&eiLefty Blog “America’s Blog” – in spite of stories of only righties getting advanced copies of The Path to 9/11 – did get a copy and gives this hysterical review:

“Okay, I just watched the Sandy Berger scene. It is beyond defamatory. The reports you’ve read do not do it justice.

We are 1 hour 54 minutes into the film, it is the culmination of the entire first two hours of the film. CIA agents on the ground with Commander Massoud have found bin Laden. They have him pin-pointed in a house. They are looking at the house with binoculars. They are on the phone with the CIA, that has patched in Clinton National Security Adviser Sandy Berger. Berger, like a bumbling ass, sits there, looking every which way, refusing to give them clearance to grab bin Laden who is in their literal grasp. The woman at the CIA has to lecture Berger about how intelligence works, like he’s some kind of moron. Berger literally looks like a deer caught in the headlights. He’s clueless, an idiot, a moron, unfit to serve in any public office – hell, I wouldn’t hire the guy to mow my lawn. After a very long pause, the agents are begging Berger to take some responsibility, stop being such a wuss, stop trying to cover his chicken-shit ass, you see Berger reach forward and the phone line goes dead. Clearly Berger has ended the call. Osama gets away. And Sandy Berger is personally responsible for killing 3,000 Americans and bringing down the World Trade Center twin towers.

Not only is this scene FAR MORE defamatory than any review I’ve seen to date, this is THE KEY SCENE of the entire first half of the movie. You can’t cut it, or a good portion of the movie just makes no sense. But Disney/ABC can’t leave the scene is because it simply did not happen. CIA agents weren’t on the ground, they weren’t with Massoud, nobody had bin Laden in their grasp, and Berger never refused to give the order to get the guy.

The entire culmination of the first half of the show is one big fat lie. This isn’t just a small scene with a small error. It’s THE scene and it NEVER HAPPENED AT ALL.

Of course we know that this scene did happen. As I have said, I know for a fact that ops WERE on the ground, and in fact Col. Buzz Patterson told us that. Berger a “bumbling fool”, well if you asked some of those who actually had contact with him during his tenure with Clinton, you’d find they would concure.

Again, from Col Patterson’s Dereliction of Duty:

“THE WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM was buzzing. It was fall 1998 and the National Security Council (NSC) and the “intelligence community” were tracking the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, the shadowy mastermind of terrorist attacks on American targets overseas. “They’ve successfully triangulated his location,” yelled a “Sit Room” watch stander. “We’ve got him.”

Beneath the West Wing of the White House, behind a vaulted steel door, the Sit Room staff sprang into action. The watch officer notified National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, “Sir, we’ve located bin Laden. We have a two-hour window to strike.” Characteristic of the Clinton administration, the weapons of choice would be Tomahawk missiles. No clandestine “snatch” by our Special Operations Forces. No penetrating bombers or high-speed fighter aircraft flown by our Air Force and Navy forces. No risk of losing American lives.

Berger ambled down the stairwell and entered the Sit Room. He picked up the phone at one of the busy controller consoles and called the president. Amazingly, President Clinton was not available. Berger tried again and again. Bin Laden was within striking distance. The window of opportunity was closing fast. The plan of attack was set and the Tomahawk crews were ready. For about an hour Berger couldn’t get the commander in chief on the line. Though the president was always accompanied by military aides and the Secret Service, he was somehow unavailable. Berger stalked the Sit Room, anxious and impatient.

Finally, the president accepted Berger’s call. There was discussion, there were pauses—and no decision. The president wanted to talk with his secretaries of defense and state. He wanted to study the issue further. Berger was forced to wait. The clock was ticking. The president eventually called back. He was still indecisive. He wanted more discussion. Berger alternated between phone calls and watching the clock.

The NSC watch officer was convinced we had the right target. The intelligence sources were conclusive. The president, however, wanted a guaranteed hit or nothing at all. This time, it was nothing at all. We didn’t pull the trigger. We “studied” the issue until it was too late—the window of opportunity closed.”

As ABC has always made abundantly clear the scenes are composites but they do accurately display the actions – or rather inactions of Berger, Albright and their boss.

H/t to this from Patterico who is dubunking the hysterics of America’s Blog as well as others moonbats like Glenn Greenwald (not even worth a link) who at this point are just making stuff up.