But didn't the recent 9/11 report verify what this guy said, that Richard Clarke was the only one to authorize the families to leave, but only Sept. 14?
Yep. Richard Clarke, who served as President Bush?s chief of counterterrorism, has claimed sole responsibility for approving flights of Saudi Arabian citizens, including members of Osama bin Laden?s family, from the United States immediately after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Richard Clarke - haven't I heard that name before? Oh, yes, he's the one that said, at the 9/11 Commission hearings: "The request came to me, and I refused to approve it. I suggested that it be routed to the FBI and that the FBI look at the names of the individuals who were going to be on the passenger manifest and that they approve it or not. I spoke with the ? at the time ? No. 2 person in the FBI, Dale Watson, and asked him to deal with this issue. The FBI then approved...the flight."
But then later he said, "It didn?t get any higher than me. On 9-11, 9-12 and 9-13, many things didn?t get any higher than me. I decided it in consultation with the FBI."
Seems to me this Clintonesque flip-flopper was the guy pulling the strings, not the Bin Laden family.
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Clan Mac Cullaich: - Brewed in Scotland - Bottled in Ulster - Uncorked in America
Did it ever cross your mind that Bush might have told him to allow the Bin Laden family to leave, or in he would've heard this simple, two word phrase "You're fired" ?
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Mike F.
May the Irish hills caress you. May her lakes and rivers bless you. May the luck of the Irish enfold you. May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.
Oh certainly, Brother MDF3530. Bush could have quitely compelled Clarke to do his bidding.
But Clarke is certainly no friend of Bush, and would have ratted him out either in his book or in sworn testimony. He didn't. He's already heard the "You're fired" phrase, and still there is no evidence of compelling.
Therefore, according to the evidence presented, there was no compelling. Clarke, in his position of assumed authority, called all the shots.
Bubba Binladin and the rest of the Saudis got a free airplane ticket courtesy of Clarke. Period. Clarke, President Bush?s chief of counterterrorism and Clinton's White House terrorism czar. This guy knew all the dirty secrets and he made the call.
Moore was wrong on this one, and he knew it. But "truth" is not Moore's strong suit.
If you listen only to what Moore says during this segment of the movie you?ll find he?s got his facts right. He and others in the film state that 142 Saudis, including 24 members of the bin Laden family, were allowed to leave the country after Sept. 13.
The date, Sept. 13, is crucial because that is when a national ban on air traffic, for security purposes, was eased.
But nonetheless, many viewers will leave the movie theater with the impression that the Saudis, thanks to special treatment from the White House, were permitted to fly away when all other planes were still grounded. This false impression is created by Moore?s failure, when mentioning Sept. 13, to emphasize that the ban on flights had been eased by then. The false impression is further pushed when Moore shows the singer Ricky Martin walking around an airport and says, "Not even Ricky Martin would fly. But really, who wanted to fly? No one. Except the bin Ladens."
But the movie fails to mention that the FBI interviewed about 30 of the Saudis before they left. And the independent 9/11 commission has reported that "each of the flights we have studied was investigated by the FBI and dealt with in a professional manner prior to its departure."
"I think Moore's making a mountain of a molehill," admits Mr. Clarke in discussing Moore's movie. Moreover, said Mr. Clarke, "He never interviewed me." Instead, Mr. Moore had simply lifted a clip from an ABC interview.
What? Moore didn't even interview Clarke, and simply lifted video from another source? Hmmmmm.
Moore is misleading. His film includes a brief shot of a Sept. 14, 2003, New York Times article headlined "White House Approved Departures of Saudis after Sept. 11, Ex-Aide Says." The camera pans over the article far too quickly for any ordinary viewer to spot and read the words in which Clarke states that he approved the flights.
Nice trick, huh?
Another interesting tidbit: Moore was stranded in California on September 11, and ended up driving home to New York City. On September 14, he wrote to his fans "Our daughter is fine, mostly frightened by my desire to fly home to her rather than drive." Maybe this whole "the Saudis escaped thanks to Bush" rant comes from his own personal anger about not being able to fly home himself.
HAVANA (Reuters) - U.S. director Michael Moore's anti-Bush documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" was shown on prime time Cuban state-run television on Thursday after playing to packed cinemas for a week.
Cuba, one of the world's surviving Communist countries, serving up "Fahrenheit 9/11" during prime time via the state-run television. Seems rather fitting, don't you think?
HAVANA (Reuters) - U.S. director Michael Moore's anti-Bush documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" was shown on prime time Cuban state-run television on Thursday after playing to packed cinemas for a week.
Cuba, one of the world's surviving Communist countries, serving up "Fahrenheit 9/11" during prime time via the state-run television. Seems rather fitting, don't you think?
EVERYBODY should see the film! It is a shoe-in for an Oscar, besides being wildly successful, financially!
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"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." Carl Sagan
Never let the truth get in the way of your agenda!! If it doesn't exist, create it!!
QUOTE
Sunday, August 1, 2004
Moore angers newspaper BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) -- Filmmaker Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 has apparently upset more than Republicans.
The Pantagraph newspaper in Bloomington said Friday it sent a letter to Moore and the film's distributor, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., asking for an apology for using what it said was a doctored front page in his movie.
The paper is seeking $1 US in damages.
A scene early in the movie shows newspaper headlines related to the contested 2000 presidential election. It includes a shot of The Pantagraph's Dec. 19, 2001, front page, with the prominent headline, "Latest Florida recount shows Gore won election."
The newspaper says that headline never appeared on that day.
The paper said the headline appeared in a Dec. 5, 2001, edition but was not used on the front page. Instead, it was found in much smaller type above a letter to the editor, which the paper says reflects "only the opinions of the letter writer."
"If (Moore) wants to 'edit' The Pantagraph, he should apply for a copy-editing job," the paper said.
Neither Lions Gate nor Moore were immediately available for comment Sunday.
Fahrenheit 9/11 begins on election night 2000. We are first shown Al Gore rocking on stage with famous musicians and a high-spirited crowd. The conspicuous sign on stage reads "Florida Victory." Moore creates the impression that Gore was celebrating his victory in Florida. Moore's voiceover claims, "And little Stevie Wonder, he seemed so happy, like a miracle had taken place." The verb tense of past perfect ("had taken") furthers the impression that the election has been completed.
Actually, the rally took place in the early hours of election day, before polls had even opened. Gore did campaign in Florida on election day, but went home to Tennessee to await the results. The "Florida Victory" sign reflected Gore?s hopes, not any actual election results.
Again, no outright lies here, but such a distortion as to fool the average viewer/voter.
A little while later, Fahrenheit shows Jeffrey Toobin (a sometime talking head lawyer for CNN) claiming that if the Supreme Court had allowed a third recount to proceed past the legal deadline, "under every scenario Gore won the election."
Fahrenheit shows only a snippet of Toobin's remarks on CNN. What Fahrenheit does not show is that Toobin admitted on CNN that the only scenarios for a Gore victory involved a type of recount which Gore had never requested in his lawsuits, and which would have been in violation of Florida law. Toobin's theory likewise depends on re-assigning votes which are plainly marked for one candidate (Pat Buchanan) to Gore, although there are no provisions in Florida law to guess at who a voter "really" meant to vote for and to re-assign the vote.
This is the essence of the Moore technique: cleverly blending half-truths to deceive the viewer.
Shall I continue?
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