Fifty-Nine Deceits in Fahrenheit 9/11

DaveKopel.com ^ | Dave Kopel

[UCSC Republican]

There are many articles which have pointed out the distortions, falsehoods, and lies in the film Fahrenheit 9/11. This report compiles the Fahrenheit 9/11 deceits which have been identified by a wide variety of reviewers. In addition, I identify some inaccuracies which have not been addressed by other writers.

The report follows the approximate order in which the movie covers particular topics: the Bush family, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. This report focuses solely on factual issues, and not on aesthetic criticism of the film.

To understand the deceptions, it helps to understand Moore’s ideological position. So let us start with Moore’s belief that the September 11 attacks on the United States were insignificant.

Edward Koch, the former Democratic Mayor of New York City, writes:

A year after 9/11, I was part of a panel discussion on BBC-TV’s “Question Time” show which aired live in the United Kingdom. A portion of my commentary at that time follows:

“One of the panelists was Michael Moore…During the warm-up before the studio audience, Moore said something along the lines of “I don’t know why we are making so much of an act of terror. It is three times more likely that you will be struck by lightning than die from an act of terror.”…I mention this exchange because it was not televised, occurring as it did before the show went live. It shows where he was coming from long before he produced “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

Edward Koch, “Moore’s propaganda film cheapens debate, polarizes nation,” World Tribune, June 28, 2004. [Moore response: none.]

By the way, I don't disagree with the point that it is reasonable to consider the number of deaths from any particular problem, including terrorism, in assessing how serious the problem is. Moore's point, however, was willfully oblivious to the fact that al Qaeda did not intend 9/11 to be the last word; the organization was working on additional attacks, and if the organization obtained the right weapons, millions of people might be killed. More fundamentally, even if Moore's argument in London is conceded to be legitimate, it contradicts Fahrenheit 9/11's presentation of Moore as intensely concerned about the September 11 attacks.

As we go through the long list of lies and tricks in Fahrenheit 9/11, keep in mind that Michael Moore has assembled a “war room” of political operatives and lawyers in order to respond to criticism of Fahrenheit 9/11 and to file defamation suits. (Jack Shafer, “Libel Suit 9/11. Michael Moore’s hysterical, empty threats,” Slate.com, June 12, 2004.) One of Moore's "war room" officials is Chris Lehane; Lehane, as an employee of Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark (who was also supported by Moore), is alleged to have spread rumors to the press about John Kerry's alleged extra-marital affair, although Lehane denies doing so.

Of course if there are any genuine errors in this report, the errors will be promptly corrected. On July 5, I removed a complaint about a Presidential approval poll number, which I had wrongly thought was not supported by data.

In this report, I number Moore’s deceits. Some of them are outright lies; some are omissions which create a false impression. Others involve different forms of deception. A few are false statements Moore has made when defending the film. Judge for yourself the credibility of Michael Moore's promise, "Every single fact I state in 'Fahrenheit 9/11' is the absolute and irrefutable truth...Do not let anyone say this or that isn't true. If they say that, they are lying."

[UCSC Republican]

A VERY long read, but a good one. There's also a shorter PDF version on the website. Just for the record, I am told that Dave Kopel, the author, is a Nader-supporting Democrat.

[TomServo]

3rd posting..

[mvpel]

Seventh, if you do a search on "deceits" instead of "Fifty-Nine" - the previous title was "Fifty-six Deceits..." until Dave added three more deceits.

[TomServo]

Yeah - but I was just shooting for exact article(s).

[Drumbo]

Add http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1183003/posts and it an even 60! One Lie every two minutes.

[BunnySlippers]

Bookmarking

[Main Street]

[Jacob Kell]

Wasn't there some left-wing media moron over at Reuters who gushed over Fahrenheit 9/11, saying that the Right couldn't refute it?

[French-American Republican]

One of the most insulting was the cheap shot at George W. Bush reading to the children in Florida. What does Michael Moore think Bush should have done? Should he have just walked out of the room and possibly shock the children? I was saying to myself, "So what?" while watching that scene in the film.

[Jacob Kell]

Wasn't there some left-wing media moron over at Reuters who gushed over Fahrenheit 9/11, saying that the Right couldn't refute it?

[Jim_Curtis]

Toobin's theory [ of a Gore victory ] likewise depends on re-assigning votes which are plainly marked for one candidate (Pat Buchanan) to Gore, although there are no provisions in Florida law to guess at who a voter "really" meant to vote for and to re-assign the vote.
***
It just occurred to me why there were so many Buchanan votes, perhaps it has occurred to others: They figured that they needed to balance the extra Gore ballots that they were processing several at a time ( which accounted for the "chads" by not punching through cleanly on all of the ballots )with a "conservative" and so their double digit IQs hatched this balancing technique.

They made such loud and absurd claims that Republicans were in shock and couldn't see it clearly at the time. The country was actually being asked to take the claim seriously that voters IN ONLY ONE DISTRICT were accidentally voting for Buchanan and running from the polling places crying about...they REMEMBERED voting for Buchanan, whom they hate, but they DID IT ANYWAY!!!

The rats are still making loud and absurd claims to cover their new crimes in the hope that we won't see things clearly through the static.

The louder they scream about an issue, the guiltier they are on that issue.

[LiteKeeper]

INTREP

[FlashBack]

Thank You for this thread....I've got a couple of people that need to read this as well!!
Smack'em upside the head with a little reality!!!!

[Barset]

thanks.