Film on Bin Laden attack to be released two days before presidential election

Just two days before the presidential election, a film on the death of Bin Laden will be aired on the National Geographic Channel. The film is being released by a company whose co-chairman raised more than $100,000 for the Obama Victory Fund.

The film is called "Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden". The National Geographic Channel plans to air a video of the film on November 4th just two days before the election on November 6. The channel claims the date is to promote the start of the fall season and has nothing to do with politics. Nevertheless, this is a happy coincidence for Obama.

Harvey Weinstein, co-chair of The Weinstein Co. and Voltage Pictures, that produced the film also just happens to be an avid fan and supporter of Barack Obama. Back in early August, Weinstein held a fund-raising dinner at his Westport, Connecticut home that hosted 50 people at a cost of $35,800 per head.

The president has constantly hyped the successful raid by Navy Seal Special Forces that killed Bin Laden. The channel president, Howard T. Owens, said that the channel was not political. The channel also asserted that the film is meant simply to give a historical account of the events not to take a political stance. However, even a historical account can have the effect of supporting the president at a key time.

Another film on the same events "Zero Dark Thirty" by Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal is also scheduled to be released at the end of the year. Weinstein wanted to release his movie first.

"Seal Team Six" has been vetted by experts that include a recently retired Navy Seal and also a Bin Laden historian. A channel news release said:"While some aspects of the characterizations have been dramatized for creative reasons, the core story is an accurate portrayal of an event that ended the longest manhunt in American history."

The "Zero Dark Thirty" film was originally scheduled for release shortly before the Nov. 6 election but it was postponed by Sony Pictures until Dec. 19. Republican, Peter King, had accused the Obama administration of unprecedented and possibly dangerous collaboration with the filmmaker. No doubt there will be an outcry from Obama critics about the timing of the release of "Seal Team Six".