Re-evaluating Michael Moore: his disappointing take on terror and 9/11

By Craig McKee (http://truthandshadows.wordpress.com)

From the first time I saw Roger and Me, I was hooked. Michael Moore was more than a breath of fresh air, he was a rare voice who found a way to get really progressive ideas into the mainstream in a big way. No small feat.

I never cared about criticisms from the right that his films sometimes let accuracy take a back seat to entertainment value. I frequently labelled him a genius for his success in getting some very anti-establishment ideas into the mainstream. Few others with similar ideas have even come close to doing this.

But disillusionment has crept in. As I began researching the events of Sept. 11, 2001 in more depth, Moore’s views began to be problematic. Worse, they began to seem like mainstream liberal views that play right into the hands of those who perpetrated the fake terror attacks.

In 2002, Moore released his film Fahrenheit 9/11, which showed us how the Bush administration used 9/11 to push for immoral wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It exposed to a wide audience the connections between the Bush and bin Laden families. He let us know that the bin Ladens had received special treatment by being allowed to fly out of the United States when no one else was allowed to fly.

He also showed us what a buffoon George W. Bush is. We had the chance to laugh at his ineptitude as he sat in a Florida classroom, seemingly paralyzed by the magnitude of what was unfolding around him.

In ridiculing W., however, Moore helps obscure the real truth. In fact, I’m not sure Moore doesn’t have some fans within the Bush family. Sure he made them look inept, opportunistic, and generally slimy, but he failed to call them on what they’re really up to – subverting democracy for their own benefit and the benefit of those who really control pro-Western governments.

As Hal Holbrook said to Robert Redford in All the President’s Men, “You’re missing the overall.”

Michael, you’re the one missing the overall this time. Bush didn’t fail to act on the morning of 9/11, he already had acted when he became willing to enter into a plan to murder 3,000 people. Bush stayed in that school for half an hour after he was told the second tower had been hit because he KNEW he wasn’t a target.

And there’s only one way he could have known that.

In 2007, Moore was questioned by a 9/11 Truth activist about his views on 9/11. His answers, although hardly breaking new ground, were somewhat encouraging. He questioned why we haven’t seen the Pentagon videos that would resolve the question of what really hit the building (if anything).

“There’s got to be about 100 video cameras ringing that building, in the trees, everywhere,” he said. “They’ve got that plane coming in from a hundred angles. I want to see videos of this; I want to see a hundred videos of this. Why don’t they want us to see that plane coming into the building? I believe there would be answers in that video tape. And we should demand that video tape be released.”

And about the World Trade Center?

“I’ve had a number of firefighters tell me over the years, and since Fahrenheit 9/11, that they heard these explosions, that they believe there is much more to the story than we’ve been told. I don’t think the official investigations have told us the complete truth; they haven’t even told us half the truth. I hope that we can open up a new investigation of this before we get too far from it.

“I intend in my own way to find some answers.”

Wow, I thought, when I heard this. I had visions of a Michael Moore film that would expose all the lies about 9/11. If anyone could break through the apparent mainstream media blackout regarding the event, it would be Moore.

It’s a good thing I wasn’t holding my breath. In 2009, Moore did an interview with Fox News “journalist” Sean Hannity. They did get into terrorism and 9/11, but Moore’s supposed open-mindedness had turned into the safe liberal position on the subject. He downplayed the threat of terrorism on the basis that the big, strong United States shouldn’t be so afraid of a few hundred terrorists.

“You’re making them out to be a big thing,” he said to Hannity, “like they’re equal to us. Are you kidding me? These are murderers who committed a mass murder of 3,000 people, and they should’ve been brought to justice by now. How come they haven’t been?”

They haven’t been because the current administration, all the past administrations, and the media are doing everything they can to keep the truth from all of us that 9/11 was a government covert operation designed to fool us into accepting phoney wars and the destruction of civil liberties.

Mike, you’re capable of seeing beyond what the networks are telling all us. You really have no excuse for missing the point so badly.

What Moore’s missing is that terrorism isn’t an exaggerated reaction to U.S. foreign policy, it is a tool of U.S. foreign policy. The war on terror isn’t a military response to the ongoing threat of terrorism, it is a cover story designed to keep us afraid and distracted from what the real criminals are doing. And the real criminals have names like Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld, among others.

In 2007, Moore told us he intended to get to the bottom of 9/11. I can’t help wondering how he’s doing pursuing answers “in his own way.”

There are some very courageous and committed citizens who won’t rest until the real truth behind the tragedy of 9/11 is uncovered. I just wish Michael Moore was one of them.