The Siege

I saw the 1998 movie "The Siege" on USA network last night. Pre-9/11, it's just another"Peacemaker" or"Sum of All Fears"--distinguished principally by the filmmakers' politically incorrect decision to cast terrorists that aren't some variety of Slav. Post-9/11, it's as close to prescient as Hollywood gets.

* Terrorism that's mostly low-tech, yet nonetheless terrifying; bus bombings, buildings levelled (including FBI counterterrorism headquarters) and no supervillain WMD;

* Terrorism that's decentralized and cellular, and that feeds off of military attempts to neutralize it:"Is this the last cell?""There is no last cell!!"

* Terrorists that make no demands for concessions and no attempt to negotiate, but simply seek to kill as many Americans as possible, as visibly as possible;

* Calls to repeal the Posse Comitatus Act--opposed, but nonetheless acquiesced to, by the military establishment;

* Annette Bening protesting to bad guy Samir that"Islam is a religion of peace!" and getting punched in the face for her trouble;

By the time they show the Army interrogating a jihadist and having the Dershowitz debate with considerably less moral agonizing, I'd have been floored if I wasn't already couched. The guy's tied to a chair, naked.

Sure, the notion of the FBI as the guarantor of our liberties and the American way of life was tough to credit. But otherwise, I can't think of another major motion picture that got so many predictions so right.

One wrong note: In contrast with the events of 9/11, many of the terrorists are Iraqis, enraged by U.S. foreign policy. But here again, it may be prescient.