1. The Gore “victory” rally isn’t
celebrating a Florida win. It was held before the polls had
even opened.
2. Like
all the other networks, Fox mistakenly said that Gore had
won in Florida. The first network to retract
the Florida
mistake was CBS, not Fox.
3. A 6-month
study by a consortium of major newspapers shows that Bush
would have won the Florida
recount under
any of the
terms which Gore sought in his lawsuits.
4. Investigation
by the >>Palm Beach Post and others shows
that race was not a reason why election officials mistakenly
disqualified some voters because they were incorrectly
thought to have felony convictions.
5. Bush’s
Presidency before 9/11 was not in serious trouble. No commentator
said that he looked like a lame-duck president.
Congress had passed his #1 bill (the tax cut) and
was
on the way to passing his #2 bill (the education bill).
The scene at
the end of the movie in which Bush tells a rich audience “I
call you my base,” was from an October 2000
charity fund-raiser. Both Gore and Bush spoke at
the fund-raiser
and, as is the custom
at the fund-raiser, made fun of themselves.
6. “In
his first eight months in office before September
11th, George W. Bush was on vacation, according
to the Washington
Post, forty-two percent of the time.” As
the >>Washington
Post reported, the figure includes weekends, and
includes time in “vacation locations” such
as Camp David, where Bush was working—as
when he met with Tony Blair.
7. In the
golf course scene (about the middle of
the movie), Bush had just heard about a terrorist
attack
on Israel.
He called the press together to make a quick
statement condemning the terrorism
against Israel. He was not speaking about attacks
on the United States.
8. There
is no evidence that Bush did not read the Aug. 6, 2001 Presidential
Daily
Briefing
about al
Qaeda.
9. He never
claimed that the title’s “vagueness” was
an excuse for not reading it.
10. The
Briefing did not say “said that Osama bin Laden
was planning to attack America by hijacking
airplanes.” It
said that the FBI has “not been able
to corroborate” such
a threat.
11. The
Saudis left the U.S. only after air travel was opened for
the
general public.
12. According
to Richard Clarke, Clarke personally approved the Saudi departures,
and the decision
went no higher
in the chain
of command.
13. Moore
lied to a TV reporter in claiming that Fahrenheit discloses
Clarke’s decision to
the audience. Clarke called the Saudi
exit material in Fahrenheit a “mistake” by
Moore.
14. Contrary
to what Fahrenheit claims,
the September 11 Commission staff
found that many Saudis were asked “detailed
questions” before being allowed
to leave.
15. Moore: “But
really, who wanted to fly? No
one. Except the bin Ladens.” Moore
himself wanted to fly home from
California at that time, as detailed
in his Sept. 14, 2004 web journal.
16. James
Bath did not invest bin Laden family money in Bush’s
energy company Arbusto. He
invested his own money.
17. Bath’s
name was blacked-out from an Alabama National Guard record
released by the White
House—as required by
federal law, which prohibits
the disclosure of health-related personal information.
18. Prince
Bandar has way too much influence on the U.S. government,
as Fahrenheit shows, but American
coddling of the Saudi tyranny is a
long-standing bi-partisan
tradition, not a Bush
invention.
19. Harken
Energy: Bush only sold the stock after
company
lawyers
told him
it was OK.
20. The
reason that Bush “beat the rap” was because
there was no evidence
he had engaged in insider trading.
21. The
Carlyle Group is not a Bush playground.
Many Bush
opponents
are
investors, including
George Soros.
22.
The Bush administration dealt Carlyle a huge
financial blow
by canceling
the Crusader missile,
one of the
few weapons cancellations
in the Bush administration.
23. The
bin Ladens dropped out of Carlyle before
the stock sale.
Of
the 1.4 billion
that the
Saudis invested
in companies
with
Bush connections,
the vast majority
of the
money was
invested in
Carlyle before
George
H.W. Bush
joined the firm.
24. Craig
Unger claims that the Saudis have
$860 billion
invested
in the
U.S. The figure
appears
in his book
House of Bush,
House of Saud,
but neither
of Unger’s
cited sources
support such
a large figure.
Moore
claims that the Saudis “own 7% of America.” But
even if you believe Unger’s fictitious $860 billion
figure, the Saudis own only about 7% of total foreign investment
in America,
which is over 10 trillion dollars. Only if all of America
were owned by foreigners could Moore’s claim be correct.
25. The
Saudi embassy does not receive special protection. It is
not the only foreign embassy which is guarded by the
U.S.
Secret Service. An international treaty signed by the U.S.
requires the U.S. to protect any embassy which asks for
protection.
26. Moore’s
insinuation that Bush runs U.S. foreign policy according
to Saudi instructions is contradicted
by the Afghanistan
invasion (which toppled the Taliban regime which the
Saudis strongly supported), and by the Iraq War (which the
Saudis
opposed, in
part because Iraqi oil will compete with Saudi oil).
27. As
Governor of Texas, Bush never met with Taliban representatives.
28. The
proposed Unocal pipeline was supported by the Clinton administration,
but Unocal abandoned the pipeline
idea
in 1998.
29. The
new Afghani government has signed a protocol to build a pipeline,
but it is an entirely different
pipeline,
in a location
hundreds of miles distant from the Unocal proposal.
30. Construction has not begun on the new pipeline.
31. Afghanistan’s
President Karzai was never a Unocal consultant.
32. The
Bush administration did not “welcome” Taliban
diplomats in March 2001, but instead condemned
them for failing to hand over Osama bin Laden.
33. Despite
Moore’s pose in the movie, he opposed the Afghanistan
War, and—in December 2002—claimed
that Osama bin Laden might be innocent.
34.
In claiming that the Afghanistan invasion
was a mere ruse to protect the Saudis,
Moore omits
the results
of
liberation
in Afghanistan: destruction of al Qaeda
training camps, the creation of free elections, more
freedom for women,
and the homecoming
of 1.5 million refugees from the Taliban.
35. The
various quotes about Bush administration cooperation with
the September 11 Commission
have been resequenced
to create a false impression. In July
2003, Chairman Kean complained about
lack of cooperation. In February 2004,
Bush said that the White House had given
extraordinary
cooperation. Kean agreed,
and praised
the White House for providing “unprecedented” access.
36. John
Ashcroft didn’t really
lose a Senate election to a “dead
guy.” Mel Carnahan died in a
plane crash a few weeks before the
election,
and the Missouri Governor had
promised to appoint Carnahan’s
widow Jean Carnahan if voters pulled
the lever for Mel Carnahan.
37. The
FBI did not “know” about
al Qaeda suspects who were attending
flight training schools. The information
was
never passed above the level of one
field office.
38. Ashcroft
did not cut overall counter-terrorism funding.
He only
proposed a one-year
cut in a particular program
that already
had two years of unspent money.
39. Rep.
Porter Goss says he has an “800 number,” and
the Fahrenheit caption
says “He’s lying.” Goss
does have a tollfree number,
although the prefix is 877.
40.
Moore say Saddam’s Iraq “had
never murdered a single American
citizen.” In fact, Saddam
paid for terrorist bombers
in Israel who murdered Americans,
along with people of
other nationalities. Saddam
also
sheltered the American-killing
terrorist Abu Nidal, and the
bomb-maker for the 1993 World
Trade Center bombings.
41.
In addition, Saddam ordered
assassination attempts against
former President
Bush and against U.S.
diplomats in the Philippines.
42. Moore
claims that the Saddam regime “never threatened
to attack the United States.” In
fact, in 1997 the regime
publicly ordered: “American
and British interests,
embassies, and naval ships
in the Arab
region should be the targets
of military operations
and commando attacks by
Arab
political forces.” On
the first anniversary of
September 11, Saddam's
regime called for suicide
attacks
on Americans.
43. Moore
claims that there was
no connection between
Iraq and
al Qaeda.
In fact, there
is an extensive
record of
collaboration
although—as the
September 11 Commission
announced—there
is no proof that Saddam
participated beforehand
in al Qaeda attacks on
America.
44. Fahrenheit shows Condoleezza Rice
saying, “Oh,
indeed there is a tie
between Iraq and what
happened on 9/11.” The
audience laughs derisively.
Here is what Rice really
said on Nov. 28, 2003:
"Oh,
indeed there is a tie between Iraq and what happened on
9/11. It’s not that Saddam Hussein was somehow
himself and his regime involved in 9/11, but, if you think
about what caused 9/11, it is the rise of ideologies of
hatred that
lead people to drive airplanes into buildings in New York.
This is a great terrorist, international terrorist network
that is
determined to defeat freedom. It has perverted Islam from
a peaceful religion into one in which they call on it for
violence. And
they’re all linked. And Iraq is a central front because,
if and when, and we will, we change the nature of Iraq to
a place that is peaceful and democratic and prosperous in
the heart of
the Middle East, you will begin to change the Middle East...."
45.
Moore portrays pre-liberation Iraq as a happy nation of
kite-flying and weddings. In fact, a sixth of the population
had fled
Saddam’s
tyranny. The United Nations and Amnesty International condemned “the
systematic, widespread and extremely grave violations of
human rights and of international humanitarian law by the
Government
of Iraq, resulting in an all-pervasive repression and oppression
sustained by broad-based discrimination and widespread
terror.’’
46. The
only Iraqi casualties which Moore shows are civilians, although
military casualties
far outnumbered civilian.
47. When
showing pictures of buildings being blown up, Moore does
not reveal that many
of them were military
buildings, and
civilians were never allowed anywhere near them.
48.
A humorous sequence making fun of tiny countries in the
Iraq liberation Coalition does not even mention
the major countries
in the Coalition, such as the U.K., Australia, Italy,
and Japan.
49. Despite
Moore’s claims, American
media have not been mindlessly supportive of the
Iraq war. For example, Peter Jennings
has been extremely critical. The evidence that
Moore offers to portray Jennings as a war supporter is
a clip of Jennings reporting
in April 2003 that Saddam’s army had collapsed—which
was true.
50. Moore
reports that Bush proposed closing some Veteran’s
hospitals. But he also proposed opening other
veteran’s
hospitals.
51. Bush
once opposed renewing a special bonus of $75/ month for soldiers
in “imminent danger
zones.” Moore claims
that Bush proposed cutting combat soldiers’ pay
by 1/3; but a soldier's pay and benefits is
over $27,000 per
year, even
at low enlisted grades.
52. While
making false claims about a Bush pay cut, Moore omits the
fact that Bush sought
and
won a 3.7%
military
pay raise in
2003.
53. Moore
claims that only one Congressman has a child in Iraq. Actually,
two do. (Democratic
Senator
Tim
Johnson of S.D., and
Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter of California.)
Also, John Ashcroft has a son on a naval
ship in the
Persian Gulf.
54. Fahrenheit deceptively
cut the footage of Rep. Mark Kennedy
to make it look like Kennedy rebuffed Moore’s
request to help enlist Congressional
children. In fact, Kennedy said
it was a good idea, and offered to help.
55. Fahrenheit shows
Rep. Michael Castle walking past Moore. But Rep. Castle is
childless.
56. Based
on Census Bureau data, Congressional families are more likely
than other
families to have children
serving in Iraq.
57. Moore
calls Flint, Michigan, “my hometown.” In
fact, he grew up in Davison, a much
wealthier and much whiter suburb.
Bonus
deceit: Moore has claimed that Peter Townshend, lead guitarist
for The Who,
tried to get Moore to put the song “Won’t
Get Fooled Again” into Fahrenheit, and that
Moore refused. Townshend says Moore is lying.
58. In Fahrenheit,
Moore pretends to support our troops. But in fact, he supports
the enemy in Iraq-the coalition of Saddam
loyalists, al Qaeda operatives, and terrorists controlled
by Iran or Syria-who are united in their desire to murder
Iraqis,
and to destroy any possibility of democracy in Iraq. Here
is what Moore said on April 14, 2004, about the forces
who are killing
Americans and trying to impose totalitarian rule on Iraq: “The
Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not ‘insurgents’ or ‘terrorists’ or ‘The
Enemy.’ They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and
their numbers will grow—and they will win.” Do
you really think that someone who wants Iraq to be ruled
by Islamist or
Ba’athist tyranny, and who deliberately kills innocent
civilians with car bombs, is like the American Minutemen?
59. As
reported in the trade journal Screen Daily,
affiliates of the Iranian and Syrian-backed terrorist
group Hezbollah are
promoting Fahrenheit 9/11, and Moore’s Middle
East distributor, Front Row, is accepting the terrorist
assistance: “In
terms of marketing the film, Front Row is getting a boost
from organizations related to Hezbollah which have rung
up from Lebanon
to ask if there is anything they can do to support the
film. And although [Front Row’s Managing Director
Giancarlo] Chacra says he and his company feel strongly
that Fahrenheit
is not anti-American, but anti-Bush, ‘we can’t
go against these organizations as they could strongly boycott
the
film in Lebanon and Syria.’” (Nancy Tartaglione, “Fahrenheit to be first doc released theatrically in Middle East,” Screen
Daily.com, June 9, 2004. The story is discussed in Samantha
Ellis, “Fahrenheit
9/11 gets help offer from Hezbollah,” The
Guardian (London), June 17, 2004.)
Slate.com (6/24/04) followed up on the story, and reported: “Gianluca
Chacra, the managing director of Front Row Entertainment, the
movie’s distributor in the United Arab Emirates, confirms
that Lebanese student members of Hezbollah ‘have asked
us if there’s any way they could support the film.’ Chacra
was unfazed, even excited, about their offer. ‘Having the
support of such an entity in Lebanon is quite significant for
that market and not at all controversial. I think it’s
quite natural.’”
Fifty-nine
Deceits in Fahrenheit 911
