Fahrenheit 9/11 controversies
The film, directed by Michael Moore, criticizes the Bush administration's attempt to pursue Osama bin Laden in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, as well as the Iraq War.
[6][7] The conservative political action group Move America Forward mounted a letter-writing campaign pressuring theater chains not to screen the film, which it compared to "an al-Qaeda training video.
"[14] Author and blogger Andrew Sullivan expressed the opposite view, writing that Moore's film is "deeply corrosive of the possibility of real debate and reason in our culture.
"[15] Canadian journalist Linda McQuaig wrote in response to Sullivan: "Hell, the media shut down real debate long ago.
[17] English-American journalist and literary critic Christopher Hitchens and Democratic politician Ed Koch contended that Fahrenheit 9/11 contains distortions and untruths and is propaganda.
Fellow Slate columnist and Iraq war critic David Edelstein, though generally supportive of the film, wrote Fahrenheit 9/11 "is an act of counterpropaganda that has a boorish, bullying force", but called it a "legitimate abuse of power.
[23] Early on in the film, Moore explains that Bush continued reading "The Pet Goat" with a classroom of second graders at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida for an extended period of time after being told of the attacks.
"[25] A 9/11 Commission staff report, titled Improvising a Homeland Defense, said: "The President felt he should project strength and calm until he could better understand what was happening.
So bin Laden's claims of responsibility strike you as the ravings of a clown's, say?When the video ended, Hitchens proceeded to explain: "Why does someone who thought that Osama was innocent and Afghanistan was no problem suddenly switch in this way?
Moore's if is not intending 'I think Osama is innocent and the Afghan war is unjustified;' he's trying to make an argument for American due process: 'If he and his group were the ones who did this, then they should be tracked down, captured and brought to justice'.
What he's saying in Fahrenheit 9/11 is, why, exactly, when the pursuit of Osama Bin Laden is completely justified, have only 14,000 troops been sent after him, while ten times that number have been sent into Iraq to take over a country that had nothing to do with 9/11?
[29]CNN news anchor Daryn Kagan asked Moore why, if he is so willing to uphold the law, he could also be critical of the Bush administration for pursuing Osama bin Laden at the same time.
[30]Moore implicates the White House in allowing relatives of Osama bin Laden to leave the United States without being interviewed at length by the FBI.
In his narration in the movie, Moore states that "At least six private jets and nearly two dozen commercial planes carried the Saudis and the Bin Ladens out of the U.S. after September 13."
[31] Christopher Hitchens points to a statement by former counterterrorism chief Richard A. Clarke, when interviewed by The Hill newspaper in May 2004, in which "he, and he alone, took the responsibility for authorizing [the] Saudi departures.
[3] The filmmaker defended himself in an interview with ABC News correspondent Jake Tapper, answering: "Actually I do [display the] article and it's blown up 40 foot on the screen, you can see Richard Clarke's name right there saying that he approved the flights based on the information the FBI gave him.
"[32] Moore, on his website and in The Official Fahrenheit 9/11 Reader, points to additional statements by Richard Clarke, also published in The Hill, which he believes support his contention that the White House approved the flights.
The May 18 article in The Hill, which was published prior to Clarke's May 25 claim of responsibility, quoted 9/11 Commission vice-chair Lee H. Hamilton as saying: "We don't know who authorized [the flights].
President Bush, who met privately with the Saudi Arabian ambassador on the morning of Sept. 13, 2001, is suspected of personally authorizing the controversial flights while all other air travel had been halted.
[35] Moore interviews author Craig Unger and retired FBI agent Jack Cloonan, both of whom say bin Laden family members were not questioned in a serious manner at length before being allowed to leave.
[37] A September 2, 2004 CNN news article reported that "However, in a recent interview with the AP, bin Laden's estranged sister-in-law said she does not believe that family members have cut [Osama] off entirely.
"[38] In June 2007, Judicial Watch published partially declassified FBI documents on the flights obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request.
[39] Eric Lichtblau, writing in The New York Times, said the heavily redacted documents "do not appear to contradict directly any of those central findings [of the Sept. 11 commission] but they raise some new questions about the episode."
"[40] Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said: "The documents contain numerous errors and inconsistencies which prove the FBI conducted a slapdash investigation of the Saudi flights.
[3] Hitchens wrote, "in this peaceable kingdom, according to Moore's flabbergasting choice of film shots, children are flying little kites, shoppers are smiling in the sunshine, and the gentle rhythms of life are undisturbed.
He said calling attention to Saddam's crimes was unnecessary considering the corporate media had continually pressed that point themselves, making it public knowledge.
"[3] Hitchens writes that Palestinian terrorists Muhammad Zaidan and Abu Nidal had been free to move in and out of Baghdad, and that Saddam's armed forces had exchanged fire and killed American soldiers during the first Gulf War.
[44] According to Karen Kucher, when Fahrenheit 9/11 was nearing release to the home-video market, two additional Congressmen's children were stationed in Iraq: the son of Congressman Duncan L. Hunter, United States Marine Corps Lieutenant Duncan D. Hunter (who was later elected to Congress himself); and the son of Joe Wilson, Army National Guard Captain Alan Wilson.
Damon said the filmmaker "should be ashamed of himself" for claiming that soldiers were deceived into supporting the Iraq War and for using his injuries as reason to oppose the conflict.
[52] Moore's attorney argued in response that the film quoted Damon verbatim and did not take his statements out of context nor give a false impression.
