Source: NRC Handelsblad (Dutch high-quality newspaper)
The Truth about Fahrenheir 9/11
(Note that this has all been re-translated from Dutch to English, so the quotations from the movie may not be exact)
"Vice President Al Gore got the most votes with the 2000 elections":
This is true. However, the images of Al Gore with the "Victory" banner did not come from the elections, but from two days before election-day.
Gore did get more votes than Bush, but Bush got more states behind him. The Florida state was the key state, and there are contradictory messages about that one: USA Today and the Miami Heral reported in 2001 that Bush had won the state, while New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post claimed that Gore had won it.
"The conservative news station Fox News - where Bush's nephew was the news-advisor - first proclaimed Bush to be the winner of Florida"
Fox News was indeed the first news station to report Bush's victory on the 7th of November. However, he Voters News Service, to which Fox, ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and AP are also connected, had predicted Gore to be the winner based on polls. Most stations, based on these polls, claimed that Gore was the winner, some even before seven o'clock before the Florida votes were closed. Around ten o'clock in the evening this statement had to be retracted as it became clear that the vote was not clear. Fox News had, until then, only reported that that it looked good for Gore. When the Voter News Service predicted Bush to be the winner based on newer polls, Fox was the firt to report this. The other stations then followed, and Gore called Bush to congratulate him. When it turned into "too close to call" Gore withdrew his congratulations and the legal battle began.
"Bush was on vacation 42 percent of the time between the time of his starting as a president and the 11 of september"
Moore quotes the Washington Post, which had also counted weekends, offical holidays, such as the 4th of July, and travelling days besides "real" vacation days.
In a reaction to this article the White House responded that Bush spent his time on the Texas Ranch and the presidential country house Camp David working. He, for instance, received Blair there. The White House correspondent Mark Knoller, the unofficial record-keeper of Bush's travellings, said to press agency Knight Ridder that Bush had spent 50 days on his ranch, 40 days in Camp David and four days in the family holiday house in Maine. That's 39 percent of the time in 8 months. Knoller did not count the weekends and holidays such as the 4th of July.
"Bush continued with a photo-shoot when he heard about the 9/11 attacks"
The movie shows Bush in a kindergarten in Florida. While two planes crash into the Twin Towers, Bush is listening to the teacher reading from "My Pet Goat". His chiefe-of-staffs whispers "America is being attacked", the images slow down and Moore wonders what the president is thinking about.
The 9/11 commision thought that Bush did the right thing. He stayed calm and did not leave hastily, and this was the right decision according to vice-chairman Lee Hamilton, a Democrat to the press agency Knight Ridder.
The commision did come to the conclusion that between 5 past nine in the moring and half past nine, when Bush was in the school, all direction seemed to be gone from the nation's leadership.
"The family of Osama Bin Laden and other Saoudis were allowed to leave the USA after 9/11, despite the fact that flying was forbidden"
The leave happened on the request of the government in Riad, which feared for vengeance and the people's lives because 15 of the 19 hijackers had been Saoudis, according to the 9/11 commission. That same commission reports that the 142 leaving Saoudis, amongst whom most of the Bin Ladens, were thoroughly interrogated and researched about any possible terrorist connections. The FBI reports that the Bin Ladens had been given extremely detailed questions".
Press Agency AP concluded, based on their research, that the Saoudis left between the 14th and the 24th of september. Flying was allowed again from the 13th and onward. The so-called "Bin Laden flight" left on the 20th of september. Richard Clarke, the ex-terrorist specialist for the White House, authorised this, and there were no orders or decisions made pertaining to their leaving from higher-up, according to his testimony for the 9/11 commission.
"James Bath, a friend of Bush from his military days, invested on behalf of the Bin Lade family money in the USA. Bath invested in one of Bush's businesses"
The Center for Public Integrity, an independent researching group, "never encountered anything confirming this", said the CEO Bill Allison to the San Jose Mercury News in a reaction to Moore's movie. The center investigated Bush's years in Texas and concluded that Bath did invest money for Osama's brother Salem - one of Osama's many brothers - but that there is no proof that this money was invested in one of Bush's businesses.
"The Bush and Bin Laden families both have an interest in the Carlyle Group. The Carlyle Group invests in the weapons industry. The weapons industry made a profit after 9/11."
The Carlyle group is a private investment-bank controlling worldwide over 14 billion dollars. The group invests, amongst other things, in the weapons industry, air and spacetravel and telecommmunications. Bush Sr. advised the Carlyle group, and his minister of Domestic Affairs, Hames Baker, was his partner. However, high-ranking democrats were also involved in the the Carlyle, including the founder David Rubenstein, advisor to President Carter. Besides the Bin Ladens (who invested 2 million dollars), philantropist George Soros also has an interest in the bank, just like 600 other people from 55 different countries. A representative of the bank reported to Newsweek that Moore had concluded that they were good investors.
The Truth about Fahrenheir 9/11
(Note that this has all been re-translated from Dutch to English, so the quotations from the movie may not be exact)
"Vice President Al Gore got the most votes with the 2000 elections":
This is true. However, the images of Al Gore with the "Victory" banner did not come from the elections, but from two days before election-day.
Gore did get more votes than Bush, but Bush got more states behind him. The Florida state was the key state, and there are contradictory messages about that one: USA Today and the Miami Heral reported in 2001 that Bush had won the state, while New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post claimed that Gore had won it.
"The conservative news station Fox News - where Bush's nephew was the news-advisor - first proclaimed Bush to be the winner of Florida"
Fox News was indeed the first news station to report Bush's victory on the 7th of November. However, he Voters News Service, to which Fox, ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and AP are also connected, had predicted Gore to be the winner based on polls. Most stations, based on these polls, claimed that Gore was the winner, some even before seven o'clock before the Florida votes were closed. Around ten o'clock in the evening this statement had to be retracted as it became clear that the vote was not clear. Fox News had, until then, only reported that that it looked good for Gore. When the Voter News Service predicted Bush to be the winner based on newer polls, Fox was the firt to report this. The other stations then followed, and Gore called Bush to congratulate him. When it turned into "too close to call" Gore withdrew his congratulations and the legal battle began.
"Bush was on vacation 42 percent of the time between the time of his starting as a president and the 11 of september"
Moore quotes the Washington Post, which had also counted weekends, offical holidays, such as the 4th of July, and travelling days besides "real" vacation days.
In a reaction to this article the White House responded that Bush spent his time on the Texas Ranch and the presidential country house Camp David working. He, for instance, received Blair there. The White House correspondent Mark Knoller, the unofficial record-keeper of Bush's travellings, said to press agency Knight Ridder that Bush had spent 50 days on his ranch, 40 days in Camp David and four days in the family holiday house in Maine. That's 39 percent of the time in 8 months. Knoller did not count the weekends and holidays such as the 4th of July.
"Bush continued with a photo-shoot when he heard about the 9/11 attacks"
The movie shows Bush in a kindergarten in Florida. While two planes crash into the Twin Towers, Bush is listening to the teacher reading from "My Pet Goat". His chiefe-of-staffs whispers "America is being attacked", the images slow down and Moore wonders what the president is thinking about.
The 9/11 commision thought that Bush did the right thing. He stayed calm and did not leave hastily, and this was the right decision according to vice-chairman Lee Hamilton, a Democrat to the press agency Knight Ridder.
The commision did come to the conclusion that between 5 past nine in the moring and half past nine, when Bush was in the school, all direction seemed to be gone from the nation's leadership.
"The family of Osama Bin Laden and other Saoudis were allowed to leave the USA after 9/11, despite the fact that flying was forbidden"
The leave happened on the request of the government in Riad, which feared for vengeance and the people's lives because 15 of the 19 hijackers had been Saoudis, according to the 9/11 commission. That same commission reports that the 142 leaving Saoudis, amongst whom most of the Bin Ladens, were thoroughly interrogated and researched about any possible terrorist connections. The FBI reports that the Bin Ladens had been given extremely detailed questions".
Press Agency AP concluded, based on their research, that the Saoudis left between the 14th and the 24th of september. Flying was allowed again from the 13th and onward. The so-called "Bin Laden flight" left on the 20th of september. Richard Clarke, the ex-terrorist specialist for the White House, authorised this, and there were no orders or decisions made pertaining to their leaving from higher-up, according to his testimony for the 9/11 commission.
"James Bath, a friend of Bush from his military days, invested on behalf of the Bin Lade family money in the USA. Bath invested in one of Bush's businesses"
The Center for Public Integrity, an independent researching group, "never encountered anything confirming this", said the CEO Bill Allison to the San Jose Mercury News in a reaction to Moore's movie. The center investigated Bush's years in Texas and concluded that Bath did invest money for Osama's brother Salem - one of Osama's many brothers - but that there is no proof that this money was invested in one of Bush's businesses.
"The Bush and Bin Laden families both have an interest in the Carlyle Group. The Carlyle Group invests in the weapons industry. The weapons industry made a profit after 9/11."
The Carlyle group is a private investment-bank controlling worldwide over 14 billion dollars. The group invests, amongst other things, in the weapons industry, air and spacetravel and telecommmunications. Bush Sr. advised the Carlyle group, and his minister of Domestic Affairs, Hames Baker, was his partner. However, high-ranking democrats were also involved in the the Carlyle, including the founder David Rubenstein, advisor to President Carter. Besides the Bin Ladens (who invested 2 million dollars), philantropist George Soros also has an interest in the bank, just like 600 other people from 55 different countries. A representative of the bank reported to Newsweek that Moore had concluded that they were good investors.
