McCain RNC Video 'Tribute' Links Iran to 9/11

Last night, while Americans sat quietly expecting to watch a video 'tribute' to victims of the terrorist attacks  on September 11, 2001--John McCain took advantage of America's good will to showed a video falsely linking Iran to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

At 9:11pm (CST), the MSNBC coverage cut to a video being projected onto the main screen at the RNC.   At that point, Tom Brokaw introduced the video as follows:

Tom Brokaw: OK, let's go now, Keith, if we can, down to the floor.  We want to share with our viewers the 'Tribute To The Victims of 9/11.'

So, that was the introduction the networks gave to the video--no doubt lifted from a press release given to them by the RNC.  Normal practice, I suppose.  But here is the astoundingly immoral thing that happened next, rather than show a video 'tribute' to the victims of 9/11, the McCain team showed a video 'history' of 9/11 that began like this:

(Fade to black as ominous slow piano music plays)

(Fade in:  iconic image of Iranian revolutionaries from the late 1970s holding American hostages)

Narrator:  The first attack occured in Iran. 

(MSNBC feed now shows picture of Iranian hostage crisis with title '9/11 Video  Tribute')

Narrator: 444 days--America held hostage.

(Cut to: image of 1998 Al Qaeda bombings of Kenya and Somalia)

Narrator: Then again.

(Cut to: second image of 1998 Al Qaeda bombing of  Kenya and  Somalia)

Narrator: And again.

(Cut to: image of 2000 Al Qaeda bombing of USS Cole)

Narrator:  At our embassies.

(Cut to: close up image of 2000 Al Qaeda bombing of USS Cole)

Narrator: Our navy.

(Cut to: image of generic crowd of Middle Eastern men waving machine guns)

Narrator: They grew ever more bold.  Their call was, 'On those who believe in God, and hopes for reward--'

(Cut to: image of Osama Bin Laden firing automatic rifle)

Narrator: 'To obey God's command to kill Americans.'

(Fade to black)

(Fade in:slow motion video of smoke rising from top of WTC.)

Narrator: And kill us they did.  This time on American soil. The date was September 11th--9/11.

(Violent burst of flames slashes through Tower 2--the second plane. Crash is punctuated by high-pitched flourish of music followed by slow rising fireball)

(Cut to: video images of towers burning)

Narrator:  This enemy sword to our destruction has been at war with us for decades. This we now know.

(Cut to: video of Tower 1 collapsing)

The 'tribute' continued for several more minutes, showing video of firefighters and rescue workers, other scenes of destruction.

Everyone in the United States has inevitably seen dozens of actual tribute videos to those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.  In most cases, these videos overlay photographs of those individuals who died with the video of the burning towers.  There is, one could argue, a familiar vocabulary for tributes to the victims of 9/11.

Rather than follow that standard and recognizable tribute format, however, McCain's video presented a political argument about Iran's links to 9/11. 

Never before had a major broadcast video so blatantly attempted to connect the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979 to the Al Qaeda terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Never before John McCain's night at the Republican National Convention.

Interestingly, Keith Olbermann responded to the imagery in the McCain video immediately after it was shown by apologizing to MSNBC viewers for imagery that could be construed as a political exploitation of the emotions of 9/11.

No doubt, showing a 9/11 video at a political convention was emotional exploitation.  But it was also something much worse:  it was blatant historical revisionism.  It was a cynical attempt to claim attacks on Americans--1979 and 2001--were carried out by the same 'enemy.' 

What Olbermann should have apologized for was MSNBC accidental transformation of their network into a mechanism of the most cynical kind of Orwellian propaganda.

John McCain did not make the link between 9/11 and Iran in his RNC speech, but we can be certain that the video 'tribute' is a sign of what is to come on the campaign trail between now and November.

The media's responsibility from this point forward is clear:  either they can sit back and let McCain's historical revisionism stand or they can move quickly to debunk it.

Either way, it seems apparent that major broadcast outlets need to take a more proactive role in pre-screening for blatant historical inaccuracies any video a political party plans to show during a national broadcast--or at least preparing to immediately debunk politically motivated inaccuracies.

John McCain will no doubt continue to exploit the pain of 9/11 in some vain hope of political gain, and will continue to push historical revisionism about the links between Iran and 9/11.  The media,  if it does its job, can be a crucial counterweight that prevents false and militaristic propaganda from flowing freely on our public airwaves.

 

The full video:

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Comments

[TrooAmerican]

heck, why dont they just link North Korea, Hamas, Russia, Sudanese government, that south america guy...oh yeah Chavez, heck, how about Fidel casto? hes almost dead anyway, and for kicks lets just have them link Saddam again to the 911 attacks, and forget all about the guy that ACTUALLY was responsible - Bin Laden in his cave, or the Egyptions that helped, or the Saudis that helped.
why bother with those that really did it, when Bush's allies can make far more money with rediculously shammed wars against other countries as a distraction and money laundering to KBR and Halliburton and their offshoots.

[billkarwin]

"We have always been at war with Eastasia."
-George Orwell, "1984"

Congratulations to the GOP for holding their very own Hate Week, another concept borrowed from George Orwell's book.

A week of rhetoric dedicated to whipping up nationalist fervor and justifying unending war against another nation. Which other nation is cast as the enemy is irrelevant, and in fact the identity of the enemy changes suddenly, accompanied by claims that they have always been the enemy.

[albanaeon]

What's so new about this? The Republicans have been waving 9/11 to justify all sorts of things completely unconnected to it. Iraq, illegal wire tapping, shredding the Bill of Rights. You can bet if things go more south with Russia, we'll be treated to videos linking them to 9/11 as well.

[DrFitz]

It's another part of the outrage, but frankly I think most Republican voters lump all these things together already. Is it out of line to reinforce that? Yes, and it's just one more of a thousand ways in which John McCain is EXACTLY like the Bush/Cheney administration he is desperately trying to run away from. But I'm more furious about the use of the film at all. I don't think a convention has ever made me so angry, and 2004 was a pretty horrendous affair. Honestly, it's very, very hard to maintain Obama's outlook that we're all Americans and have more in common than differences. I know this is what the Republican leaders want, but I'm finding it harder and harder to find them and those cheering such revolting garbage as even human let alone as fellow citizens. It's going to take me a LONG time to get over this.

[Soothsayer08]

It's so sad that the Republcians have to keep their flock afraid and fearful to maintain control of them. No wonder the Evangelicals walk in lock-step with them. These people won't even walk or do aerobics unless they are bombarded with Christian aerobic and Christian walking videos. They are the perfect prey for brainwashing done by the NeoCons. All they have to do is show an Islamic picture and simultaneously show the twin towers falling. Don't these sheep realize that 911 happened in a Republican mayor's city and under a Republican president's watch ? This should speak volumns to any rational thinking person. But no, only the Republicans can keep them safe.

[sueno]

I live in NY, and I found this to be extremely offensive!
At the end of the video, there wasn't a moral to the story
other than lest bomb them somemore.
There wasn't a warning or anything before they showed it.
This is what Bush, Guillani and Rove have done for the last 8 years,
this was very sad- I thought McCain was running on his senate record?

[ErnestineBass]

Yeah, yeah, yeah...we all know Iran is part of the "Axis of Evil"...so what???

That fact didn't stop Halliburton from circumventing the law and doing business there anyway.

http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/about_hal/iran.html

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9FODEODD153FF933A25757COA9619C8B63

There is no honor among thieves (or corporations chasing the Almighty Dollar).

[saywha]

The McCain campaign always deals in fear tactics. They're just repeating the strategy used by Bush and his cohorts in deceiving us into supporting the Iraq debacle. Fear, Fear, Fear!!! That's all they promote. Now it seems they're trying the "fear card" to push us into yet another war-this time with Iran. I'd cry SHAME, if I thought these people had a Moral compass. They don't, and they will use ANY ploy, any deception to win this election. We should know, by now, that with Rick Davis, Karl Rove and his Thugs, running the show, these tactics will only increase. As the well-worn axiom states: "Fool me once, shame on you; Fool me twice, shame on ME!

[luvangelHussein330]

The reason the felt the need to connect the two is to justify the US attack on Iran this fall...or so conspiracy theorist say so...I saw no point in showing the video at all anyway

[ErnestineBass]

Nothing more than a trailer for this fall's theatrical blockbuster, "October Surprise".

[martinchill]

fear.

[newbridge]

Does this give us the direction of McCain and his cohorts for the next 4 years - war with Iran? Who will do the fighting? Will there be a draft? More of the neocon failed world view? It was a case of using the very real sadness over 9/11 for their own ends. U.S.A., my a**. Working for the American people first, bull. It's all for the RNC and continued power.

I saw the video last night. It was a blatant attempt to engender more fear, which, when you think about it, is the Republican's only card.

[lisakaz2]

Did some ppl on their side major in lying in college?

[PhantomAviator]

..

But the SHEEP neither know nor CARE. They want someone "like them".

.

[LisainNYC]

Thank you for bringing attention to this blatant and outrageous propaganda.

[Jezreel]

This video, in my opinion, was one of the most blatant and vile examples of fear mongering in modern American political history. It was worse than the Willie Horton ad, worse than Jessie Helm's "Hands" ad, worse than "Hillary's 3:00 AM", than the anti-Harold Ford " Call Me" ad and even worse than the dismissive, disrespectful, contemptuous and insulting anti-Obama "Paris Hilton" ad of John McCain.

[Whistle831]

If you watched the video tribute to John McCain on Thursday night, you might have seen this part:
John McCain’s father visits the border between North and South Vietnam to gaze for hours into the North, since his son (John) is imprisoned in downtown Hanoi. The video states that his father ordered the “carpet bombing” of Hanoi even though he know his son was imprisoned somewhere in the city.
Now, I suppose since it’s in the video, this is something America and the McCain’s are suppose to be proud of. However, in case anyone doesn’t know the definition of carpet bombing…here’s Webster’s reference: 1 : to drop large numbers of bombs so as to cause uniform devastation over (a given area)
I have actually visited Vietnam 2X and Hanoi once. I’m no fan of their government but I found the people to be wonderful human beings. Carpet bombing is a crime against humanity. These people were subjected to the worst bombing in the history of the world - no exaggeration - there were more bombs dropped on Vietnam by US forces than all the bombs dropped in WWII (8 million tons vs 2 million tons by ALL forces in WWII).
Then we have a Republican National Convention that tries to gain sympathy for McCain by mentioning his dad ordered the carpet bombing of a city full of innocent civilians - women, children, US prisoners, etc. AND they’re actually proud of it. I can’t believe the world is still so sick.

[junrepublican]

John McCain today,” Romney said, according to excerpts released in advance. “It is to rein in government spending and lower taxes, for taking a weed-whacker to excessive regulation and mandates, for putting a stop to tort windfalls, and to stand up to the tyrannosaurus appetite of government unions.

GO McCain down with Unions

[mama mac]

Because, yeah, that's worked SO well for the past 8 years......