I would rather see him in this house..
Potosi Correctional Center
Posted on 05/31/2006 4:38:59 PM PDT by doesnt suffer fools gladly
Iraq Veteran Sues Moore Over 9/11 Film
By DENISE LAVOIE
BOSTON (AP) - A veteran who lost both arms in the war in Iraq is suing filmmaker Michael Moore for $85 million, alleging that Moore used snippets of a television interview without his permission to falsely portray him as anti-war in "Fahrenheit 9/11."
Sgt. Peter Damon, a National Guardsman from Middleborough, is asking for damages because of "loss of reputation, emotional distress, embarrassment, and personal humiliation," according to the lawsuit filed in Suffolk Superior Court last week.
Damon, 33, claims that Moore never asked for his consent to use a clip from an interview Damon did with NBC's "Nightly News."
He lost his arms when a tire on a Black Hawk helicopter exploded while he and another reservist were servicing the aircraft on the ground. Another reservist was killed in the explosion.
In his interview with NBC, Damon was asked about a new painkiller the military was using on wounded veterans. He claims in his lawsuit that the way Moore used the film clip in "Fahrenheit 9/11" - Moore's scathing 2004 documentary criticizing the Bush administration and the war in Iraq - makes him appear to "voice a complaint about the war effort" when he was actually complaining about "the excruciating type of pain" that comes with the injury he suffered.
In the movie, Damon is shown lying on a gurney, with his wounds bandaged. He says he feels likes he's "being crushed in a vise."
"But they (the painkillers) do a lot to help it," he says. "And they take a lot of the edge off of it."
Damon is shown shortly after U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., is speaking about the Bush administration and says, "You know, they say they're not leaving any veterans behind, but they're leaving all kinds of veterans behind."
Damon contends that Moore's positioning of the clip just after the congressman's comments makes him appear as if he feels like he was "left behind" by the Bush administration and the military.
In his lawsuit, Damon says he "agrees with and supports the President and the United States' war effort, and he was not left behind."
He said that, while at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center recovering from his wounds, he had surgery and physical therapy, learned to use prosthetics and live independently. He also said that Homes For Our Troops, a not-for-profit group, built him a house with handicapped accessibility.
"The work creates a substantially fictionalized and falsified implication as a wounded serviceman who was left behind when Plaintiff was not left behind but supported, financially and emotionally, by the active assistance of the President, the United States and his family, friends, acquaintances and community," Damon says in his lawsuit.
Moore did not immediately return calls seeking comment Wednesday. A message was left for Moore at a personal number in New York and with HarperCollins, publisher of Moore's 2002 book, "Stupid White Men...And Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation!"
A spokesman for Miramax Film Corp., also named as a defendant, did not immediately return a call.
Damon did not immediately respond to a request for an interview.
"It's upsetting to him because he's lived his life supportive of his government, he's been a patriot, he's been a soldier, and he's now being portrayed in a movie that is the antithesis of all of that," Damon's lawyer, Dennis Lynch, said.
Damon is seeking $75 million in damages for emotional distress and loss of reputation. His wife is suing for an additional $10 million in damages because of the mental distress caused to her husband, Lynch said.
God speed to the patriot. I pray he will do well in his day in court. The real question is why wasn't Moore indicted for treason, giving aid and comfort to the enemy?
Good Post! Thanks for the news. The only thing better will be if he wins.
Maybe this is the one time when it would be a good thing for a jury to decide to award someone a lot more than what they sued for.
What, you don't agree with Moore's opinion that the Iraqi insurgents are just like the Minuteman? (sarcasm)
I'd love that fat slob have to part with some of the money he made from FFFFFF - 9/11
I just finished two days of jury duty on a totally stupid case. I wish I could be on one for something like this. Moore would be on a corner with a cardboard sign if I had any say in the matter.
Moore is nothing but a traitor, I hope this soldier wins!
Is there a fund people can donate too? It sure would be nice if we could help this brave guy out, godspeed to him.
Good news! Sounds like this hero could have your same screenname!
I would SO love to see that bottom-feeding oxygen thief sent to the poor house.
I would rather see him in this house..
Potosi Correctional Center
It seems this man has taken fighting enemies at home and abroad to heart. A clear case of a soldier being taken out of the fight, but the fight wasn't taken out of him. I hope he and his wife both win.
I hope the case doesn't end up in a liberal courtroom . God bless him for fighting back . . .
Best news I've heard in awhile. God bless this hero!
Go get him!!!
I think a lot of people who were misrepresented and embarrassed by Moore with his creative editing techniques should join together and file a class-action. Think Moore has the money to fight all the lawyers for George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Charlton Heston, Roger Smith, John Ashcroft, Dick Clark, and hundreds of others?
Dick Clark?
Here is all the things I found for Sgt. Damon:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Sgt.+Peter+Damon+National+Guardsman+Middleborough&btnG=Google+Search
Great stuff!
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