Clinton Officials Slam ABC 9/11 Series

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 miniseries 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."

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, Clinton Foundation head Bruce Lindsey and Clinton adviser Douglas Band wrote in the past week to Robert Iger, CEO of ABC's parent, The Walt Disney Co., to express concern over "The Path to 9/11."

They were joined Thursday by Democratic Sens. Harry Reid of Nevada, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, Charles Schumer of New York and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, who sent a joint letter to Iger asking that the the broadcast be cancelled.

ABC says the movie is a dramatization with fictionalized scenes, CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante reports, but they also say it's drawn from sources, including the 9/11 Commission report.

Not so fast, says 9/11 commissioner Richard Ben-Veniste.

"They are representing to the world that this is the 9/11 Commission's findings and it ought to be accurate, and it wasn't," Ben-Veniste said.

The administration letter writers said the miniseries contained factual errors and that their requests to see it had gone unanswered. They said people familiar with the movie had told them about it, but they didn't name them.

"By ABC's own standard, ABC has gotten it terribly wrong," Lindsey and Band said in their letter. "It is unconscionable to mislead the American public about one of the most horrendous tragedies our country has ever known."

ABC said that for dramatic and narrative purposes "the movie contains fictionalized scenes, composite and representative characters and dialogue and time compression."

"We hope viewers will watch the entire broadcast of the finished film before forming an opinion about it," ABC said.

Clinton Foundation spokesman Jay Carson said "no reputable organization should dramatize 9/11 for a profit."

In the senators' letter, they questioned the political leanings behind the miniseries.

"Frankly, that ABC and Disney would consider airing a program that could be construed as right-wing political propaganda on such a grave and important event involving the security of our nation is a discredit both to the Disney brand and to the legacy of honesty built at ABC by honorable individuals from David Brinkley to Peter Jennings," the letter said.

The letter writers pointed out examples of scenes they had been told were in the miniseries but that they said never happened. Albright objected to a scene that she was told showed her insisting on warning the Pakistani government before an air strike on Afghanistan, and that showed her as the one who made the warning.

"The scene as explained to me is false and defamatory," she said.

Berger objected to a scene that he was told showed him refusing to authorize an attack on Osama bin Laden despite the request from CIA officials.

"The fabrication of this scene (of such apparent magnitude) cannot be justified under any reasonable definition of dramatic license," he wrote.

Lindsey and Band objected to advertisements for the miniseries, which they said suggested that Mr. Clinton wasn't paying enough attention to the threat of terrorism.

"While ABC is promoting 'The Path to 9/11' as a dramatization of historical fact, in truth it is a fictitious rewriting of history that will be misinterpreted by millions of Americans," they said.

The five-hour miniseries, scheduled to be broadcast on Sunday and Monday, is set to run without commercial interruption. Director David Cunningham said it was a massive undertaking, with close to 250 speaking parts, more than 300 sets and a budget of $40 million. Cunningham has said he shot 550 hours of film. The cast includes Harvey Keitel, Patricia Heaton and Donnie Wahlberg.