The National Geographic Channel will broadcast a four-hour documentary tracking the events leading up to the terror attacks on 9/11 four years ago. The documentary, Inside 9/11, is in the form of a timeline and is divided into two parts. The first, “War on America”, tracks terrorist activities aimed at U.S. targets throughout the 1990s and charts the response of the U.S. intelligence community to these attacks and to the evidence about the imminent 9/11 plot. The second part, “Zero Hour”, captures the horror and the heroism witnessed on 9/11/2001. The documentary will air on September 8 at 7pm EST and at 11pm EST, and on September 11 at 1pm EST.
From the show’s description:
With each successful attack, al Qaeda becomes more emboldened. With each failure of the U.S. government to respond or stop their activities, the organization and the legend of Osama bin Laden grow… Inside 9/11 follows the footsteps of the terrorists as they formulated their plans, infiltrated our country and executed their suicide missions.
The documentary goes back to the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan at the hands of the Mujahadeen, who were led by Osama Bin Laden among others, and shows how their victory led to a new euphoria, suggesting that any Western superpower could be undone by bands of well-organized martyrs. The documentary also brings up early evidence of what would become radical Islamic cells, such as the 1990 murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane, which was dismissed as a dead-end dispute between the radical ends of two religions.
A commending review of the documentary in the New York Times states: “The National Geographic Channel honors the fourth anniversary of the terror attacks with a rational approach to what is usually treated with poetry and ceremony. Instead, the two-part Inside 9/11 is a four-hour compendium of the facts of the matter.”