Review: Fahrenheit 9/11
The day after seeing Fahrenheit 9/11 in a packed theater I think I've processed through most of it. The documentary itself is not difficult to understand, but it does cover a lot of ground. Of course it begins with the Supreme Court handing Bush the presidency. It was interesting to see (and remember) the controversy and the protests even leading up to his inauguration. Moore delves deep into Bush's past with his several failed oil companies, and goes into the relationship with the Saudi family, the Bin Ladens. There is a lot of information there that, if true, is quite damning.
Moore also discusses the Patriot Act which codifies the relinquishing of some of our rights that we have taken for granted since the beginning of our country. Things like due process for search and seizure, surveillance, etc.. Also was discussed the fact that our President has exercised his power to create "enemy combatants" who have no rights and can be held without charge indefinitely. Moore's related examples weren't as related as they could have been, but when one man told of the FBI coming to his door it horrified me to think of the KGB or secret police in South American countries. If the FBI showed up at my door to question me, I think I'd be scared. It shouldn't be that way in this country.
Of course the movie also discussed the reasons for our involvement in Afganistan and Iraq. The reasons given by our government didn't quite make sense to me back then, and now they make even less sense. The pipeline in Afganistan was news to me. And the war in Iraq has always bothered me to no end, and now it seems even more senseless and horrible. It's interesting that the American public hasn't seen the footage on the news that was in the movie. But that's the liberal media for ya, right?
Overall it was very well worth seeing. It was eye opening and satisfied my desire to see something that spoke to me instead of those on the right. Fahrenheit 9/11 may not be an unbiased documentary, but it certainly was a different point of view than the one we're used to seeing on the 6 o'clock news every day.
