Fahrenheit 9/11

I went to see Fahrenheit 9/11 this weekend with some friends, and I thought I should post to encourage anyone who might be reading to go see it.

First, let me qualify this “review” or “endorsement”… I am a liberal, although I’m not a Democrat. I have distinct Libertarian leaning, although I do believe in some level of compassion toward humans expressed through social programs. In addition to being upset about the international good will America has lost through the current administration, I am also particularly upset with the loss of our civil liberties, through abominations like the USA Patriot Act.

Now, I also have mixed feelings about Michael Moore. I think he is a generally funny fellow, who does have a definite political agenda. And like most pundits (and he is a pundit) he often twists the facts a bit in order to make a point. And he can sometimes come off a bit self-righteous. That said, you need to see this movie.

Moore limits his screen time in Fahrenheit 9/11 more than in his previous films, and while there are some typical Moore moments (like when he tried to get members of Congress to enlist their kids in the military) he really does address some very troubling issues with regard to the Bush administration, which I think the mainstream press would be doing the American public a service by covering a little bit more. For example:
Why did the Bush administration allow members of the Bin Laden family to fly out of the U.S. on 9/13 before the FBI even had a chance to question them at all?

Why does the Saudi embassy get Secret Service support??!

Why, when 15 of 19 hijackers were Saudi’s, do we not pressure Saudi Arabia for more cooperation in the “War on Terror”.

Why was Hamid Karzai, a former consultant to Unocal, installed in Afganistan as the leader, to aid the “war on terror” and what is his role in the Unocal pipeline?

And why don’t we place a little more scrutiny on the Carlyle Group, which is a major defense contractor, heavily invested in by the Bush family, and until recently, heavily invested in by the Saudi’s?

If it were just one thing, it might be easier to dismiss. And I’m not even advocating that we necessarily accept Moore’s postulations… just that these are questions worth looking into, and we’re not. There are just too many questions raised to dismiss them, and adopt a Britney Spears, “we have to stand by our president and trust him to do the right thing” attitude. It’s clear that even if you hate Moore, we can’t trust our president.