Demoralizing the Troops.
Kerry's Krusaders 1971
Posted on 07/26/2004 6:54:44 AM PDT by Cannoneer No. 4
Michael Moore's film, Fahrenheit 9/11, is making the rounds here at U.S. bases in Kuwait. Some soldiers have received it already and are passing is around. The impact is devastating.
Here we are, soldiers of the 1st Armored Division, just days from finally returning home after over a year serving in Iraq, and Moore's film is shocking and crushing soldiers, making them feel ashamed. Moore has abused the First Amendment and is hurting us worse than the enemy has.
There are the young and impressionable soldiers, like those who joined the Army right out of high school. They aren't familiar w/ the college-type political debate environment, and they haven't been schooled in the full range of issues involved. They are vulnerable to being hurt by a vicious film like Moore's.
There are others who joined for reasons of money and other benefits, and never gave full thought to the issues. For them, seeing this film has jolted them grievously because they never even knew where some of these countries were that we have been serving in. Imagine the impact this film has on them.
And there are those who are hurting from being away from family and loved ones. They are burnt out, already hurting inside from 15 months of duty out here, and now to be hit w/ this film.. it is devastating.
Lastly, there are those like me, who want to explode in anger and rage at this abuse of the First Amendment and the way Moore has twisted reality so harshly.
Specialist Janecek, who is feeling depressed because a close family member is nearing the end of her life, just saw the film today. I saw him in the DFAC. He is devastated. "I feel shitty, ashamed, like this was all a lie." Not only is he looking at going straight to a funeral when he returns home, but now whatever pride he felt for serving here has been crushed by Moore's film. Specialist Everett earlier after seeing the film: "You'll be mad at shit for ever having come here."
And there are others. Mostly the comments are absolute shock at the close connections Moore makes between the Bush family and the Bin Laden family in Saudi Arabia. "Bush looks really really REALLY corrupt in this film. I just don't know what to think anymore," is a common comment to hear. Some of these soldiers are darn right ashamed tonight to be American soldiers, to have been apart of this whole mission in Iraq, and are angry over all that Moore has presented in his film.
We know this is all based on Moore's lies and deceptions. But we, I'm afraid, are a minority. Right now, just days away from what should be a proud and happy return from 15 months of duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom, your U.S. soldiers are coming back ashamed and hurt because of Moore's work.
What these good yet impressionable soldiers don't realize is that twisting reality and manipulating the truth is something lawyers do every day in court for their clients. OJ Simpson, so clearly guilty in the ghastly murders, was able to get off because his lawyer team completely confused the issue. Now today, in typical fashion, Moore is doing the very same thing in this film. This is, frankly, the nature of political debate in a democracy -- especially when extremism is allowed to go unchecked.
Lt. Bischoff is so angry he could explode. He knows Moore's work is based on lies and distortions, but as he says, "the damage is done." Clearly, this is the type of thing we expect from angry leftists like Moore. What we didn't expect was the full impact this film is now having and how it has been embraced and supported by so many Hollywood elites. Lt. Bischoff says Moore's film is a work of deception, lies and distortions that when seen by those unfamiliar w/ the issues involved, has the effect of attacking the American peoples' resolve and focus in this war.
From what I've heard from the soldiers, the things that have them most shocked and upset them are the connections Moore makes between the Bush family and the Bin Ladens. The impression is that Bush is part of a conspiracy that supported the September 11th terrorist attacks. They speak of how Moore makes a convincing case all the way from the 2000 election to now that Bush and Cheney are all about making money. That the September 11th attacks were merely calculated by them as to how they would earn them more money. They speak of the Saudi who was a fellow soldier w/ Bush in the National Guard, and how Moore makes it all look like Bush is more beholden to Saudi interests than US interests.
Moore's commentary and striking video stunts, such as confronting politicians w/ enlistment papers for their kids, of course hurts and affects these soldiers out here badly. These are the ones who have sacrificed much to serve. Moore's stunt is powerful.
I sometimes want to be mad at my fellow soldiers for being susceptible to Moore's distortions, but I can't really blame them. These are good Americans, who have volunteered to serve our country. Nothing says they all have to be experts in Middle Eastern issues and history and politics to serve. That would be silly. ...But this is, of course, the vulnerability that Moore has exploited.
I wonder how damaging and shocking a Moore project would have been in the 1940s making such a video of Franklin Roosevelt. All the corruption and decadence in that administration would have fed such a project well. Or how damaging and shocking would such a Moore project have been to Lincoln, who wavered and shifted often in finding the right mediums and balances in pursuing the great causes of the Civil War. ...Need I even suggest the impact such would have had on Kennedy or Johnson and all their hypocrisies?
Moore is hurting us, hurting America, and today I can tell you he is hurting your soldiers. I don't know what to ask, except that good people out there find ways to organize information so that we can better counter Moore's impact. Is there anyone in Hollywood who is willing to stand up and make a similar film to counter Moore's? I know good people w/ integrity in the film industry don't want to be seen as pushing a political agenda in movies. But this is EXACTLY what Moore and the radical leftists in Hollywood have done. Is there no way to put together a response to them?
I hope more people will arm themselves w/ the facts and the realities of the situation out here and in the world at large. Our political arena is taking a big hit from this film by Moore, and it should tell us all something when terrorist groups like Hezbollah are distributing it around to their own people.
I think it is sad and unfortunate that at this last hour of a long and difficult deployment, so many soldiers are being made to feel ashamed and "shitty" for having ever served in this whole mission. Moore has abused the First Amendment. This is his right, and we soldiers have defended that right, but we who know better should NOT just sit back and let such enemies w/in our own country get by w/ such assaults unanswered.
Kerry's Krusaders 1971
I am sure what Army Specialist Roche wrote is true. These young men and women are beginners in the political process, and had you or I been hit with something like this, far from home with a first time vote coming up, we would probably reaact the same. Moore is a traitor and should be brought up on charges. It is sad he wears the proud banner of American. The money he makes from this fim is blood money.....from the backs of these fine men and women who have died in this land of Iraq. God Bless them.
No Moore!
I would submit that those who do, lack a deep and abiding understanding of their nation, it's goodness, and what She is attempting to do, for the world.
Some, like Sgt. Charles Robert Jenkins, U.S.Army deserter to N.Korea, come to mind, as extreme occurrences.
Others will simply be dismayed by the actions of their fellow [?] countrymen.
One would hope the entire country was patriotic and supported what the United States is doing. That is, unfortunately, not the human condition.
Suffice it to state that the vast majority of G.I's know that they are doing is right, do their duty, and carry on.
God bless them all!
We need to send Spc. Roche some good stuff to counter the truly hurtful, hateful, destructive, cruel, lies being spread by our blind and reckless fellow Americans.
I agree. Any ideas on how to get stuff to him?
According to Stars and Stripes, AAFES will show any movie that`s popular in CONUS.
This is beyond evil. Moore would have done will in Hitler's regime--they, too, were quite good at propaganda.
But the question remains unanswered - *why* is the Bush administration so subservient to the Saudis? *Why* were the Bin Ladens let out of the country after 9/11, instead of being put *where they belonged,* in detention? *Why* does the US State Department (an *executive* branch) continue to ignore the abuses of *American citizens* abducted and trapped in Saudi Arabia by fathers and husbands? Why do we not use US Marines to rescue these citizens? *Why* are the religious rights of our servicemen/women in Saudi Arabia routinely violated, to pander to fanatic Muslim sensibilities? *Why* do we ignore the massive human rights violations that go on routinely in Saudi Arabia? *Why* do we ignore especially the vehement anti-semitism of that country? *Why* do we tolerate Saudi financing of jihadist "madrassahs" and recruitment operations all over the world? Why didn't we invade Saudi Arabia after 9/11, and *cut off the money* that was allowing Afghanistan to serve as their satellite terror state? Last, why has the Bush administration continually perpetuated the myth that "Islam is a religion of peace" and "the Saudis are our friends?" If American military men are upset, they should be upset about that - because it's *wrong* that our fine men in uniform should be sacrificial victims for Saudi Arabia.
Michael Moore is for al Qaeda what Leni Riefenstahl was for the Nazis. A successful psyop has been run on us. How do we counter this?
Michael Moore is for al Qaeda what Leni Riefenstahl was for the Nazis. A successful psyop has been run on us. How do we counter this?
This is just one thing that scares me about the Dems. There is only one way of thought within the party, the party is above anything else including American lives.
I sent it to Linda Vester...she's a great friend of the military and always has soldiers on her show. I'll let you know if I get a response.
You said it well. This is one reason why I no longer view Democrats as just "folks with another point of view." They are enemies of this country and all it stands for. To them, patriotism is a dirty word, unless it suits them for a campaign speech or a propaganda film, such as this one.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1178632/posts
I recently read that we are thinking of sending our men into the Sudan to "help" the victims of the "civil war." It will be just another purposeless & fruitless exercise *without* the fundamental cause of the conflict being addressed. It's Saudi wahhabism that's spurring on the attacks against not only Sudanese Christians and animists, but against black Sudanese Muslims as well (who are being persecuted by Islamic non-black Arabs.)
Like every infamous work of propaganda, F911 is based on a nugget of truth - and that nugget in this case is the fawning, favoring, syncophatic posture taken by the current administration to the "kingdom" of Saudi Arabia.
I think this is very serious. From the lack of responses on this thread, it seems like many freepers don't see that we need to fight back on this. Moore has been proven a liar - now we need to find a BIG way to get the truth to our soldiers. Moore's lies can rip the support away from President Bush as this lying documentary travels through our troops. We, as a group, have faught back over much less than this. Will we not fight for the truth when it comes to our brave military men and women??????
Personally, I think it belongs in breaking news, but I doubt any of the moderators would agree with me. Failing that, maybe we need some folks to use their ping lists?
Pass this on to those who have praised the film.
I will be using part of it in a letter to the editor.
Then our military needs to immediately refute the lies that are in that film. They need to explain propaganda to these young soldiers. It's not getting involved in the political process, it is telling the truth. Copying and distributing portions of the 9-11 Committee report regarding the Bin Ladin family should be done immediately.
Easily explained. After 8 years of girly boy democrats having control of the white house and conditioning the sheeple public, the republicans have been and still are walking on egg shells so not to send the socialist media into a frenzy by making too strong of an American power move. Any decision or move made by the republicans is somehow spun into propaganda BS by the left. Certain decisions take priority in this world game of chess. We have our international enemies and friends to deal with as well as our antiamerican socialist media to tip toe around.
I think we need to realize that there are sane people out there being pulled in by Moore's film. I don't want to even look at the numbers. I am betting it has now gone over 100K......it was very close last week.
This is very disturbing.
And many people actually believe what they are seeing. Moore does a very good job of cutting things and editing to make himself seem believable. Something needs to be done to counter this.
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