Without letting this drag out throughout the entire article let me first say that I am no where near what one would call a "fan" of Michael Moore. I have not seen his latest feature film "Fahrenheit 9/11" nor do I have any plans to in the near future. I have taken the liberty of writing up this article to expose the falsehoods presented in film’s trailer, as well as scenes depicted by the director himself, as to better inform those who may be on the fence as to whether to see this film over the weekend or not. Take it for what it is - a presentation of the facts.

Where to begin in Moore’s trail of lies? Let’s start with one of the most repeated myths about "Fahrenheit 9/11" (at least in the liberal biased news outlets) that the Walt Disney Company blocked distribution of the film in May 2004. Despite being announced over a year ago, Disney’s press release in April 2004 stating that it would distribute Michael Moore’s controversial "Fahrenheit 9/11" came as an absolute shock to the entire media community. Though most of the film had already been produced, many media outlets were making the announcement sound like Disney was preventing the film from ever being made. The truth was that Disney had said for months that would not distribute Moore’s film and that he should look elsewhere for a distributor. No where in any press release did they ever say that they were “blocking” distribution … just merely not distributing. A pure business decision: nothing more, nothing less. If it’s not true then why do so many newspapers, as well as average Americans citizens, keep repeating the tired old phrase? Here’s were the old phrase “if you repeat it enough, it becomes truth” comes in. Then what really did happen in the events prior to the entire hoop-la surrounding Disney’s April 2004 press release?

Here’s my theory: Harvey Weinstein, who isn’t know for his friendly comments about the way Michael Eisner has run things between Miramax and Disney, decided that nothing was going to stop him from making Moore’s cinematic Bush-bashing send up, and that’s why Moore went to him in the first place. After all, Weinstein is a huge contributor to the Democratic Party’s election war chest " doesn’t that make sense? Moore knew from the very beginning (over a year ago) that Disney wasn’t going to distribute his film under the Miramax banner but that didn’t matter to him so much. He was going to use the infighting between Weinstein and Eisner, as well as Eisner’s ever increasing ego, to create free promotion for his film while at the same time ensuring its release with back hand deals.

He played up so many Bush-bashing proposals for the film that Weinstein could hardly contain his excitement and proposed right off the bat to pay for the film’s entire $6 million production budget himself and would create a separate distribution studio, in this case Fellowship Adventure Group, in order to distribute the film once they had bought the rights to the film back from Disney (this wouldn’t be the first time "Remember Dogma?). At just the right time Moore released the information that Weinstein had gone behind Eisner’s back and produced the documentary despite the clear statement by Eisner not to. Why do this? Moore knew well that Eisner’s gigantic ego wouldn’t allow him to keep this down and he would create a huge tantrum over this and clearly stating the company’s position not to distribute it. Moore would then use this to his advantage by making the false claim that Eisner was refusing to release the film because of tax breaks for theme parks in Florida, where W’s brother, Jeb Bush, is governor (the truth – there are no tax exemptions for theme parks in Florida). While the controversy stewed, Moore would be making his way to France to premiere the film at the Cannes Film Festival and by the time of its premiere, the controversy would be so much that Disney would have to bend to his demands and public awareness for it would be sky-high. This may be the only instance were you will see me calling Michael Moore a genius … an evil genius but a genius none the less.

Now let’s shift focus away for a moment from actual events preceding the film’s theatrical release and more on the “documentary” itself. The film’s trailer, which was released on June 2nd, wastes no time in exemplifying Moore’s twisting of the truth with the opening statement that members within the highest levels of the government (with an obvious highlight of the name: BUSH, GEORGE W.) authorized planes to transport members of the bin Laden family out of country. Once again, as was present in "Bowling for Columbine", Moore uses a "shock and awe" tactic, in this case forcing his audience to wonder why President Bush would allow the family of the man who authorized September 11th to be escorted out of the country. For the more well-informed individuals of this country, they would know that Moore pulls a double-whammy with this statement … two lies with one stone. First off, it was not President Bush who authorized the evacuation of the bin Laden but fellow (or should I say current) Bush-basher Richard Clarke (the "terrorism czar" under President Clinton) who authorized the flights and stated in interview with The Hill, “I take responsibility for it. I don’t think it was a mistake, and I’d do it again. [1] Not Bush, not Cheney, Clarke was responsible for it and nobody else.

Then why were they evacuated? Moore makes it sound like they were escorted out of the country the very same day as September 11th but they weren’t. According to a CBS news report, “they were driven or flown under FBI supervision to a location in the US” and then “they left the country on a private charter plane when airports reopened three days after the attacks" [2] But the question still remains: Why allow the bin Laden family to leave? As was noted by the website mooreexposed.com, this wasn’t a small family. "When the founder died in 1988, he left no fewer than 54 children … Add in grandkids, in-laws, and cousins, and it must make for a heck of a big family reunion" [3] When Osama decided to go into radicalism, his own family disowned him and he went on the lamb after the Saudi government ordered his arrest in 1992 [4]. This means little if any have ever had contact with the radical Muslim. Since many members of the bin Laden family are pro-western and therefore send their children here for education, they feared for their lives after the September 11th attacks (whether it be from possible lynching from Americans or assassination attempts from Osama) and decided to call the Saudi embassy to help them. Is this not reasonable? But Moore makes it sound like we’re protecting the direct spawn of Satan, not people who are rightfully taking full advantage of the American freedoms offered to them and who want nothing to do with their one off-shoot relative.

Does this ridiculous Bush/bin Laden tie Moore is making in his film sound familiar? If you have read "Dude, Where’s My Country?" then it should … if you have read the book and it doesn’t sound familiar then obviously you weren’t paying attention very well – a common trait amongst Moore fanatics. Rather then rattle off all the mistruths and distortions perpetrated by Michael Moore in his best selling book, visit the following site (http://www.bowlingfortruth.com/dude.htm) which gives a much more in-depth look into his bundle of lies.

With that said, let’s return to the other fallacies and misguided stunts found within the trailer for "Fahrenheit 9/11". In the film, as is clearly demonstrated in the trailer, Michael Moore goes to the steps of congress and attempts to get members to sign to their children up to participate in the war on terror. Unfortunately for Michael this is one stunt that is clearly coming back to bite him in the ass. Rep. Mark Kennedy, a Republican from Minnesota, has come out against Moore’s misleading film tactics. "I was walking back to my office after casting a vote, and all of a sudden some oversized guy puts a mike in my face and a camera in my face. He starts asking if I can help him recruit more people from families of members of Congress to participate in the war on terror." Mr. Kennedy responded by telling the liberal activist that he already had two nephews in the military but to Kennedy’s surprise, his image appears in “Fahrenheit 9/11” but his comment to Moore failed to make it through the “editing” process. "The interesting thing is that they used my image, but not my words. It's representative of the fact that Michael Moore doesn't always give the whole story, and he's a master of the misleading." [5]

Moore also takes time out of his two-hour long feature to voice his opinions on the U.S. Patriot Act (driving what appears to be an ice cream truck around Capitol Hill no less) claiming that the document was rushed out overnight and that no one in Congress had read it. Being from the state of Wisconsin, home of the only U.S. Senator to vote against the Patriot Act (Russ Feingold), I can tell you right off the bat that that is a flat-out lie. Not one member out of either the Senate or the House of Representatives read the Patriot Act? Give me a break! My basic opinion is that no one should have to worry about the provisions the Patriot Act entails other then the terrorists who plotting to wipe Americans out. Visit the following site (http://www.bowlingfortruth.com/moore/online/patriotact.htm) for a more in-depth investigation into Moore’s statements against the Patriot Act and what the document truly means to the safety of Americans.

Another point Moore asserts in the film (though not seen in its trailer) is his criticism of President Bush’s “listening to Sarasota second-graders read a story for nearly seven minutes after learning the nation was under attack on Sept. 11, 2001[6]. This is yet another point Moore makes in his book "Dude, Where’s My Country?" (Is Moore attempting to squeeze more money from his liberal followers for essentially the same product?) but this time around there’s a defender protecting President Bush from Moore’s senseless criticism. Gwendolyn Tose'-Rigell, the principal at Emma E. Booker Elementary School, states, "I don't think anyone could have handled it better. What would it have served if he had jumped out of his chair and ran out of the room?" Tose’-Rigell sums up in one eloquent statement what Moore objectors have been saying for months. What Moore asserts as a failure to take charge, Bush defends his actions for remaining in the classroom by stating “it was important to project strength and calm until I could better understand what was happening." Unless Michael Moore has obtained the ability to read a person’s mind, his criticism is nothing more then speculation and should not be treated as anything more then that.

At the end of the trailer for “Fahrenheit 9/11”, Moore, clearly unable to contain his giddiness, decides to enclose one more cheap pot-shot at President Bush. In a television news clip, he shows the president on a golf-course giving a statement to the press stating, “I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorists killers then turning to the camera, after he had finished answering questions, Bush declares, “Now watch this drive.” And what is Moore trying to accomplish with this scene? This is just another self-diluted attempt by Moore to make Bush look like an incompetent president but if you a member of his key audience, namely the liberals, then the effect this scene evokes is nothing short of comical. Christopher Hitchens correctly states in his criticism of the film that “If Eisenhower had done this, as he often did, it would have been presented as calm statesmanship. If Clinton had done it, as he often did, it would have shown his charm [7] but the fact that this Bush automatically sets Moore off to point this off as another sign of his stupidity. If Moore wants to do this on his own time (or his own website) then he is more then welcome to but does his have to waste the time of movie-goers who have paid good money to see a documentary that is meant to be above the normal Bush-bashing and set off real fireworks?

I am not here to make argument over whether Michael Moore is a legitimate filmmaker or complete fraud, for what it’s worth I’ll always have a sense of weariness whenever a new Michael Moore “documentary” comes about just for the amount of misguided statements he made in “Bowling for Columbine”, but rather I am here as a movie-going consumer looking out for the best interest of his fellow movie-goers who may be on the fence as to whether to see this film or not. The following article is merely a small sampling of what presented in “Fahrenheit 9/11” as the events that led to the film’s release. Take it for what it is … If what has been presented doesn’t change your mind about seeing the film and you come back disappointed, don’t say I didn’t attempt to warn you. If you come back satisfied by the film then that’s great, granted you do your proper research to get a broader, and better defined, idea at what Moore states in the film. There is no doubt that all the controversy surrounding the film’s release will only help fuel the box office numbers for Moore’s film but will it prove to be a powerful political tool? Hardly … the film will only drag in current Bush-haters and possibly a few conservatives just looking to find already existing cracks in the Moore documentary. Most independents probably haven’t given a thought to the election just yet and are saving their money for Spider-Man 2, which is set for release just five days after “Fahrenheit 9/11” opens in theaters. All I have to say is that I don’t see John Kerry jumping to Moore’s defense of the film (perhaps that because Moore endorsed Wesley Clark and has said jack-squat since his hero dropped out of the race) … maybe he does have the right idea for once.

[1] http://www.hillnews.com/news/052604/clarke.aspx

[2] http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/09/30/archive/main313048.shtml

[3] http://www.mooreexposed.com/f911.html

[4] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/who/family.html

[5] http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/4810977.html

[6] http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/8993122.htm?1c

[7] http://slate.msn.com/id/2102723/