens are entitled to taste the truth. To enlist
teachers to poison that fountain of knowledge is beyond contempt. The shrill
propaganda machine of commercialized television only breeds more apathy,
fear and bumper sticker patriotism.

Teachers, if you have received that letter from Scholastic, send it back to
Scholastic's CEO Richard Robinson and tell him you are ashamed of
Scholastic. Explain to your students that "good television" doesn't make for
good history. Contact Robert Iger (CEO of the Walt Disney Company 500 S.
Buena Vista Street Burbank, CA 91521) and insist that ABC tell the truth.
Overt and calculated propaganda for any political cause has no place on the
airwaves or in our public schools. Teachers refuse to be bamboozled, don't
play into the fear game: teach facts. Your students will only make our
country stronger.

John F. Borowski, teacher of 26 years enlists citizens to fight the
corporate invasion of schools. His pieces have appeared in the NY Times,
UTNE Reader, Commondreams and other sites, he may be reached at
jenjill at peak.org

 

 





Bill Howe 
 <http://www.billhowe.org/> http://www.billhowe.org

 
Past-President 

National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME)
 <http://www.nameorg.org/> http://www.nameorg.org

 

 

 

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