Scholastic Picks The BBC

I've just started going through Scholastic's new study guide for The Path to 9/11.

They advise students to read the 9/11 Commision Report to address inconsistencies with the movie and consult the BBC for news. Instead of an introductory letter from Commission Chair Kean, it comes with a letter from Scholastic's CEO.

This program is highly controversial because:

As a docudrama, it contains imagined scenes that some of the political figures who lived through the period say are misleading and inaccurate.

It is an emotional portrayal of a period leading up to one of the searing events of our time—one which I personally witnessed first-hand from our Scholastic offices (less than a mile from the World Trade Center site). Several of our employees’ family members died in the attack.

It is being broadcast in a period just before the 2006 elections. A major election issue is the relationship between terrorism, the war in Iraq, and other conflicts in the Middle East and Afghanistan. As such, The Path to 9/11 is viewed by some as political and partisan.

Comments

[Sticky Notes]

At WND, I'm reading the writer also used Buzz Patterson's book, "Dereliction of Duty", as a basis, and that has not ever been brought out, to the best of my knowledge.

[Phoenix]

Yeah, fine - dish out the caveat that it is a 'docudrama' as opposed to real live footage and leave it at that. But to tell the students to read the 9-11 Commission Report? Did the commission even read the damn thing? Worst: Sending anyone to the BBC for news. That is the equivalent of siding with the enemy these days.

[rwilymz]

Reading the 9-11 Commission report is like reading the owners manual for your washing machine. again... and again... and again. Great as a sedative, without the risk of drug interaction.

[Peg C.]

"As such, The Path to 9/11 is viewed by some as political and partisan."

Taranto would have fun with that "some."