I mentioned it in another thread, but going back and reading it makes me remember how much it angered me to hear <A HREF=“http://joe.msnbc.com/”>Joe Scarborough</A> bash Farenheit 9/11 for no good reason. Well, I went to his website and found <A HREF=“http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5296236/”>exactly what he claims is wrong with the movie</A>. I thought I’d take a chance to retort (not that he’d read this), and give you guys a chance to pick these apart as well.
Okay, so that was a little misleading. Bush let the bin Laden family skip out of town while MOST Americans were grounded; as much as 95% of Americans. Totally misrepresented there.
As stated in that other post, it wasn’t stated that “Bush cares more about Saudi Arabia than America.” It was <B><I>asked</I></B> that <B><I>maybe</I></B> Bush <B><I>could</I></B> think first about the Saudi royal families interests rather than America’s interest because they <B><I>did</I></B> funnel $1.4 billion to Bush family assets. And that’s not that crazy of a claim to make. Basically, Moore’s saying that Bush is a human being, and not SUPER PRESIDENT!!! ANYONE would think twice before hurting an old family friend, especially one that helped you so much that you earned $1.4 billion. But because, according to conservatives, Bush is in fact SUPER PRESIDENT, he obviously wouldn’t think twice about hurting old friends and financial accomplices for the benefit of this country, most of whom he’s never met. I’m not saying that he really does think about America second, I’m just saying that Moore never said that he did, and that it’s fully possible that he could, even rational to believe so. As for the bin Laden’s helping fund GW’s first company, that much is indirectly true, as stated in the film. Moore never said “OSAMA BIN LADEN GAVE GEORGE W. LOTS OF MONEYS!!!” He said that the bin Laden’s (the family, not Osama himself) trusted their American investments in a man that George W. Bush was discharged with, and he in turn invested in his friend. Therefore, indirectly, the bin Laden’s invested in George W. Bush.
America didn’t invade Afghanistan to kick out the Taliban. They invaded to hunt down Osama bin Laden. The Taliban wasn’t the interest until we got there. And, having seen the movie, I don’t remember them saying that they invaded to put in a pipeline. I remember them saying that they had planned to, and ended up doing it afterward. It was IMPLIED (not stated) that that may have been an alterior motive, but the film made it pretty clear that they went there after Osama bin Laden. And as for the Taliban? The movie stated that MOST of them got away.
Umm… what do I need to contest here? Yes, the movie said all of this. Yes, it’s all true. The White House DID use 9/11 to scare Americans into believing that there was a bigger threat to this country than there was (and continues to do so). The White House DID use 9/11 to scare congress into passing the USA Patriot Act. The White House DID dream up the USA Patriot Act before 9/11, but couldn’t get it passed until afterward. Kudos! You broke the code!
Did that movie say that? I don’t remember. I was pretty emotionally unstable by then, realizing how much the war was hurting people both in Iraq and in the United States. What I DO remember though, is why we DID go to war. To find Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs). Since then, a report has come out stating that there were none. Also since then, the Bush Administration has pretended that they never said anything about WMDs, despite evidence to the contrary. Then, the administration said that we were there to end a terrorist regime. Well, that’s great. Why? Why don’t we end EVERY terrorist regime? Cuba? Libya? North Korea? Let’s do it! Don’t stop the war train now, just because we avenged the President’s father! If we’re after getting rid of Despots and Dictators, let’s just scour the globe with our cleansing warfare!
Let’s talk serious now. We attacked a country who posed no threat to us. Then, we forced them to start a new form of government that the people may or may not have wanted. And who did we choose to head this new government? Iraqi people… who’s been in America for years! Yay!
I’m sorry, but you can’t argue that the war in Iraq was for a good reason at this point. Too many people have died, and there’s still warfare in the streets. I’d say that, even under Hussein’s dictatorship, probably less than 1% of the people who’ve died in the last year would have died in Iraq, and there’d be far less homeless and without family over there. That’s a hard thing to argue.