September 7, 2006

Mr. Robert A. Iger
President and CEO
The Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank CA 91521

Dear Mr. Iger,

We write with serious concerns about the planned upcoming broadcast of
The Path to 9/11 mini-series on September 10 and 11. Countless reports
from experts on 9/11 who have viewed the program indicate numerous and
serious inaccuracies that will undoubtedly serve to misinform the
American people about the tragic events surrounding the terrible
attacks of that day. Furthermore, the manner in which this program has
been developed, funded, and advertised suggests a partisan bent
unbecoming of a major company like Disney and a major and well
respected news organization like ABC. We therefore urge you to cancel
this broadcast to cease Disney's plans to use it as a teaching tool in
schools across America through Scholastic. Presenting such deeply
flawed and factually inaccurate misinformation to the American public
and to children would be a gross miscarriage of your corporate and
civic responsibility to the law, to your shareholders, and to the
nation.

The Communications Act of 1934 provides your network with a free
broadcast license predicated on the fundamental understanding of your
principle obligation to act as a trustee of the public airwaves in
serving the public interest. Nowhere is this public interest
obligation more apparent than in the duty of broadcasters to serve the
civic needs of a democracy by promoting an open and accurate
discussion of political ideas and events.

Disney and ABC claim this program to be based on the 9/11 Commission
Report and are using that assertion as part of the promotional
campaign for it. The 9/11 Commission is the most respected American
authority on the 9/11 attacks, and association with it carries a
special responsibility. Indeed, the very events themselves on 9/11, so
tragic as they were, demand extreme care by any who attempt to use
those events as part of an entertainment or educational program. To
quote Steve McPhereson, president of ABC Entertainment, "When you take
on the responsibility of telling the story behind such an important
event, it is absolutely critical that you get it right."

Unfortunately, it appears Disney and ABC got it totally wrong.

Despite claims by your network¹s representatives that The Path to 9/11
is based on the report of the 9/11 Commission, 9/11 Commissioners
themselves, as well as other experts on the issues, disagree.

* Richard Ben-Veniste, speaking for himself and fellow 9/11
Commissioners who recently viewed the program, said, "As we were
watching, we were trying to think how they could have misinterpreted
the 9/11 Commission's findings the way that they had." ["9/11
Miniseries Is Criticized as Inaccurate and Biased," New York Times,
September 6, 2006]

* Richard Clarke, the former counter-terrorism czar, and a national
security advisor to ABC has described the program as "deeply flawed"
and said of the program's depiction of a Clinton official hanging up
on an intelligence agent, "It's 180 degrees from what happened."
["9/11 Miniseries Is Criticized as Inaccurate and Biased," New York
Times, September 6, 2006]

* Reports suggest that an FBI agent who worked on 9/11 and served as a
consultant to ABC on this program quit halfway through because, "he
thought they were making things up." [MSNBC, September 7, 2006]

* Even Thomas Kean, who serves as a paid consultant to the miniseries,
has admitted that scenes in the film are fictionalized. ["9/11
Miniseries Is Criticized as Inaccurate and Biased," New York Times,
September 6, 2006]

That Disney would seek to broadcast an admittedly and proven false
recounting of the events of 9/11 raises serious questions about the
motivations of its creators and those who approved the deeply flawed
program. Finally, that Disney plans to air commercial-free a program
that reportedly cost it $40 million to produce serves to add fuel to
these concerns.

These concerns are made all the more pressing by the political leaning
of and the public statements made by the writer/producer of this
miniseries, Mr. Cyrus Nowrasteh, in promoting this miniseries across
conservative blogs and talk shows.

Frankly, that ABC and Disney would consider airing a program that
could be construed as right-wing political propaganda on such a grave
and important event involving the security of our nation is a
discredit both to the Disney brand and to the legacy of honesty built
at ABC by honorable individuals from David Brinkley to Peter Jennings.
Furthermore, that Disney would seek to use Scholastic to promote this
misguided programming to American children as a substitute for factual
information is a disgrace.

As 9/11 Commission member Jamie Gorelick said, "It is critically
important to the safety of our nation that our citizens, and
particularly our school children, understand what actually happened
and why ­ so that we can proceed from a common understanding of what
went wrong and act with unity to make our country safer."

Should Disney allow this programming to proceed as planned, the
factual record, millions of viewers, countless schoolchildren, and the
reputation of Disney as a corporation worthy of the trust of the
American people and the United States Congress will be deeply damaged.
We urge you, after full consideration of the facts, to uphold your
responsibilities as a respected member of American society and as a
beneficiary of the free use of the public airwaves to cancel this
factually inaccurate and deeply misguided program. We look forward to
hearing back from you soon.

Sincerely,

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid
Assistant Democratic Leader ***** Durbin
Senator Debbie Stabenow
Senator Charles Schumer
Senator Byron Dorgan