Cyrus The Liar

[Via Taylor Marsh] Cyrus Nowrasteh, the writer of the ABC fiction entitled "The Path to 9/11" wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal on Monday defending himself and his script. His op-ed was titled "The Path to Hysteria: My sin was to write a screenplay accurately depicting Bill Clinton’s record on terrorism." In his op-ed Mr. Nowrasteh claimed that his script was an accurate retelling of history:

I felt duty-bound from the outset to focus on a single goal–to represent our recent pre-9/11 history as the evidence revealed it to be. The American people deserve to know that history: They have paid for it in blood.

…

I know, too, as does everyone involved in the production, that we kept uppermost in our minds the need for due diligence in the delivery of this history. Fact-checkers and lawyers scrutinized every detail, every line, every scene. There were hundreds of pages of annotations. We were informed by multiple advisers and interviews with people involved in the events–and books, including in a most important way the 9/11 Commission Report.

Anyone who saw the ABC movie and has read the 9/11 Commission Report knows that the movie did not "represent our recent pre-9/11 history as the evidence revealed it to be." I won’t spend time here rehashing the obvious.

I will, however, point the reader toward Mr. Nowrasteh’s credibility. In his op-ed, Mr. Nowrasteh protested:

In July a reporter asked if I had ever been ethnically profiled. I happily replied, "No." I can no longer say that. The L.A. Times, for one, characterized me by race, religion, ethnicity, country-of-origin and political leanings–wrongly on four of five counts. To them I was an Iranian-American politically conservative Muslim. It is perhaps irrelevant in our brave new world of journalism that I was born in Boulder, Colo. I am not a Muslim or practitioner of any religion, nor am I a political conservative. What am I? I am, most devoutly, an American. I asked the reporter if this kind of labeling was a new policy for the paper. He had no response. [Emphasis added by me.]

 Methinks Cyrus doth protest too much.

In June 2005, Cyrus Nowrasteh was interviewed by the conservative blog Libertas. In the interview, Mr. Nowrasteh is referred to as a "Persian-American whose family had to flee Iran when it was taken over by Islamic fundamentalists." I wonder if Cyrus was offended then by being labeled as a "Persian-American".

Mr. Nowrasteh also refers to himself as an "Islamic-American" in the interview in the following exchange:

GM: Now, you can’t make a miniseries about 9/11 without depicting Islamic terrorism. Has CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) contacted you with concerns about this?

CN: No – but I wish them luck. I’m an Islamic-American, and I’m the writer and producer of the series! (laughs)

I suppose Cyrus is a Muslim when it is convenient and at other times his is "not a Muslim or a practitioner of any religion".

Mr. Nowrasteh’s conservative credentials are also highlighted during the interview and he even offers advice to conservatives trying to make it in Hollywood:

GM: Very true. So Cyrus, you’ve been open in Hollywood about being a conservative. How has that affected your career?

CN: Well you know, I think there are a lot more conservatives in Hollywood than people think. But it’s not the predominant thing that’s driving me, my career, or my writing. To me that’s fairly personal. It’s a by-product for me of how I came to be in this country after a lot of people in my family had suffered under hardcore, radical fundamentalism [in Iran]. I think this country is about opportunity and about different points of view. I would not consider myself an overtly political person in one fashion or another. But look – my politics rarely if ever come up. I don’t think it bothers people one way or the other, because they see my stuff.

GM: Have you ever had any struggles with networks or executives who wanted you to change your material because they perceived it to be conservative?

CN: Yeah, but usually in mild and miniscule ways. If it’s not conforming to their vision of what it should be, I will usually justify it with the facts and what I think the audience wants or expects. I think there’s a real problem out there right now. I’ve read articles about the lack of boxoffice punch lately, and about the networks losing their ratings. I think a lot of that has to be with people ignoring the fact that the red states have televisions and movie theatres too, and a lot of times they get put off by Hollywood’s overt political agenda, so I try to avoid that.

…

GM: What do you think of Michael Moore?

CN: To quote Team America, he’s an out of control socialist weasel (laughs). Listen. I’m probably more of a libertarian than a strict conservative. In my writing and directing, I don’t want to just be a conservative version of Michael Moore. I’m here to tell a good story first and foremost – and that’s why I can navigate the networks and get my work produced.

GM: What advice would you give to aspiring conservative and libertarian filmmakers?

CN: Don’t tar all of Hollywood with the far left-wing brush. There are many people who may be open to different points of view, and you should try and engage with them. If your work is honest and truthful, people will connect to it, and it will eventually be produced. Also, you can just go out and make your own project. New digital technology today is really making that possible. Just be persistent, keep writing and creating, and you will get your projects made.

I guess a reporter might be justified in calling Cyrus Nowrasteh a conservative since he doesn’t seem to mind the label himself.

Contrary to Cyrus Nowrasteh’s protestations in the op-ed, he by his own admission is Iranian-American, politically conservative, and Muslim. I wonder what credibility he has when he claims to deliver us "history" when he cannot even truthfully represent himself.

 [Cross posted at Taylor Marsh]