The Path to 9/11 - Ways of Terror
The Path to 9/11 is a two-part miniseries that was produced in 2006. The plot reconstructs eight years, starting with the bomb attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 up to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 .
action
Boston ( Massachusetts ): Numerous passengers board American Airlines flight number 11 , including a certain Mohammed Atta . He and three other southern-looking men are only superficially checked at check-in. In New York City , John P. O'Neill is just arriving at his new place of work - the World Trade Center , where he works as head of security. In Washington, DC , US President George W. Bush is preparing to fly to Florida . In a school in Sarasota , he is supposed to meet students. American Airlines Flight 11 takes off shortly afterwards . It is September 11, 2001.
Flashback: February 1993: The Kuwaiti Ramzi Ahmed Yousef drives a pickup truck into the underground car park of the World Trade Center. With three other men they manage to drive past the security guards. In one of the lower levels of the underground car park, they manage to arm a bomb and at the last minute escape with a car they have brought with them. Shortly afterwards the bomb goes off and kills six people. On the other side of the Hudson River , Yousef and his colleagues Mohammed A. Salameh and Mahmud Abouhalima are horrified to discover that, contrary to their intentions, the World Trade Center will not collapse. Before Yousef flies back to Pakistan on the same day , he avows himself to the attack by telephone.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is appalled. The group around Yousef has been scouted out several times in the past few weeks by Emad Salem, an Egyptian spy, especially since they were also suspected of having carried out the assassination attempt on Rabbi Meir Kahane in New York three years earlier . But Salem only wanted to testify in court for a higher fee, which the FBI has so far refused.
In the Philippines , Yusef comes into contact with his uncle, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed . He promised him that one day he would still implement the plan to destroy the World Trade Center. Mohammed assures his nephew of money and the necessary logistics, and names a Saudi prince who could provide him with these things. A little later, Yusef demonstrated his power when he detonated a bomb on board the Philippine Airlines flight 434 from Cebu to Tokyo .
FBI chief Neil Herman and the head of the counter-terrorism unit, John P. O'Neill, also find out that Yousef is planning Operation Bojinka . This includes not only an assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II , but also the assassination of the Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto . The assassination attempt on Bhutto fails when the bomb explodes prematurely in front of their property. As a result, Yousef is seriously injured. Just a few days before the Pope landed in the Philippines, there was a fire in the room where the bomb was made. Abdul Hakim Murad is arrested.
The FBI can now find out where Yousef is hiding. Bill Miller, the agent in charge in Pakistan and the Pakistani Colonel Raymond Malik were able to arrest Yousef in a hiding place by a tip and transfer him to the USA. Here he and the others who planned and carried out the attack on the World Trade Center are sentenced to long prison terms.
In the meantime, O'Neill and Richard Clarke, heads of the anti-terrorist unit in the White House , have found out that a new group called al-Qaeda has formed in Afghanistan . Their leader is a certain Osama bin Laden . Not only is he the mastermind behind the terrorist attacks, but he also finances them. The CIA , led by Special Agent Kirk, travels to Afghanistan. There you get to know Ahmad Shah Massoud , one of the leaders of the National Islamic United Front to Save Afghanistan . He fights bitterly against al-Qaida and is able to reveal the secret whereabouts of the terror prince to Kirk and his men. In collaboration with CIA chief George Tenet and the White House, including Secretary of State Madeleine Albright , Secretary of Defense William Cohen and National Security Advisor Sandy Berger , preparations are being made to arrest Osama bin Laden in a night-and-fog operation. But since the White House fears that civilians could also be harmed by the liberation attack (keyword: Waco ), the action is stopped at the last minute. Kirk and Ahmad Shah Massoud are disappointed.
In order to distinguish himself as a foreign policy hardliner in the wake of the Lewinsky affair , US President Bill Clinton begins bombing al-Qaeda positions. Al-Qaeda, including its second most powerful husband, Aiman az-Zawahiri, swear vengeance. In secret training camps, the "divine warriors" prepare for their fight against the USA and what they see as "Zionists". In August 1998 a bomb exploded in the US embassy in Nairobi . Just before the turn of the millennium border officials can in Port Angeles ( Washington arrested a man, identified as Ahmed Ressam). The FBI suspects he planned attacks in New York during the New Year celebration; and indeed, agents in New York can discover secret flats where bombs are being built. Another potential assassin, Abdelghani Meskini, is being used by investigators.
One evening O'Neill receives a call. In the port of Aden ( Yemen ) an attack on which was USS Cole perpetrated in which 17 people died. O'Neill then flies to Yemen to meet with US Ambassador Barbara Bodine. He suspects al-Qaeda to be behind the attack. But to his disappointment, Bodine does nothing to support him in his hunt for bin Laden. On the one hand, she does not want to endanger the relations that have been so good so far with the Muslims in Yemen; on the other hand, bin Laden's construction company in Yemen has accepted numerous contracts, so that one does not want to risk losing this important investment for Yemen in the case of the hunt for bin Laden.
A few weeks later, also in autumn 2000, a General Atomics MQ-1 drone tracked down bin Laden's hiding place in Afghanistan. But the CIA hesitates; Tenet needs more time to make sure that bin Laden can be killed safely. The drone is destroyed by a Soviet MIG controlled by a Taliban .
In Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Massoud is coming under increasing pressure. While on tour in Europe, he begs the US government to deliver more money and weapons to Afghanistan in order to destroy Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. Relations with the US are to be established through his intermediary, CIA agent Kirk. But the start of the presidential election campaign is crippling support from the US government in the region. The Democratic government also fears that in the event of a military attack, the chances of its presidential candidate Al Gore against the conservative George W. Bush will be reduced. In order not to endanger the peace process between Israel and Palestine, no further steps against the Muslim world are being taken.
In the meantime, some young former Hamburg university students have entered the USA via Afghanistan. These include Mohammed Atta and Ziad Jarrah. In Florida they are now starting extensive training at a flight school. There are also other flight students from the Arab region. It only seems strange to those responsible that the students only want to learn how to control the airplane, but they don't care at all how to take off or land it. Only in Minneapolis ( Minnesota ) does one become suspicious of the case of the flight student Zacarias Moussaoui and alert the police. They arrest Moussaoui because his visa has expired. However , the investigators are not allowed to search his laptop .
In early summer 2001, Atta's group met with Chalid Sheikh Mohammed in Madrid ( Spain ). Here they agree on destinations that should be reached by plane, including the World Trade Center and the Pentagon . A date is also set on which the attack should take place - it is September 11 of this year. When Osama bin Laden gives up his camp and retreats into caves in the mountains, Ahmad Shah Massoud reports to CIA agent Kirk. He forwards this new knowledge to his superiors; Massoud also mentioned that planes are to be hijacked and brought down. But since no exact dates, such as the corresponding date or flight number, were given, the CIA refrained from notifying the airlines in order not to cause panic.
In Washington, DC, FBI Agent O'Neill is coming under increasing pressure. When his briefcase containing classified documents was stolen during a meeting in Florida - but it turned up again later - he became increasingly intolerable with his superiors. He also complains that the CIA does not provide sufficient information. He then draws the consequences and resigns. A short time later he found work again - as head of security at the World Trade Center.
In Afghanistan, the National Islamic United Front for the Rescue of Afghanistan had to cope with a severe setback when a suicide bomber who disguised himself as a reporter, loyal to Bin Laden, tore Ahmad Shah Massoud to his death on September 9, 2001.
Two days later: Air traffic control is no longer in contact with American Airlines 11 . Suddenly a voice answered over the communication system saying that “they” had control of other planes - it was Mohammed Atta. And indeed, shortly afterwards, the contact with flight United Airlines 175 was lost. Both are heading for New York City. A call from Betty Ong, a flight attendant, confirms that at least one plane has been hijacked.
O'Neill was sitting in his office in the South Tower of the World Trade Center when a detonation knocked over the photos on his desk. One look out of the window is enough to see that an airplane has just crashed into the north tower. New York holds its breath; the fire brigade rush to the scene of the accident.
In Sarasota ( Florida ) US President Bush of is Andrew Card informed of the attack, in Washington both CIA chief Tenet and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Vice President Dick Cheney , who bring in a secure part of the White House security. They watch with horror on the screen as United Airlines 175 is steered into the south tower. A short time later, the Pentagon, only a few hundred meters away, burns, also caused by an airplane impact. A flight stop over US airspace is immediately imposed and the US military's interceptors are sent into the air. But they don't know which destination to fly to.
In California , Deena Burnett just received a call from her husband Tom, who is on board United Airlines 93 and is also in the hands of hijackers. But his colleagues from the crew and the passengers refuse to accept their fate and start a counterattack. Shortly after 10 a.m., the plane crashes into a field in Pennsylvania .
John P. O'Neill helps numerous people escape the South Tower in these minutes. He makes one last phone call with his son. Suddenly the building trembles. He knows it's just collapsing. Numerous camera teams film the collapse.
An insert indicates that O'Neill's body was found in the rubble of the World Trade Center. Another insert also lists the results of the 9/11 Commission Report that must be implemented in order to prevent another attack. This includes the coordination of the CIA and FBI, as well as more thorough checks on passengers at the terminal.
source
On the one hand, the novel The Cell by the authors John Miller and Michael Stone served as the basis for the script ; but also the books 1000 Years for Revenge: International Terrorism and the FBI - the Untold Story by Peter Lance and Relentless Pursuit by Samuel M. Katz . Screenwriter Cyrus Nowrasteh obtained further information from the so-called 9/11 Commission Report .
History of origin
Key data
The film with a budget of $ 30 million was filmed Canadian Toronto , but also on location in New York City and Washington, DC Also, the team was allowed in the CIA headquarters in Langley ( Virginia rotate). How versatile Morocco is as a film set becomes clear in this film, as scenes were filmed in Morocco which, according to the script and actual historiography, took place in Afghanistan , Pakistan , Yemen , Nigeria and even Spain .
Charisma
In the US, the two-part series was broadcast from September 10, 2006; in Germany it came on television a year later, on September 10 and 11, 2007. In Austria it was broadcast on ORF 2 on September 9 and 10, 2010 , and on SF 1 in Switzerland on September 10 and 11, 2011 .
Film awards
Prices
- 2007: Eddie, Best Edited Miniseries or Motion Picture for Commercial Television (Part 2)
- 2007: Emmy Award , Outstanding Single Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries or a Movie (Part 2)
- 2007: Golden Reel Award, Best Sound Editing in Television: Long Form - Dialogue and Automated Dialogue Replacement
Nominations
- 2007: Artios, Best Mini Series Casting
- 2007: Emmy Award , Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special
- 2007: Emmy Award, Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or Movie (Part 2)
- 2007: Emmy Award, Outstanding Main Title Design
- 2007: Emmy Award, Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Original Dramatic Score)
- 2007: Emmy Award, Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Part 1)
- 2007: Emmy Award, Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Part 2)
- 2007: Golden Reel Award, Best Sound Editing in Sound Effects and Foley for Television - Long Form
Web links
- The Path to 9/11 - way of terror in the Internet Movie Database (English)