ABC is slandering my friend, John O'Neill [View All]

[Pab Sungenis]

I was in the newsroom at WMGM-TV when the towers were hit, and one of the people on the air as they fell.

I was working with my friends Don Williams, Barbara Altman, and Jeff Whittaker. A ragtag army of broadcasters, it fell to us to keep a frightened and confused audience informed of the latest information: which flights had crashed where, and who they could contact to find out if their loved ones had crashed into the towers. And where they could find a local prayer service.

Don, whose politics are as far away from mine as possible, yet I have always considered a great friend, confided to me seconds after the second plane hit "this is war. This is Bin Laden."

As a recent refugee from the talk show production field (my "promotion" to the newsroom from producing the radio side of the operation's morning show had come only the day before), I was the most qualified to co-ordinate everything and keep things flowing. It fell to me to do all the research, call the people who had information we needed, and send people out into the field. Armed with a cell phone number, I kept trying unsuccessfully to fulfill one constant demand from Don:

"Get me John O'Neill!"

* * *

My first meeting with John O'Neill was working as Don's producer in the months after the Embassy bombings, the first time most Americans heard the name "Osama bin Laden." Don had John on as a guest, positioning him as an expert in terrorism. John always gave the most engaging interviews, and was one of the most informative, and likeable, guests I have ever seen in talk radio. He was intelligent, decisive, friendly, and more than can be said for most people on either side of the microphone in broadcasting, he knew what he was talking about.

Based upon the scenes and plot descriptions that have been leaked, I can safely say that John O'Neill was nothing like Harvey Keitel's portrayal of him in ABC's miniseries "The Path to 9/11." Keitel presents O'Neill as an FBI version of his notorious "Bad Lieutenant" character: a loose cannon, breaking the rules as he sees fit, and just this side of incompetence, who only gets his man because he never gives up.

Nothing could be further from the truth. John O'Neill was outspoken, yes, but never set out to deliberately anger people. He was a brilliant tactician, who saw the hunt for Bin Laden (who he had always known was a threat) not so much as a cat and mouse game as a game of chess.

When the USS Cole was bombed, John was the first person Don called, and he gladly sat for an interview. He never complained about being hampered by the Clinton Administration, or not having the tools and funding he needed. When the mikes were closed, and the news was running, Don asked how the hunt was going. John's response, off the air, was "he (bin Laden) just made a big mistake. Within a year, I'll have him."

That wouldn't happen, because a year later, John O'Neill was dead.

* * *

After the Bush Administration took over, John's interviews became shorter, and his tone of voice became angrier. He confided in us that the new Administration didn't see terrorism as a high priority, and his efforts were being hampered at every turn. We didn't have John on at all in July or August of 2001, while Don and the rest of the talk show world were obsessing about Gary Condit and other minutiae. Yet, when the planes hit the towers, putting things back in perspective for millions of Americans, John was the first person we tried to reach. We knew we couldn't get him to sit for a full interview, but maybe he could give us a scoop or two. He never answered his cell phone that morning and afternoon. It wasn't until Thursday of that week that we found out why.

Don was interviewing a local spokesman for the FBI on the air, getting the latest information our as fast as possible. Right towards the end of the interview, Don said (and I will never forget the words that passed through my headphones) "I'm sure you and my friend John O'Neill have had your hands full the past few days with the manhunt."

The silence coming down the phone line was deafening. "Don, I thought you heard. John left the FBI. He started his new job this week as the head of security for the World Trade Center. He's one of the people missing."

Don, ever the professional, only allowed about two seconds of dead air before he recovered enough to say, through tears and a choked up voice, "we'll be right back."

I cried too, and I'm crying now typing this. It was hard to believe such a good man, who was fighting the good fight, was gone.

* * *

What aggravates me the most about the ABC miniseries is not how they've attacked their critics, how they've distorted Clinton's anti-terrorism efforts (and the Republicans' efforts to block them), or how they build Bush up to be a hero instead of a bumbling incompetant who was too busy playing golf and clearing brush to read a briefing entitled "Bin Laden Determined To Strike Within U.S." and sat for seven minutes after he knew the nation was under attack to be whisked away and make the command decisions.

It's how they portray John O'Neill.

The man on the screen is not the man I knew. He's not the man Don Williams interviewed countless times. He's not the man we both wept for, for a few seconds at least, over the air.

ABC, you are slandering my friend. That, alone, gives me reason to hate you for allowing these lies to go forward.