Posted on 07/05/2004 12:31:01 PM PDT by Shermy
In his new movie, Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore reviews the Bush administration’s publicly stated rationale for the war against terrorism in Afghanistan – it was part of the U.S. response to the attacks of September 11, 2001 – and then suggests that the real reason for the war was, at least in part, to enable Unocal to proceed with a natural gas pipeline project in Afghanistan and for other U.S. energy and oil-service companies to participate in various projects in that country.
Unocal has absolutely no intention of participating in an Afghanistan pipeline project nor are we in discussions with any parties about doing so. We had no “understanding” with the Bush Administration that once U.S. military forces removed the Taliban from power we would proceed with such a project. Further, Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, was never a consultant or adviser to Unocal, as Moore erroneously asserts.
During the mid-1990s, a Unocal subsidiary joined a consortium that proposed to build a natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan. Negotiations concerning this project proposal were never concluded with representatives of these governments and no construction ever began.
In August 1998, Unocal ended its active participation in the proposed project, a full three years before the terrorist attacks of September 11, and nearly four years before the U.S. action in Afghanistan. The company formally withdrew from the project consortium in December 1998 (see news release). Our withdrawal from this business consortium was made on a commercial basis and has not been reconsidered.
Ping.
This makes me all the happier that on Sunday two different papers printed two different letters to the editor that I wrote about Moore's movie and both letters mention the oil company issue.
I alternate between laughter and despair when I hear people who have seen Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 911 and think it espouses anything closely approximating reality.
Have we so blurred the lines between actual news and entertainment that people can no longer tell the difference? It is a sad commentary on our times that people still believe the movie despite the fact that most of the mainstream news programs, dozens of reporters have written articles and entire web sites have devoted themselves to proving the many lies found in the movie. Several reporters have said it is easier finding falsehoods in the movie than finding a single bit of truth in it.
A few major falsehoods are as follows:
Moore insinuates that President Bush signed an order which permitted the Osama bin Laden family to leave the United States after 9/11. The person who signed that order and took full responsibility was actually the former Clinton administration terrorism czar, Richard Clarke, as we learned when watching him testify before the 9/11 Commission. Further, despite Moore's assertion that the family was permitted to leave without being questioned by law enforcement, the 9/11 Commission learned that the FBI did question the family members before they were permitted to leave the country for their own safety.
The Patriot Act is so despised by leftists like Moore that I'm rather surprised he would even suggest that over 100 family members, most of whom were estranged from OBL, should be held in the country against their will.
Moore insinulates that the Taliban met with Bush in Texas and the war in Afghanistan was to help Unocal Corporation build a pipeline in that country. He is apparently unaware that the Taliban never met with Bush but were invited to Houston by Unocal and that the visit was approved by the Clinton administration which met with the Taliban twice in 1997 and 1998. Additionally, the Associated Press reports that Unoral withdrew from planning to build the Afghanistan pipeline in 1998.
Moore claims there was no relationship between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, ignoring the fact on November 4, 1998 the Clinton administration obtained an indictment against Osama bin Laden in federal court which specifically mentioned the terrorist's connections with Saddam this way:
"In addition, al Qaeda reached an understanding with the Government of Iraq that al Qaeda would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al Qaeda would work cooperatively with the Government of Iraq."
Additionally, despite some initial mis-reporting by the press, the 9/11 Commission reports have detailed many connections between the terrorist and Saddam but they could find no operational role in 9/11 between AQ and Iraq. Even that was countered a few days later by the two 9/11 Commission Co-Chairmen when they said that a high ranking member of Iraq's Fedayeen military was present during at least one pre-9/11 planning meeting.
The list of falsehoods in the movie is a long one and does not distinguish Moore or those who get their "news" from the entertainment industry.
As I've said many times, this project was pretty much dead for most of 1998 & we closed up the Ashgabat office & left in August, 1998.
At the same time, or very shortly thereafter, Unocal closed their offices in Tashkent, Almaty, Islamabad, and reduced their Baku office to only a couple of local personnel.
Moore & anyone who believes his BS is an idiot.
I Loved it!!
-Osama Bin Laden
Four Stars!!!!
I Haven't had this much fun at the movies since Blackhawk Down!!!!
-Mullah Omar
It would be interesting to find out where that footage is from - it's certainly no a Trans Afghan pipeline as he reportedly implies.
In one of the dozens of conservative articles written last week about Moore's movies and the falsehoods in it, a reporter said much the same as you did, Shermy. Wish I could remember which one and I'd link it.
If I was an owner of Unocal (i.e., held any shares), I would be all over my management team to file suit against his largeness for his attack against the assets of my company (i.e. its good name). Too bad the market is closed today.
In a land where the idiots have gained control of the media-the idiots view will be hearlded, so loudly that rationality will seem to be mute or non-existant.
It's a delusion, but extremely hazardous to reality, for the duration of the blackout of truth.
The Karzai myth isn't new - the film's people could have fact checked it by merely searching news databases, along with the other falsehoods on this topic.
Terrorists had a friend in Clinton White House called Robin
Rep. ROHRABACHER (1999) -- How the Clinton Administration brought the Taliban to power
I saw F/911 and just can't bring myself to buy gas from Unocal knowing that Michael Moore has proven beyond a doubt that they did business with the Taliban, Al Qaeda, Iran, Saddam Hussein, The Easter Bunny, Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Che Guevara, Emperor Caligula, John Dillinger, Genghis Khan, and George Clooney. I can forgive the Al Qaeda stuff, but GEORGE CLOONEY???? What George Clooney did to 'Batman' is a crime against humanity. Thank God for real patriots like Michael Moore! If we'd had more men like Michael Moore at D-Day the Nazis and the Japanese would be running the world and there wouldn't be all this problem with the Muslims because Hitler would've killed them all by now.
Yep: It's all Unocal and Bush!
I hope this rant made as much sense to you as any of Michael Moore's so-called "documentaries".
(Note to Unocal: I'll be tanking up with your most excellent premium unleaded on the way home. If you people piss off Michael Moore then you MUST be my friends!)
Huh? Why would they do that? The facts would get in the way of their trying to steal the White House for the most left-leaning member of the U.S. Senate.
"I saw F/911"
I didn't. Did Moore show video of a pipeline being laid while talking about Unocal and Karzai? Did you get the impression it was in Afghanistan, Unocal, etc.?
Yes you do get the impression
If Germany had won WWII, Michael Moore would have had to find a different name for his film (Fahrenheit 451 was written 50 years ago but would have been unlikely to have been openly published in Hitler's World).
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