"Rescue Me" character believes 9/11 was an inside job ... and so does the actor playing him

http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2...-me-chara.html

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1/15/2009

From LA: Boy, did I open a can of worms today at the press conference for "Rescue Me," the great Denis Leary comedy. It's back (soon) for a fifth season, and in watching the second episode I noticed the show drifting back to the 9/11 memories theme it explored at length in the first season. So I grabbed a microphone and pursued that questioning with the producers, and I asked a couple of the actors to chime in as well.

One person I asked was Daniel Sunjata, who plays Franco on "Rescue Me." I asked him because there is this fascinating, where-did-THIS-come-from scene in the second episode. A French journalist is interviewing firemen who were at Ground Zero on 9/11 for a new 10th-anniversary commemorative coffee table book. First, watch what Sunjata's character says. I would call this high-end conspiracy theory-mongering, the type that many people might say, "Hm. Well, I don't agree, but you raise some very interesting points there."

In part Franco says:
"9/11? Inside job. Plain and simple. And all you gotta do is connect the dots. ... I am talking about a massive neoconservative government effort, been in the works 20 years. Ever heard of PNAC? Project for a New American Century? According to them, the end goal of their effort is American global domination. Full spectrum dominance, they call it. Now, first question that pops into my mind is: How do you pull that off in this day and age?"
Answer: You blow up the Towers -- though in the scene Sunjata states it much more elegantly and forcefully.

So I asked about 9/11, and Sunjata gave a thoughtful reply, but at the very end he set off this little cherry bomb. From the transcript:
DANIEL SUNJATA: I'm really gratified that they allowed that to be focused through my character, because I happen to subscribe to a lot of those theories and beliefs that 9/11 was an inside job.

TVB: You're serious?

DANIEL SUNJATA: Oh, absolutely, 100 percent, yeah.

PETER TOLAN (show co-creator): That's part of the reason why we wrote it, is because Danny actually has -- is actually well-read on -- he's done a lot of research on this and has told us about it. And, you know, look, obviously not all of us buy in. But we went, wow, that's interesting, and he's passionate about it. Let's use that.

DANIEL SUNJATA: I mean, if it weren't for the structural constraint of consicion and speaking in a sound-bite format, you know, there are some very, very well-thought-out ideas and theories that seem to me to make a lot more sense than the ones that are popularly espoused. And anyway, the fact that they've allowed that conversation to be had within the world of RESCUE ME, I think, is admirable and should be applauded.
I wasn't trying to challenge Sunjata. I just was a little gobsmacked and I didn't want to let the moment pass without confirming what I thought my ears had just heard: An actor on a popular cable show had just admitted to belief in one of the most notorious conspiracy myths in our culture.

The story is already popping on the wires.

So, a little googling later and I discover Sunjata has expressed these views before ... and a whole lot more. He is a Lefty with a capital "L." Here is a video I found of him giving a campaign speech this fall in favor of former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. She was the Green Party candidate for president this year. How many people of color this fall did you hear attacking Barack Obama from the left?

Let me be clear to those who are googling me -- I'm not a fan of "9/11 was an inside job" theories, as I went into in some detail explaining a couple of years ago. But I don't believe that people who believe them are all idiots. I'm actually kinda looking forward to seeing these ideas bandied about on "Rescue Me" because you just don't see that kind of stuff presented so passionately on TV. But you know what? I saw "J.F.K." more than once and, while I found it hugely entertaining, I never bought whatever Jim Garrison was selling about that terrible day in history.

I think if "Rescue Me" does its job, "9/11 was an inside job" will gain just a smidgen more respectability in its campaign to succeed JFK as America's favorite conspiracy theory. I guess I can live with that. My problem with such theories is that they unwittingly reflect the navel-gazing, insular, America-first viewpoint that I thought 9/11 was supposed to move us beyond. It's all about us. Al-Qaeda? Our pawns, somehow. Such a viewpoint can only be defended by turning a deaf ear to the origins of modern terror, which weren't the creation of Paul Wolfowitz's and Richard Perle's vivid imaginations.

As the unparalleled account of Lawrence Wright in The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 makes clear, the story of 9/11 stretches back 50 years to the persecution of radical Muslims by secular governments friendly to Western nations.