Fahrenheit 9/11 and Its Impact on Military Morale, by a Soldier

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.

If a 17 year old can see through all the lies, it should be easy for our brave military. Brittany Craigo also did her homework and posted all of her references. Here is her report from the Larry Elder page:

Debunking Farenheit 9/11

by Brittany Craigo

For months, many have anticipated the debut of Michael Moore’s Farenheit 9/11. What would he say? What would he uncover? What new theory would he attempt to convince the public of, by cutting and pasting strips of footage, as he did in Bowling for Columbine and Roger and Me? I had heard about many of the phony claims and conspiracy theories to occur in Farenheit 9/11. And I knew that sooner or later, I would be forced to debate one of the many automatons who had been indoctrinated by his socialist propaganda. I knew, however, that I couldn’t critique a movie that I had not seen without being disingenuous. So I strapped on my Bush gear and headed toward the theatre to watch the quasi communist in action.

The movie opens with the 2000 election. I was baffled to hear Moore claim that “numerous investigations said that Gore won Florida.” Which numerous investigations were these? The New York Times1, the Washington Post,2 and USA Today,3 reported the same consensus after both recounts: George W. Bush won. I’m willing to accept the fact that, nationally, Gore won the popular vote. That is accurate. However, we have something called the “electoral college.” But to claim that “numerous investigations said that Gore won Florida” is preposterous! This is undoubtedly why Moore didn’t choose to name these “numerous sources.” There were none.

Then, in a pure pathetic act, Moore shows footage of CNN calling Florida for Gore, followed by Fox News calling Florida for Bush, and then CNN retracting their previous claim. The theory here was that Gore had won Florida and numerous stations announced it until, lo and behold, Fox News said Bush won Florida and the rest of the news stations “followed their lead.” First off, the notion that CNN and the rest of the news stations would all of a sudden change the results to fit those of one station- Fox News- is ridiculous. I highly doubt that Tom Brokaw sat; waiting for what Fox said in order to “follow their lead.” If that were the case, I would argue that CNN and all the rest who changed their results, to fit those of Fox News, should be wiped off the face of journalism as we know it. Just imagine it: “Well... Fox News said Bush won... we better say Bush won too!” Give me a break.

Why did Fox News call Florida for Bush? They didn’t. Fox News, along with CNN, ABC, NBC etc. all incorrectly called Florida for Gore more than an hour before polls had closed in several conservative Florida counties.4 After getting wind of the fact that they were all wrong, Fox News and the rest of the stations retracted their statements. But what does Moore do in this movie? The same thing he does in all of his movies. He spliced and diced the footage to make it seem as though Fox News deliberately lied and somehow convinced the rest of the stations to lie too. But there is a much more important fact that Moore unintentionally raises here: By calling Florida for Gore before the polls had closed in these highly Republican counties, residents didn’t bother to vote, since the election had already been called in Gore’s favor. According to Democratic strategist Bob Beckel, Bush lost up to 8,000 votes because of the media’s reporting errors.5 But Moore didn’t mention this. Instead he mentions that George W. Bush’s cousin was working for Fox News that night. What he fails to mention, however, is that, as previously noted, Fox News called Florida for Gore as well and by the time Fox had corrected itself and announced Florida for Bush at 2:16 a.m., all polls were already closed and there was no harm to be done. I wonder how Moore missed all those facts.6

After the Florida debacle, Michael Moore introduces us to the ‘convoluted’ relationship between the Bush family and the House of Saud. First off, though wouldn’t consider myself “politically correct,” and though I think that the Saudi government is obviously not one of perfection, I found Moore’s depiction of the Saudis to be unfair. The fact that Michael Moore chose to lump all Saudis and members of the Royal Saudi family into the terrorism category is completely hypocritical. Isn’t Michael Moore supposed to be the liberal-minded peace-keeper, looking out for minorities and such? His attempt to convince ignorant viewers that the House of Saud is only akin to George Bush is a pure example of his manipulative nature. Needless to say, I was beyond surprised when those surrounding me in the movie theatre shook their heads at every Saudi that flashed upon the screen. Imagine if someone had depicted all blacks as Black Panthers or all Moslems as part of the Taliban! That isn’t ok. But depicting every Saudi as a terrorist is, simply because they have a relationship with America and, thus, its current president.

Moreover, if Bush “wakes up in the morning, thinking about what’s best for the Saudis, rather than thinking about what’s best for you” (as Moore claims), why did we invade Iraq? By invading Iraq and securing those oil fields, the Saudis probably stood to lose billions of dollars! Aside from that, the Saudi family members are Sunnis; the thought that we would liberate the Shiites of Iraq plagued them with fear. This is precisely why King Fahd exclaimed, before we went to war, that Saudi Arabia “rejects outright any infringement on Iraq’s unity, independence, resources and internal security, as well as a military occupation”7 Michael Moore, however, presumes that maybe Bush “told Prince Bandhar not to worry because he already had a plan” (meaning Iraq). Yes, “don’t worry Prince Bandhar. We’ll soon be taking billions of dollars away from your family and liberating your archenemy!” I’m sure that made the prince feel wonderful. Moore obviously lacks common sense on this issue, or at least hopes his audience does.

In addition, Moore’s overexerted attempt to paint the Bush-Bin Laden connection as anything spectacular is ridiculous. As the movie notes, the Bush family was connected to the Bin Ladens, (who claim to have disowned Osama), through the Carlyle Group. But the Carlyle group is a highly connected D.C. firm that specializes in aerospace and defense investments, so good luck finding any government official who isn’t tied to the Bin Ladens. Even George Soros, who is probably the most anti-Bush figure in America right now, has 100,000,000 dollars invested in the Carlyle Group; Bill Clinton is affiliated with the Carlyle Group, along with his former Secretary of State, Madeline Albright8 and, according to John Hardman, “Jimmy Carter met with 10 of Osama Bin Laden’s brothers early in 2000 on a fund-raising trip for the Carter Center in Atlanta.” If you ask me, George Bush needs a few more Saudi friends in order to keep up with the Democrats!

The Bush-Bin Laden “connection” all comes into play as we “learn” that the White House allowed the Bin Laden family to fly out of America after the attacks. I can’t blame Michael Moore for this mistake because there have been many new revelations since he began making his film. In fact, in an interview with The Hill, Richard Clark, the ex terrorism czar who recently wrote a book denouncing the Bush administration, admitted that it was his own sole decision to allow the Bin Ladens to fly out of the country. He stated that, “I take responsibility for it. I don’t think it was a mistake, and I’d do it again.”9 While Moore was most likely unaware of this fact at the time he was making his movie, he was dishonest in implying that the Bin Ladens’ departure from the U.S. was on September 11th, while all other planes were grounded. In fact, the Bin Ladens departed in the days following September 11th, when the grounding for commercial flights had already been lifted.

Moore also accuses Bush of “taking too many vacations.” We’ve all heard this before. He cites a Washington Post article, claiming that during the first eight months in office, Bush was on “vacation” 42% of the time. I decided to do a little research on that article and- surprise surprise- found his claims to be a bit, shall we say, “off.” It was actually the first year and eight months in office and included trips to foreign nations to discuss foreign policy. According to that Washington Post article, most of that time was spent in Camp David.10 Perhaps this is why one of the photos we see of Bush “vacationing” at Camp David, is a picture of George W. Bush and none other than Tony Blair- the Prime Minister of England. And while Moore attempts to leave the audience with the impression that Camp David is a place for lounging and drinking beer, Wikipedia Encyclopedia states that it “[is] often used for formal and informal discussion between the United States and world leaders,” and cites many historical negotiations that have taken place there.11

Moore finally takes his biggest cheap shot at President Bush; chastising him for continuing to calmly read to students in Florida (for seven minutes) after just having been informed that the World Trade Center had been attacked. I couldn’t help but giggle at this one. You know that leftists have got their panties in a twist, when they resort to this in order to criticize the president. I suppose Moore expected Bush to live up to his “cowboy status” by pulling a Glock out of a holster and yelling, “BRING ‘EM ON!” On the contrary, Bush acted in a complete professional manner. Anyone could clearly see from the expression on his face, that he was in complete shock and distress, though he remained calm. In fact, the teacher who was in the room, at the time, recently came rushing to Bush’s defense, explaining that his calming effect had, “helped us get through a very difficult day.” She admitted that she had not voted for Bush, but said, “That day I would have voted for him.”12 Ouch.

Moore then begins to talk about the infamous memo that the White House received before September 11th, entitled, “Bin Laden Wants to Attack America.” Aside from the fact that we’ve known Bin Laden wanted to attack America since 1993, Moore forgets that the memo shed no light as to when or where the attack would take place. After all, fourteen out of the seventeen sentences in that PDB were historical in nature. But perhaps Bush purposely ignored the memo, knowing full-well what was about to happen. As Moore wonders, “Maybe the war in Afghanistan was really about something else.” He notes that “In 1997 while George W. Bush was Governor of Texas, a delegation of Taliban leaders from Afghanistan flew to Houston to meet with Unocal executives to discuss the building of a pipeline through Afghanistan, bringing natural gas from the Caspian Sea.” When I first heard this, I thought I had surely missed something. But then I remembered who had directed the garbage I was watching, and began thinking logically once again. What did Governor Bush have to do with the discussion to build a pipeline in Afghanistan? That pipeline was sought out under the Clinton Administration. Yes, Bush happened to be governor of Texas at the time, but that’s completely irrelevant to the meetings which occurred between Unocal and the Taliban at Bill Clinton’s concession!13 But Moore plays with words; purposely including irrelevant information regarding Bush, to connect him with the topic at hand. Moreover, when the pipeline deal was actually implemented in 2002, Unocal released a press release, stating that, “Unocal has no plans or interest in becoming involved in any projects in Afghanistan.”14

If I were to present an award to the slimiest element in Farenheit, it would have to go to Moore’s depiction of Saddam Hussein and his regime before the invasion of Iraq. Oh it was a wonderful place. We see children flying kites, a woman getting married and Saddam holding a child. I can’t even express the outrage that causes me, having known someone whose family was slaughtered by Saddam Hussein’s henchmen during the invasion of Kuwait. This crossed the boundary between an anti-Bush documentary and a new form of Leni Riefenstahl-like propaganda. The way Moore portrayed Saddam Hussein was exactly the way that she portrayed Adolf Hitler, in order to gain support for the Nazi agenda. By claiming that Saddam Hussein “never took the life of any American or threatened any American,” Moore fails to acknowledge the 148 American soldiers killed (in combat) by Saddam Hussein’s regime during the Gulf War,16 his attacks on American planes patrolling no-fly zones for a consecutive ten years after the Gulf War15 and his attempt to assassinate George H.W. Bush; but I guess military personnel and Republican presidents don’t count. And of course, it wouldn’t be a Michael Moore film without the footage of those evil, brutal American soldiers of ours. Not one of them is cast in a good light. Instead, we are shown only what Michael Moore wants us to see- insensitive hicks, just looking for a thrill and a few soldiers who are vehemently opposed to the war. There are no heroes; few patriots- only Moore’s presentation of how he views Americans. He also fails to mention that the structure we see being so ferociously destroyed by American explosives was Saddam’s Iraqi Ministry of Defense.17 Needless to say, he furthers the idea that the U.S. military is reckless, heartless, and brainless.

Then, of course, we’re subjected to the baseless rhetoric about the PATRIOT Act. I found it interesting that while Michael Moore decides to “read” the Act to the senators from his ice cream truck (in order to point out its many over-looked “flaws”), the audience never hears it. We don’t even hear a snippet of the PATRIOT Act’s abuse of civil liberties. Why? Because Michael Moore knows quite well that if we were to hear or read the PATRIOT Act for ourselves, we would realize how necessary and, in fact, over-due it was. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the PATRIOT Act, it represented a huge breakthrough in the way our intelligence shares information. Sec. 203 finally allowed law enforcement to share information with intelligence agencies. This is crucial to our national defense and, indeed, imperative, if we wish to prevent another 9/11. Despite the fact that there have been no documented Civil Rights abuses under the PATRIOT Act, Moore rounds up a few paranoid cooks that insist they were targeted by the FBI, for being against the war. In reality, the PATRIOT Act allows the same search and seizure methods that are already allotted for local crime. Search warrants and “reasonable cause” are still mandatory under the PATRIOT Act.18

Moore then pulls a stunt which had the audience in tears. He spoke with Representative Porter Goss, who was defending the PATRIOT ACT. Gross informs Moore that problems with the PATRIOT Act can be reported by calling a toll-free “800 number.” We then see words flashed across the screen, informing the audience that there is no “800 number,” but that Goss does have a private telephone line, as he flashes their (202) office number across the screen. Once again, while Moore won a few laughs, he was lying through his teeth. The U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (where problems with the PATRIOT act can be reported) does have a toll-free number, though its prefix is (877). The number is 1-877-858-9040.19 Somebody ought to tell Moore, so he doesn’t have to go through the trouble of yelling it over a loud-speaker in an ice cream truck again.

Of course it wouldn’t be a Michael Moore film without him doing what he’s famous for- heckling unsuspecting people and making them look crazy for not taking him seriously. He approaches some Congressmen, in order to get them to “sign their kids up for the army.” It was just asinine. How does a parent sign their child up for the army? His rationale for doing so is that “only one congressman has a son or daughter enlisted in the armed forces.” FLAT-OUT-LIE. According to Kelly Beaucar, who wrote a Fox News article, entitled, Handful of Congressman Send Their Kids to War, “There are at least seven members of Congress with children in the Armed Forces.” In fact, there are eight: Tim Johnson(D), Marilyn Musgrave(R), Ed Schrock(R), Joe Wilson(R), John Kline(R), Duncan Hunter(R), Todd Akin(R)20, and Joe Biden(D)21 are all Congressmen who have children currently serving in the military, not to mention the 36 veterans in congress22. And Moore would probably disheartened to know that his favorite punching bag, John Ashcroft, also had a son serving in the military.23

Moore seems to have a knack for ignoring relevant information. Upon discussing the Coalition of the Willing, he only mentions the small countries that don’t possess troops, while leaving out the countries which do, such as Poland, England and Australia.24 And of course we’re supposed to be disgusted that our armed forces possess large quantities of low-income earners and minorities, and that recruiters often go to the more unfortunate towns, looking for people to enlist. Think about that argument. Leftists like Moore are upset when a company doesn’t hire enough minorities and upset when the military hires too many! Only someone as ungrateful as Michael Moore, could be appalled at the fact that low-income earners from places like Flint, MI are “targeted” by the military and granted the greatest opportunities that America has to offer- education, money, benefits, housing, training, food and heroism. But, of course, Moore sees none of these things. He is still too blinded by his hatred for the United States and his belief that the U.S. military is the embodiment of shame.

Michael Moore ends Farenheit 9/11 with a quote from George Orwell. I, myself, have a quote from George Orwell that Moore just may have overlooked.
“If you hamper the war effort of one side, you automatically help out that of the other. Nor is there any real way of remaining outside such a war as the present one. In practice, he that is not with me is against me.”25 I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Some links below may require registering to online newspaper.

1: http://www.nytimes.com
2 :http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com
3: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2001-04-03-floridamain.htm
4: http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/lott200312100915.asp
5: http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/lott200312100915.asp
6: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/11/14/politics/main249357.shtml
7: http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/5421527.htm
8: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlyle_Group
9: http://www.hillnews.com/news/052604/clarke.aspx
10: http://www.washingtonpost.com
11: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_David
12: http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/6/24/102357.shtml
13: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2016340.stm
14: http://www.unocal.com/uclnews/98news/centgas.htm
15: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War#Casualties
16: http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0211/18/sdi.06.html
17: http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/and http://slate.msn.com/id/2102723
18: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_PATRIOT_Act
19: http://intelligence.house.gov/
20: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,82469,00.html
21: http://www.washingtontimes.com
22: http://grunt.space.swri.edu/senatevet.htm
23: http://www.washingtontimes.com/functions
24: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003
25: http://www.george-orwell.org/l_quotes.html

Contact Brittany Craigo
E-mail: colapsingtrust@yahoo.com

Good Hunting... from Varmint Al

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.