Fahrenheit 9/11
I just saw Fahrenheit 9/11 for the first time. I vowed I would not see it until after the election.
Here is the plot in a nutshell. Before 9/11, Bush was a bad president. He won because his Daddy's friends packed the supreme court and not because the people wanted him. Before 9/11, he neglected the country and was on vacation more often than not at his ranch. Moore does not show the towers actually being hit or the towers coming down (I wonder why?). When the planes struck the towers, Bush did nothing for seven whole minutes and just read to the elementary school class where he was doing a photo op. Then, Bush protected the Bin Laden's brothers and sisters, because the Bin Ladens were friends of his. In fact, one of Bush's good friends was the guy who dealt with the Bin Laden's finances. Also, the Saudi govt was a great friend of the US. Therefore, even though most of the terrorists were from Saudi Arabia, Bush protected them and went after Afghanastan. Also, Bush decided to go into Afghanastan, not because there were terrorists there, but because he wanted to put a pipeline through it for Unocal. Then, he decided to get rid of our freedoms with the patriot act and, because no one in Congress read it, Moore was forced to drive around in an Ice Cream truck reading the act, but he doesn't tell us what is in it or how it affects our lives. Later, Moore decides to sign up the children of members of Congress for the all volunteer military. Later, Bush decided to go into Iraq and told us there were weapons of mass destruction there even though, before 9/11, he had said there were no wmd there. Also, war is hell and lots of people die in war including innocent people. Also, lots of soliers have changed their minds about the war and formerly conservative mothers, too (at least, one). Also, Flint Michigan looks a great deal like a war zone.
Also, the president and administration officials look really funny when they sit there getting make-up put on them.
Moreover, you can find all this information if you just go through hundreds of hours of tape showing the president and various administration officials talking for hundreds of hours and then edit it.
The movie tries to tackle too many issues without really going into anything in detail. It first starts out with the idea that Bush was in cahoots with Bin Laden, because he knew someone who did work with the Bin Laden family. Well, my wife used to work with a guy who helped blow up the two embassies in Africa in the 1990s, was a member of Al Qaida while she knew him, and who knew Osama Bin Laden himself. This guy, Ali Mohammed, was arrested for terrorism while he worked with my wife. So I say, so what? We are all six degrees of separation from everyone in the world.
And, of course, there is also the age old adage that any war in the middle east is a war for oil. This has always been merely innuendo as no one can point to any actual fact that shows that's why we went to war in the middle east. And Moore never goes beyond the innuendo.
In fact, the whole movie is all about innuendo and conspiracy theories. But, again, no facts are shown.
Moore thinks we went into Afghanistan for 2 reasons: To build a pipeline in Afghanistan for Unocal and to protect the Saudi Royal family. First of all, there was no pipeline on the table at Unocal in 2001. It had merely been discussed in the 1990s. Second, Al Qaida was based in Afghanistan. Why wouldn't we invade that country?
Moore tries to make many points about airline security, the actions of others such as Congress, and various White House policies and gives one rather conspiratorial view about all of them, but never takes into consideration other views that might explain why such policies were implemented. He just assumes there are either no other reasons or the other reasons aren't good ones. A case in point is his point that no Congressman actually read the Patriot Act. Of course, he never tells us that there might be good reasons why others read the laws that get passed and Congressmen only read summaries prepared by highly skilled staff members. Another case in point is this idea that the President and his administration purposely scared us into Iraq by giving us constant warnings about terror threats. He fails to tell you that the color coded system was actually suggested by a Democrat. Moreover, the administration felt it was under pressure to let people know about threats in advance and did not want to look like it was caught off guard. Also, 9/11 scared us. We assumed there would be other attacks. I never thought we would be free from attacks within our borders three years after 9/11. Moore never takes these other issues into questions.
He does make the point that the sons and daughters of the elite don't ever serve in the military, but his idea to try to get congressmen to "enlist" their own children is silly. I thought it was up to each individual to determine whether to go into the military or not. Each soldier, sailor, airmen, or marine is an adult who can make his or her own decisions. A parent cannot enlist their own children. Nevertheless, we have an all volunteer army. These guys know what they are in for when they join up. If you take the benefits, you might be sent to Iraq. I feel for the guys who go, but they knew what they were in for when they joined up. I understand Moore's point, but I fail to see what that has to do with whether to go into Iraq or not. Good war or bad, the individual soldier knows what he or she is in for.
When Moore tries to make his point about the Patriot act, I fail to understand it. He does not tells us what is in the Patriot Act or why it is good or bad. It just fails.
Moore does score points with his depictions of the horrors of war. In fact, his depictions are very moving and include civilian casualties, amputees, dead soldiers, and the story of the mother of a soldier who was killed. War is horrible. People die horribly. People are maimed horribly. People's lives are changed forever. A lot of innocent people are killed. But that has always happened in war and should be expected. One could say the same thing about World War II. We understand that war is horrible. The question is: Is this a good war to fight?
That is where Moore fails the most. He glosses over the intelligence failures. He doesn't mention anything about Saddam's crimes (or even that the US supported Saddam in the 1970s and 1980s). The real question is why did we go to war? There are a few scenes where people are wondering why we are in Iraq, but the issue is never truly discussed. Weapons of mass destruction are talked about in some very quick snippets of news footage, but a full discussion is never made.
If the administration went to Iraq with bad intelligence regarding WMD, then let's fix the intelligence. If the administration ignored the intelligence analysis of the CIA and decided to go to Iraq anyway, then we have a major problem. However, there is no evidence to suggest that the administration ignored CIA analysis. If Moore has some evidence, it doesn't make in into his movie. In my opinion, other than WMD, the administration did not give us any reasons why we should go to war. I can come up with several good reasons of my own, but Bush failed to tell the American people about these other reasons. That would produce some good discussions, but, to Moore, there are no other reasons and, even if there were, it would not matter, because Bush went to war to make his war industries and oil pals rich and that was it.
To Moore, Bush and all his cronies are maniacal crazy wannabe Hitlers who want nothing other than to make the rich richer, to make the poor poorer, and to poor people suffer. And to accomplish these goals, Bush has to lie constantly. Maybe I have rose colored glasses on, but I think that is ludicrous.
The best part is not part of the movie but is on the DVD. It is a small documentary about Arab American Comics. It was hilarious.
The movie is light on facts and evidence and heavy on conspiracy and innuendo. If you are predisposed to believe in conspiracy theories, you might find something in this movie. If you hate Bush, this is a movie for you. If you are a Republican, you might like it just to know what crap the left is listening to. If you are an independent who needs evidence before making up your mind, pass on this one. Moore obviously has a bias and doesn't let evidence stand in the way of achieving his aims. In my opinion, Moore does a disservice to the public. He has a chance to really undertake a hard look at these issues, but his tactics are not unlike those of the insurgents. He takes quick jabs at the enemy and never fights the enemy head on. He merely hopes that the enemy will die of 1000 small cuts. As such, Moore never faces any issue head on. The documentary is a total failure and will only hurt America and aid the terrorists.
Here is the plot in a nutshell. Before 9/11, Bush was a bad president. He won because his Daddy's friends packed the supreme court and not because the people wanted him. Before 9/11, he neglected the country and was on vacation more often than not at his ranch. Moore does not show the towers actually being hit or the towers coming down (I wonder why?). When the planes struck the towers, Bush did nothing for seven whole minutes and just read to the elementary school class where he was doing a photo op. Then, Bush protected the Bin Laden's brothers and sisters, because the Bin Ladens were friends of his. In fact, one of Bush's good friends was the guy who dealt with the Bin Laden's finances. Also, the Saudi govt was a great friend of the US. Therefore, even though most of the terrorists were from Saudi Arabia, Bush protected them and went after Afghanastan. Also, Bush decided to go into Afghanastan, not because there were terrorists there, but because he wanted to put a pipeline through it for Unocal. Then, he decided to get rid of our freedoms with the patriot act and, because no one in Congress read it, Moore was forced to drive around in an Ice Cream truck reading the act, but he doesn't tell us what is in it or how it affects our lives. Later, Moore decides to sign up the children of members of Congress for the all volunteer military. Later, Bush decided to go into Iraq and told us there were weapons of mass destruction there even though, before 9/11, he had said there were no wmd there. Also, war is hell and lots of people die in war including innocent people. Also, lots of soliers have changed their minds about the war and formerly conservative mothers, too (at least, one). Also, Flint Michigan looks a great deal like a war zone.
Also, the president and administration officials look really funny when they sit there getting make-up put on them.
Moreover, you can find all this information if you just go through hundreds of hours of tape showing the president and various administration officials talking for hundreds of hours and then edit it.
The movie tries to tackle too many issues without really going into anything in detail. It first starts out with the idea that Bush was in cahoots with Bin Laden, because he knew someone who did work with the Bin Laden family. Well, my wife used to work with a guy who helped blow up the two embassies in Africa in the 1990s, was a member of Al Qaida while she knew him, and who knew Osama Bin Laden himself. This guy, Ali Mohammed, was arrested for terrorism while he worked with my wife. So I say, so what? We are all six degrees of separation from everyone in the world.
And, of course, there is also the age old adage that any war in the middle east is a war for oil. This has always been merely innuendo as no one can point to any actual fact that shows that's why we went to war in the middle east. And Moore never goes beyond the innuendo.
In fact, the whole movie is all about innuendo and conspiracy theories. But, again, no facts are shown.
Moore thinks we went into Afghanistan for 2 reasons: To build a pipeline in Afghanistan for Unocal and to protect the Saudi Royal family. First of all, there was no pipeline on the table at Unocal in 2001. It had merely been discussed in the 1990s. Second, Al Qaida was based in Afghanistan. Why wouldn't we invade that country?
Moore tries to make many points about airline security, the actions of others such as Congress, and various White House policies and gives one rather conspiratorial view about all of them, but never takes into consideration other views that might explain why such policies were implemented. He just assumes there are either no other reasons or the other reasons aren't good ones. A case in point is his point that no Congressman actually read the Patriot Act. Of course, he never tells us that there might be good reasons why others read the laws that get passed and Congressmen only read summaries prepared by highly skilled staff members. Another case in point is this idea that the President and his administration purposely scared us into Iraq by giving us constant warnings about terror threats. He fails to tell you that the color coded system was actually suggested by a Democrat. Moreover, the administration felt it was under pressure to let people know about threats in advance and did not want to look like it was caught off guard. Also, 9/11 scared us. We assumed there would be other attacks. I never thought we would be free from attacks within our borders three years after 9/11. Moore never takes these other issues into questions.
He does make the point that the sons and daughters of the elite don't ever serve in the military, but his idea to try to get congressmen to "enlist" their own children is silly. I thought it was up to each individual to determine whether to go into the military or not. Each soldier, sailor, airmen, or marine is an adult who can make his or her own decisions. A parent cannot enlist their own children. Nevertheless, we have an all volunteer army. These guys know what they are in for when they join up. If you take the benefits, you might be sent to Iraq. I feel for the guys who go, but they knew what they were in for when they joined up. I understand Moore's point, but I fail to see what that has to do with whether to go into Iraq or not. Good war or bad, the individual soldier knows what he or she is in for.
When Moore tries to make his point about the Patriot act, I fail to understand it. He does not tells us what is in the Patriot Act or why it is good or bad. It just fails.
Moore does score points with his depictions of the horrors of war. In fact, his depictions are very moving and include civilian casualties, amputees, dead soldiers, and the story of the mother of a soldier who was killed. War is horrible. People die horribly. People are maimed horribly. People's lives are changed forever. A lot of innocent people are killed. But that has always happened in war and should be expected. One could say the same thing about World War II. We understand that war is horrible. The question is: Is this a good war to fight?
That is where Moore fails the most. He glosses over the intelligence failures. He doesn't mention anything about Saddam's crimes (or even that the US supported Saddam in the 1970s and 1980s). The real question is why did we go to war? There are a few scenes where people are wondering why we are in Iraq, but the issue is never truly discussed. Weapons of mass destruction are talked about in some very quick snippets of news footage, but a full discussion is never made.
If the administration went to Iraq with bad intelligence regarding WMD, then let's fix the intelligence. If the administration ignored the intelligence analysis of the CIA and decided to go to Iraq anyway, then we have a major problem. However, there is no evidence to suggest that the administration ignored CIA analysis. If Moore has some evidence, it doesn't make in into his movie. In my opinion, other than WMD, the administration did not give us any reasons why we should go to war. I can come up with several good reasons of my own, but Bush failed to tell the American people about these other reasons. That would produce some good discussions, but, to Moore, there are no other reasons and, even if there were, it would not matter, because Bush went to war to make his war industries and oil pals rich and that was it.
To Moore, Bush and all his cronies are maniacal crazy wannabe Hitlers who want nothing other than to make the rich richer, to make the poor poorer, and to poor people suffer. And to accomplish these goals, Bush has to lie constantly. Maybe I have rose colored glasses on, but I think that is ludicrous.
The best part is not part of the movie but is on the DVD. It is a small documentary about Arab American Comics. It was hilarious.
The movie is light on facts and evidence and heavy on conspiracy and innuendo. If you are predisposed to believe in conspiracy theories, you might find something in this movie. If you hate Bush, this is a movie for you. If you are a Republican, you might like it just to know what crap the left is listening to. If you are an independent who needs evidence before making up your mind, pass on this one. Moore obviously has a bias and doesn't let evidence stand in the way of achieving his aims. In my opinion, Moore does a disservice to the public. He has a chance to really undertake a hard look at these issues, but his tactics are not unlike those of the insurgents. He takes quick jabs at the enemy and never fights the enemy head on. He merely hopes that the enemy will die of 1000 small cuts. As such, Moore never faces any issue head on. The documentary is a total failure and will only hurt America and aid the terrorists.
posted by Defender at 1:37 AM
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