Posted on 07/06/2004 9:46:00 PM PDT by HAL9000
NEW YORK (AFP) - US filmmaker Michael Moore hopes the global release of his documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" will usher in "regime change" in Australia and Japan, and fan freedom of speech in more repressive nations like China.In a press conference with foreign journalists in New York, Moore said his polemical movie should encourage people in all those democratic countries that have supported the US-led war in Iraq to vote their leaders out of office.
"Fahrenheit 9/11," which has become the highest-grossing documentary of all time in the United States, slams President George W. Bush's policy in Iraq and highlights what Moore sees as an erosion of US civil rights amid the war against terror.
The combative director was especially scathing about the Australian and British prime ministers, John Howard and Tony Blair, along with the leaders of countries like Japan and Italy, for allying themselves with the Bush administration.
"What's confusing to me is how someone like John Howard can get in bed with George W. Bush," Moore said. "He at least appears to have half a brain ... It's really disgraceful."
Australia was a staunch US ally in its war in Iraq, committing some 2,000 troops to the offensive, 850 of whom remain in the region.
"I hope that Australians that see this film will say to themselves, we need some regime change here in our country," Moore said.
Moore announced that he would not be promoting the film overseas, as he wanted to stay in the United States and concentrate on his "mission" to see Bush ousted from the White House in November's presidential election.
Responding to a question by a Japanese correspondent, he suggested the Japanese people were being betrayed by their government's decision to commit 550 troops in the southern Iraqi town of Samawa until December.
"To see you involve yourselves in this way is a sad day," he said. "It's a shameful and disgraceful thing."
He also had harsh words for Blair, who has been Bush's most stalwart ally since the decision was made to remove Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) by military force.
"I've been racking my brain, trying to figure out what Tony Blair, an otherwise intelligent man, would be doing hooking himself up with president Bush," he said.
"That is something for science to figure out," he joked. "Maybe someday, someone could do some examination, put him under hypnosis."
The filmmaker was equally damning in his judgement of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi whose government decided last month to extend the mandate of the 3,000 Italian troops deployed in Iraq until the end of the year.
"If I were an Italian citizen, leaving this film after two hours, I would be wondering, 'What the hell was (Berlusconi) doing hooking up with George W. Bush?'" Moore said.
"This is an embarrassment to Italy, and the sooner that there's regime change in Rome, all the better," he added.
During the lengthy press conference, Moore peppered many of his answers with touches of sardonic humour, suggesting to one foreign journalist that Austria could influence the result of November's election by offering free ski holidays to any American who could prove he had not voted for Bush.
He also urged foreign audiences not to link the opinions in the film exclusively to its maker.
"It's not just Michael Moore," he said. "I'm not the only American who feels this way."
Moore said the release of "Fahrenheit 9/11" was still being negotiated in some countries like China, where he indicated that there were concerns Beijing would censor portions of the film.
"I hope Chinese people would come away with the realisation that there are Americans, like myself, who can dissent," he said. "Perhaps some day anyone in China will have the right to pick up a camera and do whatever they want."
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Or not. I'm betting on not.
Does this guy have a death wish?
The only regime change overseas he is likely to fan is more Muslim hostility. The man certainly thinks highly of himself. In fact it's a lot more like megalomania
We'd be calling him slim in a few weeks.
I think not.
Moore's homemovie is undermining US efforts in Iraq and for that matter, he's undermining the entire WoT. The man is a leftwing propagandist and an opportunist who cares nothing about America and the American people. Moore doesn't love his country.
Pride is a maddening master.
I've run out of descriptors for this guy; "unmitigated gall" just doesn't seem to work anymore.
Just when I think Moore can't be more stupid he gets more stupid. Here he is in a country where he can just pick up a camera and do what he wants and yet he thinks the liberation of Iraq (where they now have a free press) was wrong.
sorry moore - your self-hype won't stop your bomb of a film from dropping. filmgoers are interested in more entertaining fiction pieces - like spiderman.
Michael Moore weell do for ze documentary what zat ozer French heartthrob Zherry Lewis did for ze comedy.
I thought the liberal line was they’re all being paid off by Halliburton. That upon leaving office they’ll separately go to Switzerland and deposit their ‘Dick Cheney’ signed checks.
What is more likely to happen is that his polemic, once dubbed into Arabic by his new mid-east patron Hezbollah, will act as a positive re-enforcement of Islamic perceptions of the US.
The result will be to inflame anger against the US and its citizens (and anyone who looks and sounds like a Yank, such as Brits, Canucks and Diggers).
The polemic is seen in the US as an ideological tract against conservatives. In the mid-east it will be taken as historical truth. The effect will massively undermine the US efforts in the War on Terror.
And Moore will be guilty of giving aid and comfort to the enemy, the US then being in a state of belligerency.
Grrr is right. I can only guess the Good Lord puts people like him on earth to teach the rest of us tolerance (I mean the kind of tolerance only Christ himself could show). It really is hard to live in a world where people like Moore who are so clearly wrong and perverse are rewarded with wealth and fame for it. Worse, is the number of people who would follow him into the type of hell he would mis-lead them into.
my sentiments EXACTLY!!
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