Text 542, 200 rader
Skriven 2004-08-03 10:51:24 av John Hull (1:379/1.99)
Ärende: 59 Deceits - Pt 5
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Pre-9/11 Briefing
Deceits 8-10
 
Castigating the allegedly lazy President, Moore says, "Or perhaps he just
should have read the security briefing that was given to him on August 6, 2001
that said that Osama bin Laden was planning to attack America by hijacking
airplanes." 
 
Moore supplies no evidence for his assertion that President Bush did not read
the August 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Brief. Moore’s assertion appears to be a
complete fabrication.
 
Moore smirks that perhaps President Bush did not read the Briefing because its
title was so vague. Moore then cuts to Condoleezza Rice announcing the title of
the Briefing: "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." Here, Moore seems to be
playing off Condoleezza Rice's testimony of the September 11 Commission that
the contents of the memo were vague.
 
However, no-one (except Moore) has ever claimed that Bush did not read the
Briefing, or that he did not read it because the title was vague. Rather,
Condoleezza Rice had told the press conference that the information in the
Briefing was "very vague." National Security Advisor Holds Press Briefing, The
White House, May 16, 2002.
 
The content of the Briefing supports Rice’s characterization, and refutes
Moore’s assertion that the Briefing "said that Osama bin Laden was planning to
attack America by hijacking airplanes." The actual Briefing was highly
equivocal:

     We have not been able to corroborate some of the more sensational threat
reporting, such as that from a [deleted text] service in 1998 saying that Bin
Laden wanted to hijack a U.S. aircraft to gain the release of "Blind Shaykh"
‘Umar’ Abd aI-Rahman and other U.S.-held extremists. Nevertheless, FBI
information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this
country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks,
including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York. 

(Some readers have wondered how this short segment qualifies as three deceits:
1. that Bush did not read the memo, 2. that the memo's title was offered as an
excuse for not reading the memo, 3. omitting that the memo was equivocal, and
that the hijacking warning was something that the FBI said it was "unable to
corroborate.")
 
[Moore response: Tacitly acknowledges that Bush had read the August 6 PDB: "he
(unlike the rest of America) was already aware that Osama bin Laden was
planning to attack America by hijacking airplanes, per the August 6, 2001
Presidential Daily Brief (PDB)." Does not directly address Fahrenheit's lie
that Bush hadn't read the PDB, or the lie that Bush had used the "vague" PDB
title as an excuse for not reading it. Accurately quotes the PDB, without
acknowledging that the PDB was much more equivocal than Fahrenheit claims.]
 
Saudi Departures from United States
Deceits 11-14

     Moore is guilty of a classic game of saying one thing and implying another
when he describes how members of the Saudi elite were flown out of the United
States shortly after 9/11. If you listen only to what Moore says during this
segment of the movie—and take careful notes in the dark—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."

McNamee, Chicago Sun-Times. (Note: The Sun-Times article was correct in its
characterization of the Ricky Martin segment, but not precisely accurate in the
exact words used in the film. I have substituted the exact quote. On September
13, U.S. airspace was re-opened for a small number of flights; charter flights
were allowed, and the airlines were allowed to move their planes to new
airports to start carrying passengers on September 14.) 

     Tapper: [Y]our film showcases former counter-terrorism czar Richard
Clarke, using him as a critic of the Bush administration. Yet in another part
of the film, one that appears in your previews, you criticize members of the
Bush administration for permitting members of the bin Laden family to fly out
of the country almost immediately after 9/11. What the film does not mention is
that Richard Clarke says that he OK’d those flights. Is it fair to not mention
that? 
     Moore: Actually I do, I put up The New York Times article and it’s blown
up 40 foot on the screen, you can see Richard Clarke’s name right there saying
that he approved the flights based on the information the FBI gave him. It’s
right there, right up on the screen. I don’t agree with Clarke on this point.
Just because I think he’s good on a lot of things doesn’t mean I agree with him
on everything. 

Jake Tapper interview with Michael Moore, ABC News, June 25, 2004. In an
Associated Press interview, Clarke said that he agreed with much of what Moore
had to say, but that the Saudi flight material was a mistake. Clarke testified
to the September 11 Commission, on September 3, 2003, that letting the Saudis
go "was a conscious decision with complete review at the highest levels of the
State Department and the FBI and the White House." It's possible to read
Clarke's 2003
statement as consistent with his 2004 statements; if you believe that what
Clarke is saying now contradicts what he said in 2003, then Clarke is a liar,
and all other claims he makes in Fahrenheit are discredited. Although he really
did not make those claims for Fahrenheit; according to National Public Radio:

     "I think Moore's making a mountain of a molehill," he said. Moreover, said
Mr. Clarke, "He never interviewed me." Instead, Mr. Moore had simply lifted a
clip from an ABC interview. 

Again, Moore is misleading. His film includes a brief shot of a Sept. 4, 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.
 
Some Saudis left the U.S. by charter flight on September 14, a day when
commercial flights had resumed, but when ordinary charter planes were still
grounded. When did the bin Ladens actually leave? Not until the next week, as
the the 9/11 Commission staff report explains: 

      Fearing reprisals against Saudi nationals, the Saudi government asked for
help in getting some of its citizens out of the country….we have found that the
request came to the attention of Richard Clarke and that each of the flights we
have studied was investigated by the FBI and dealt with in a professional
manner prior to its departure.
        No commercial planes, including chartered flights, were permitted to
fly into, out of, or within the United States until September 13, 2001. After
the airspace reopened, six chartered flights with 142 people, mostly Saudi
Arabian nationals, departed from the United States between September 14 and 24.
One flight, the so-called Bin Ladin flight, departed the United States on
September 20 with 26 passengers, most of them relatives of Usama Bin Ladin. We
have found no credible evidence that any chartered flights of Saudi Arabian
nationals departed the United States before the reopening of      national
airspace.
        The Saudi flights were screened by law enforcement officials, primarily
the FBI, to ensure that people on these flights did not pose a threat to
national security, and that nobody of interest to the FBI with regard to the
9/11 investigation was allowed to leave the country. Thirty of the 142 people
on these flights were interviewed by the FBI, including 22 of the 26 people (23
passengers and 3 private security guards) on the Bin Ladin flight. Many were
asked detailed questions. None of the passengers stated that they had any
recent contact with Usama Bin Ladin or knew anything about terrorist activity.
        The FBI checked a variety of databases for information on the Bin Ladin
flight passengers and searched the aircraft. It is unclear whether the TIPOFF
terrorist watchlist was checked. At our request, the Terrorist Screening Center
has rechecked the names of individuals on the flight manifests of these six
Saudi flights against the current TIPOFF watchlist. There are no matches.
        The FBI has concluded that nobody was allowed to depart on these six
flights who the FBI wanted to interview in connection with the 9/11 attacks, or
who the FBI later concluded had any involvement in those attacks. To date, we
have uncovered no evidence to contradict this conclusion.

The final Commission Report confirms that Clarke was the highest-ranking
official who made the decision to let the Saudis go, and that Clarke's decision
had no adverse effect on September 11 investigations. See pages 328-29 of the
Report.

Finally, Moore's line, "But really, who wanted to fly? No one. Except the bin
Ladens," happens to be a personal lie. Stranded in California on September 11,
Michael Moore 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." Moore acceded to the wishes of his wife and
daughter, and drove back to New York. It is pretty hypocritical for Moore to
slam the Saudis (who had very legitimate fears of being attacked by angry
people) just because they wanted to fly home, at the same time when Moore
himself wanted to fly home.

(Deceits: 1. Departure dates for Saudis, 2. Omission of Richard Clarke's
approval for departures, 3. Lying to Jake Tapper about whether Clarke's role
was presented in the movie, 4. Moore himself wanted to fly when he says only
the bin Ladens did.)
 
[Moore response: Provides citations showing that "the White House" approved the
Saudi departures; does not cite or acknowledge Clarke's statement that he was
the guy in the White House who approved the departures. Does not respond to
Clarke's statement that the Saudi departures segment in Fahrenheit is "a
mistake." Provides accurate citations for the dates of Saudi departures; does
not address how the film misled viewers about when the departures took place.
Cites the September 11 Commission (which says that the pre-departure interviews
were "detailed" and other sources, including National Review, which say they
were not). 
 
Updated Moore response: In an impressively brazen display of mendacity, Moore
claims that the September 11 Commission finding that Clarke approved the Saudi
departures and that the decision went no higher proves that Fahrenheit is
factually accurate.]
 
   ----- 59deceits-p5.txt ends -----

John 

America:  First, Last, and Always!
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