Posted on 07/28/2004 11:10:16 AM PDT by pookie18
PARIS - A half-brother of Osama bin Laden says he enjoyed most of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" except for what he called the "inaccuracies" about his family, including that it had special help getting out of the United States after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"It's a moving film," Yeslam Binladin, a Geneva-based tycoon and one of the al-Qaida leader's 54 siblings, said in an interview with the latest edition of French magazine VSD.
"I even laughed at times," said Binladin, adding, "but a lot less when he states errors or inaccuracies about my family, knowing perfectly well that he's deceiving the public."
In the film, Moore says President Bush tried to cover up his family's longtime business and personal ties to the family of Osama bin Laden and other prominent Saudis because many of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.
One of his main points is that the U.S. administration helped 142 Saudis - including two dozen members of bin Laden's family - fly out of the United States two days after the Sept. 11 attacks, even though commercial air space was closed.
"That's false and can be verified by anyone," said the Saudi-born Binladin, who intentionally spells his name differently from Osama, the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks. "They benefited from no exceptional authorization to leave American territory."
Binladin, who has lived in Geneva many years and has Swiss citizenship, told the magazine that his U.S.-based family members flew into Geneva on Sept. 20 before taking off again for Saudi Arabia.
The movie also states that several family members attended a 2001 wedding of one of Osama bin Laden's sons in Afghanistan - a claim Binladin says is exaggerated.
"Nobody from my family was at this wedding in Afghanistan except for the mother of Osama," said Binladin. Yeslam and Osama are among the 54 sons and daughters of the late Saudi construction magnate Mohammed bin Laden and his 22 wives.
Binladin, the founder of Geneva-based financial company Sico, said the last time he saw his younger half brother was before Osama left Saudi Arabia in 1981.
Wow. So this guy thinks everything is true about the film, except the parts that he knows about - which he knows are false?
"Don't they teach logic in these schools?" - CS Lewis, "The lion the witch and the wardrobe"
... that would require thinking ... which apparently many people no longer do, preferring to simply believe whatever the medias present ... God help us!
Ythat about right. For people who have first hand knowledge about certain details in Moore's film, they know he is lying. get another person with another scope of knowledge and guess what--Moore is lying there too. Pretty soon the film is as we know--all lies.
Isn't amazing the press never bothers to check facts (ort the lack thereof in Moore's film. The guy should be labelled as little more than the next generation of Nazis-type filmakers.
I had the misfortune to have something involving me get into the press. The articles were uniformly distorted, both because the writer was lazy and some others with an agenda were feeding distorted information. It was both maddening and illuminating.
As you say, you assume that the newspaper is at least mostly true, until you read an article about something of which you have personal knowledge, and you see them printing essentially a fairy tale. And it must dawn on you, if they can be that wrong about things you know about, they can be just as wrong about all the rest.
I was involved in a political campaign when I was a kid, and I would notice the same thing. Times wrong, places wrong, people listed wrong, subjects discussed wrong, and so forth. There was no apparent intent to distort, they simply habitually got more wrong than right.
"I liked the movie and was impressed with the accuracy of it... except for everything it said about me."
Nah, the main point is what were the 142 doing here and why were they in such a hurry to get out. [and did they ever come back?]
I didn't see where he thinks that it is true, just that he enjoyed it and laughed at times. He did point out that the parts about his family were not true. If you add up all the people who say that their parts were not true either, then I'm sure that it will show the entire movie to be made up of distortions and un-truths.
I'm reminded of what Carl Sagan wrote about Velikovsky. Scientists would say that of course the science was all garbage, but they were impressed by the mythological stuff. Historians would say that of course the history was utter dreck, but they were impressed by the science stuff.
One of his main points is that the U.S. administration helped 142 Saudis - including two dozen members of bin Laden's family - fly out of the United States two days after the Sept. 11 attacks, even though commercial air space was closed.
"That's false and can be verified by anyone," said the Saudi-born Binladin,...." -snip-
[Binladin]... told the magazine that his U.S.-based family members flew into Geneva on Sept. 20 before taking off again for Saudi Arabia. "
Actually, he addresses the only parts of the thing that he has personal knowledge about. The bin Ladens flew out of the U.S. on Sept 20th, 9 days after the attacks not 2 days after. He states emphatically that Moore's intent was to deceive. Moreover, he set the record straight regarding the 2001 wedding of Osama's son in Afghanistan.
emphasis added
So, it is OK when he lies about President Bush or anyone and anything else, knowing perfectly well that he's deceiving the public.
It's only the part when he lies about your family, huh?
Becki
WOW
And I'll say it again ... not even the most trivial detail of F 9/11 will prove to be untainted.
BTTT... more facts disputed on M. Moore
My thoughts precisely! If MM hadn't eaten that last cheeseburger, he coulda passed for Joseph Goebels, and the worst part is, people go to see this POS advancing the ability of the tub-o-lard to finance the next fiction. Some people don't have a lick-o-sense, like listening to Babs, or seeing some leftist actor, (same thing in this case) on the silver screen, and I'm the guilty party in this case. How was I to know 30 years ago, that I was beefing up her larder so she can personally attack my country.
At least with MM I recognize who and what he is, all with the able assistance of FREEREPUBLIC!
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