Artistic Differences

Earlier tonight I caught part of a "documentary" on the National Geographic Channel. Dubbed "War on America", it is part of a four hour series covering events surrounding 9/11, the CIA, FBI, Osama, and Jihadists. I was struck by the rhetoric used and of the skewed presentation of fact. This led me to investigate, online of course, who the producers of this film were, and in which direction they leaned politically.

Break out your tin-foil hats, folks, 'cause here it comes:

The two programs, "War on America" and "Ground Zero," are part of the "Inside 9/11" series written and produced by Jonathan David Towers of Towers Productions from Chicago. Towers has made several propaganda type films about the attack on the Pentagon, Saddam Hussein, the World Trade Center bombing of 1993, and a documentary called "America's Jewish Gangsters."

The "Inside 9/11" series seeks to reinforce the official version that Osama Bin Laden and 19 Arab hijackers were the architects and executors of the massive terror attacks that befell the United States four years ago.

So who are Jonathan Towers and National Geographic Channel?

Jonathan Towers grew up in a suburb of New York and is a 1982 graduate of Yale University. Fleshing Out Skull & Bones (2003) by Kris Millegan lists Mr. Towers as a 1982 initiate of Yale's super-secret elitist fraternity known as The Order of Skull & Bones.

And...

The National Geographic Channel, which carries the program, is primarily controlled by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., which might lead one to ask which nation is meant by "national."

Murdoch, the Australian-born owner of FOX News, owns nearly 67 percent of the National Geographic Channel in the United States and 50 percent of National Geographic Channel International (NGCI).

Also turns out that Peter Lance, author of the book "Triple Cross" on which this series was rather loosely based, seems a bit peeved at the conclusions presented by the directors of the film.

Artistic differences or agitprop? Draw your own conclusions...

UPDATE (03/26/07 @ 6:00pm EST):
For those interested, the author has supplied these links:
National Geographic Channel’s Whitewash of Triple Cross
National Geographic Channel’s Whitewash Press Summary