Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)

1. Was it all just a dream?

2. God bless you, Florida! Thank you!

3. Did the last four years not really happen?

4. Look! There is Ben Affleck. He's often in my dreams.

5. And the Taxi Driver guy. He was there too!

6. And little Stevie Wonder. He seemed so happy, like a miracle

7. had taken place.

8. Was it a dream?

9. Or was it real?

10. It was election night 2000,

11. and everything seemed to be going as planned.

12. In New York,

13. Al Gore is our projected winner.

14. The Garden State is green for Gore.

15. We project Mr. Gore the winner in Delaware.

16. This state has voted with the winner.

17. Excuse me one second, I'm so sorry to interrupt you.

18. Mike, I wouldn't do this if it weren't big!

19. Florida goes for Al Gore.

20. CNN announces that we call Florida in the Al Gore column.

21. Then, something called The Fox News Channel

22. called the election in favor of the other guy.

23. I interrupt you, Fox News now projects

24. George W. Bush the winner in Florida,

25. and thus it appears the winner of the Presidency of the United States.

26. All of a sudden, the other network said:

27. "Hey, if Fox said it, it must be true!"

28. All of us at the networks made a mistake

29. and projected Florida in the Al Gore column.

30. It was our mistake.

31. What most people don't know is

32. that the man who was in charge of the decision desk at Fox that night,

33. the man who called it for Bush, was none other

34. than Bush's first cousin, John Ellis.

35. How does someone like Bush get away with something like this?

36. Well, first, it helps if your brother is the governor

37. of the State in question.

38. You know something? We are gonna win Florida.

39. Mark my words.

40. You can write it down.

41. Second, make sure the chairman of your campaign is also

42. the vote count woman, and that her state

43. has hired a company

44. that's gonna knock voters off the rolls

45. who aren't likely to vote for you.

46. You can usually tell them by the color of their skin.

47. Then make sure your side fights like it's life or death.

48. I think all this talk about legitimacy is way overblown.

49. President Bush! President Bush!

50. And hope that the other side

51. will just sit by and wait for the phone to ring.

52. And even if numerous independent investigations prove

53. that Gore got the most votes.

54. If there was a statewide recount, under every scenario,

55. Gore won the election.

56. It won't matter,

57. just as long as all your daddy's friends on the Supreme Court

58. vote the right way.

59. While I strongly disagree with the Court's decision, I accept it.

60. What we need now, is acceptance.

61. We have a new president-elect.

62. It turns out none of this was a dream.

63. It's what really happened.

64. On the day the joint session of both the House of Representatives

65. and the Senate was to certify the election results,

66. Al Gore, in his dual role as outgoing Vice President

67. and President of the Senate,

68. presided over the event that would officially anoint

69. George W. Bush as the new president.

70. If any congressman wanted to raise an objection, the rules insisted

71. that he or she had to have the signed support of just one Senator.

72. Mr. President, and I take great pride in calling you that,

73. I must object because of the overwhelming evidence

74. of official misconduct.

75. Deliberate fraud— The Chair

76. must remind members that under Section Eighteen

77. of Title Three, United States Code,

78. no debate is allowed in the joint session.

79. Thank you, Mr. President, to answer your question,

80. the objection is in writing,

81. signed by a number of members of the House of Representatives,

82. but not by a member of the Senate.

83. Uh, Mr. President, it is in writing and signed

84. by several House colleagues on behalf, and myself,

85. of the 27,000 voters of Duval county,

86. in which 16,000 of them are African Americans

87. that was disenfranchised in this last election.

88. Is the objection signed by a member of the Senate?

89. Not signed by a member of the Senate, the Senate is missing.

90. Mr. President, it is in writing and signed by myself,

91. on behalf of many of the diverse constituents in our country,

92. especially those in the Ninth Congressional district,

93. and all American voters who recognize that the Supreme Court,

94. not the people of the United States, decided this election.

95. Is the objection signed by a Senator?

96. Unfortunately, Mr. President, it is not signed by one single Senator.

97. Unfortunately, I have no authority over the United States Senate,

98. and no Senator has signed.

99. Mr. President, it is in writing and signed by myself

100. and several of my constituents, constituents from Florida.

101. A Senator is needed, but missing.

102. Is the objection in writing

103. and signed by a member of the House and a Senator?

104. The objection is in writing, and I don't care

105. that it is not signed by a member of the Senate.

106. The Chair will advise that the rules do care, and...

107. The signature of a Senator...

108. Not a single Senator came to the aid of the African Americans

109. in Congress.

110. One after another, they were told to sit down

111. and shut up.

112. It's a sad day in America, Mr. President, when we can't find

113. - a Senator to sign objections. - The gentleman!

114. The gentleman will suspend.

115. Won't sign objections, Mr. President, I object!

116. The gentleman will suspend.

117. Inauguration coverage 2001

118. on a nasty, but it could be a worse kind of day in Washington.

119. - What do we want? - Justice!

120. - When do we want it? - Now!

121. On the day that George W. Bush was inaugurated,

122. tens of thousands of Americans poured into the streets of D.C.

123. in one last attempt to reclaim what had been taken from them.

124. They pelted Bush's limo with eggs.

125. Get back! Get back!

126. And brought the inauguration parade to a halt.

127. The plan to have Bush get out of the limo for the traditional walk

128. to the White House was scrapped.

129. Bush's limo hit the gas to prevent an even larger riot.

130. No president had ever witnessed such a thing on his Inauguration Day.

131. And for the next eight months,

132. it didn't get any better for George W. Bush.

133. He couldn't get his judges appointed.

134. He had trouble getting his legislation passed,

135. and he lost Republican control of the Senate.

136. His approval ratings in the polls began to sink.

137. He was already beginning to look like a lame duck president.

138. With everything going wrong,

139. he did what any of us would do.

140. He went on vacation.

141. Oh, no!

142. In his first eight months in office before September 11th,

143. George W. Bush was on vacation, according to the Washington Post,

144. 42% of the time.

145. If I hit every shot good, people would say I wasn't working.

146. It was not surprising that Mr. Bush needed some time off.

147. Being president is a lot of work.

148. What about these folks that say

149. you're taking too long of a vacation?

150. They don't understand the definition of work, then.

151. I'm getting a lot done.

152. Secondly, you don't have to be in Washington to work.

153. It's, uh... It's amazing, uh,

154. what can happen with telephones and faxes.

155. Thank you so much, you were great.

156. What are you doing the rest of the day?

157. Karen Hughes is coming over, we're working on some things,

158. and uh...

159. She'll be over here, we'll be working on a few things, a few matters.

160. I'm working on some initiatives.

161. We're, uh... You'll see!

162. I mean, I've got— There'll be some decisions that I will have made

163. while I'm here, and we'll be announcing them as time goes on.

164. The first time I met him,

165. he had some good advice for me.

166. - Governor Bush, it's Michael Moore! - Behave yourself, will you?

167. Go find real work!

168. And work was something he knew a lot about!

169. Anybody want some grits?

170. Yeah!

171. Relaxing at Camp David.

172. Yachting off Kennebunkport.

173. How ya doing?

174. Or being a cowboy on a ranch in Texas.

175. I love the nature, I love to get in the pickup truck with my dogs.

176. Oh, hi!

177. George Bush spent the rest of August at the ranch,

178. where life was less complicated.

179. Armadillos love to dig the soil looking for bugs.

180. And...

181. So I went out there the other day, and there was Barney!

182. Buried in this hole, chasing an armadillo.

183. It was a summer to remember.

184. And when it was over, he left Texas

185. for his second favorite place.

186. On September tenth, he joined his brother in Florida,

187. where he looked at files and met important Floridians.

188. He went to sleep that night in a bed made with fine French linens.

189. Do you suppose he's pretty

190. confident on those numbers on Iraqi security forces?

191. Make me look young!

192. I've got a little air noise.

193. Just don't turn it up too much, I don't want to blow my head off.

194. I got a... I got a mic here if they want to hear.

195. Testing one, two. This is the Oval Office.

196. Testing one, two.

197. Testing one, two. This is the Oval Office.

198. Testing one, two three, four, five.

199. Save their souls, Lord!

200. Save their souls, Lord!

201. Oh, they're jumping! Everyone!

202. On September 11th 2001, nearly 3,000 people,

203. including a colleague of mine,

204. Bill Weems,

205. were killed in the largest foreign attack ever on American soil.

206. The targets were the financial

207. and military headquarters of the United States.

208. If anyone has any idea, or if they've seen him or knows where he is,

209. to call us!

210. He's got two little babies.

211. Two little babies.

212. As the attack took place,

213. Mr. Bush was on his way to an elementary school in Florida.

214. When informed of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center,

215. where terrorists had struck, just eight years prior,

216. Mr. Bush decided to go ahead with his photo opportunity.

217. Good morning!

218. Read this word the fast way. Get ready!

219. Mat! Yes, mat! Get ready!

220. Cat!

221. Yeah!

222. OK, get ready to read the words on this page

223. without making a mistake!

224. When the second plane hit the tower, his chief of staff

225. entered the classroom and told Mr.

226. "The nation is under attack."

227. Not knowing what to do,

228. with no one telling him what to do, and no secret service

229. rushing in to take him to safety,

230. Mr. Bush just sat there and continued to read My Pet Goat

231. with the children.

232. Nearly seven minutes passed with nobody doing anything.

233. As Bush sat in that Florida classroom,

234. was he wondering if maybe he should have shown up to work more often?

235. Should he have held at least one meeting since taking office

236. to discuss the threat of terrorism with his head of counter-terrorism?

237. Or maybe Mr. Bush was wondering why he had cut terrorism funding

238. from the FBI?

239. Or perhaps, he just should have read

240. the security briefing that was given to him on August sixth 2001,

241. which said that Osama Bin Laden was planning to attack America

242. by hijacking airplanes.

243. But maybe he wasn't worried about the terrorist threat

244. because the title of the report was too vague.

245. I believe the title was:

246. Bin Laden determined to attack inside the United States.

247. A report like that

248. might make some men jump, but as in days past,

249. George W. just went fishing.

250. As the minutes went by, George Bush continued to sit in the classroom.

251. Was he thinking: "I've been hanging out with the wrong crowd?

252. Which one of them screwed me?

253. Was it the guy my daddy's friends delivered a lot of weapons to?

254. Was it that group of religious fundamentalists

255. who visited my State when I was governor?

256. Or was it the Saudis?

257. Damn, it was them! I think I better

258. blame it on this guy!"

259. In the days following September 11th,

260. all commercial and private airline traffic was grounded.

261. The FAA has taken the action to close

262. all of the airports in the United States.

263. Even grounding the president's father,

264. former President Bush, on a flight, forced to land in Milwaukee.

265. Thousands of travelers were stranded, among them,

266. Ricky Martin, due to appear at tonight's Latin Grammy awards.

267. Not even Ricky Martin could fly, but really,

268. who wanted to fly?

269. No one, except the Bin Ladens.

270. We had some airplanes authorized at the highest levels of our government

271. to fly to pick up Osama Bin Laden's family members

272. and others from Saudi Arabia and transport them out of this country.

273. It turns out that the White House approved planes

274. to pick up the Bin Ladens and numerous other Saudis.

275. At least six private jets and nearly two dozen commercial planes

276. carried the Saudis and the Bin Ladens out of the U.S.

277. after September 13th.

278. In all, 142 Saudis,

279. including 24 members of the Bin Laden family,

280. were allowed to leave the country.

281. Osama's always been portrayed as a bad apple,

282. the black sheep in the family and that they cut off

283. all relationship with him around 1994.

284. In fact, things are much more complicated than that.

285. You mean Osama's had contact with other family members?

286. That's right, and in the summer of 2001, just before 9/11,

287. one of Osama's sons got married in Afghanistan,

288. and several family members showed up at the wedding.

289. - Bin Ladens? - That's right!

290. So they're not cut off completely, that's an exaggeration.

291. We now welcome to Larry King Live, good to see him again,

292. Prince Bandar, the ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

293. to the United States.

294. You had about 24 members of Bin Laden's family, and—

295. - Here? - In America!

296. Students and... And his Majesty felt

297. it's not fair for those innocent people to be subjected to any harm.

298. On the other hand, we understood the high emotions,

299. so with coordination with the FBI, we got them all out.

300. This is retired FBI agent Jack Cloonan.

301. Before 9/11, he was a senior agent

302. on the joint FBI/CIA Al-Qaeda task force.

303. I, as an investigator, would not want these people to have left.

304. I think in the case of the Bin Laden family,

305. I think it would have been prudent, hand the subpoenas out,

306. have them come in, get on the record! You know, get on the record.

307. - That's the proper procedure? - Yeah!

308. How many people were pulled off airlines

309. after that, coming into the country who were what?

310. They were from the Middle East or they fit a very general picture.

311. - We held hundreds. - We held hundreds, and I—

312. For weeks and months at a time.

313. Did the authorities do anything

314. when the Bin Ladens tried to leave the country?

315. No, they were identified at the airport.

316. They looked at their passports and they were identified.

317. Well, that's what would happen to you or I.

318. Exactly! Exactly!

319. So, a little interview, check the passport, what else?

320. Nothing.

321. I don't know about you, but, usually,

322. when the police can't find a murderer,

323. don't they usually want to talk

324. to the family members to find out where they think he might be?

325. Do you have no idea where your husband might be?

326. If you should hear anything, let us know.

327. You want to come downtown, give us a statement?

328. - Is this gonna take long? - You got the time.

329. Mine's worth money, yours isn't.

330. - Send us the bill! - I asked you a question!

331. You're here to answer them.

332. Now, listen to me, cop, I pay your salary!

333. Sit down, I'll earn it.

334. Yeah, that's how cops do it.

335. What was going on here?

336. I think we need to know a lot more about that.

337. That needs to be the subject of a significant investigation.

338. What happened? How did it happen?

339. Why did it happen, and who authorized it?

340. Try to imagine what those poor bastards were feeling

341. when they were jumping out of that building to their death.

342. Those... those... those young guys and cops and firemen that ran

343. into that building, never asked a question, and they're dead.

344. And families' lives are ruined.

345. And they'll never, they'll never have peace.

346. And if I had to inconvenience...

347. A... A member of the Bin Laden family with a subpoena or a grand jury,

348. do you think I'd lose any sleep over it? Not for a minute, Mike.

349. - No one would question it. - No, it's right.

350. Not even the biggest civil libertarian?

351. - No, no, it's just... - No one would question.

352. You know, you got a lawyer? Fine. Counsellor, fine!

353. Mr. Bin Laden, this is why I'm asking you,

354. it's not because I think that you're anything,

355. I just want to ask you the questions that I would anybody.

356. - Right. - And that's all!

357. None of this made any sense.

358. Can you imagine in the days after the Oklahoma City terrorist bombing

359. President Clinton helping to arrange

360. a trip out of the country for the McVeigh family?

361. What do you think would have happened to Clinton if that had been revealed?

362. Burn him! Burn him!

363. Prince Bandar, do you know the Bin Laden family?

364. I do very well.

365. - What are they like? - They're really lovely human beings.

366. He is the only one I never...

367. I don't know him well, but I met him only once.

368. What was the circumstance under which you met him?

369. This is ironic, in the mid-80s, if you remember,

370. we and the United States were supporting the Mujahedeen.

371. To liberate

372. Afghanistan from the Soviets!

373. He came to thank me for my efforts

374. to bring the Americans, our friends, to help us against the atheists,

375. he said, the Communists. Isn't it ironic?

376. Now, he came to thank you

377. for helping bring America to help him?

378. And now, he may be responsible for bombing America?

379. Absolutely.

380. What did you make of him when you met him?

381. I was not impressed, to be honest with you.

382. - Not impressed? - No, ha was...

383. I thought he was simple and very quiet guy.

384. Hmm... A simple and quiet guy?

385. Whose family just happened to have a business relationship

386. with the family of George W. Bush.

387. Is that what he was thinking about?

388. Because if the public knew this,

389. it wouldn't look very good.

390. Was he thinking, you know:

391. "I need a big black marker"?

392. In early 2004, in a speech during the New Hampshire primary,

393. I called George W. Bush a deserter

394. from his time in the Texas Air National Guard.

395. In response, the White House

396. released his military records in the hopes of disproving the charge.

397. What Bush didn't know is that I already had a copy

398. of his military records,

399. uncensored, obtained in the year 2000,

400. and there is one glaring difference between the records released in 2000

401. and those he released in 2004.

402. A name had been blacked out.

403. In 1972, two airmen were suspended for failing

404. to take their medical examination.

405. One was George W. Bush.

406. And the other was James R. Bath.

407. In 2000, the documents show both names.

408. But in 2004, Bush and the White House had Bath's name blacked out.

409. Why didn't Bush want the press and the public to see Bath's name

410. on his military records?

411. Perhaps he was worried that the American people would find out

412. that at one time James R. Bath

413. was the Texas money manager for the Bin Ladens.

414. Bush and Bath had become good friends

415. when they both served in the Texas Air National Guard.

416. After they were discharged,

417. when Bush's dad was head of the CIA,

418. Bath opened his own aviation business

419. after selling a plane to a man by the name

420. of Salem Bin Laden,

421. heir to the second largest fortune in Saudi Arabia,

422. the Saudi Binladin Group.

423. W., at that time,

424. was just starting off in the world as a businessman.

425. Because he's a guy who's always tried to emulate his father,

426. he decided to go into the oil business.

427. He founded an oil company, a drilling company,

428. out in west Texas called Arbusto,

429. which was very, very good at drilling dry holes that nothing came out of.

430. But the question has always been, where did this money come from?

431. Now, his dad,

432. his dad was rich. His dad could have done this for him.

433. But his dad didn't do this for him.

434. There's no indication that Daddy wrote a check

435. to start him off in this company.

436. So where did George W. Bush get his money?

437. I'm George Bush!

438. One person who did invest in him was James R. Bath.

439. Bush's good friend, James Bath, was hired by the Bin Laden family

440. to manage their money in Texas and invest in businesses.

441. And James Bath himself, in turn, invested in George W. Bush.

442. Bush ran Arbusto into the ground,

443. as he did every other company he was involved in.

444. Until, finally, one of his companies was bought by Harken Energy.

445. And they gave him a seat on their board.

446. A lot of us had suspected

447. through the years, that there has been Saudi oil money

448. involved in all of these companies.

449. Harken, Spectrum Seven, Arbusto Drilling,

450. all of the Bush companies.

451. Whenever they got into trouble, there were these angel investors

452. who flowed money into the companies.

453. So, the question is, why Saudis, who had all the oil in the world,

454. go around the globe to invest in this lousy oil company?

455. And the thing is it had one big asset,

456. Harken had one thing going for it, which is that George W. Bush

457. was on its board of directors

458. at a time when his father was President of the United States.

459. When you're the president's son, and you've got unlimited access,

460. combined with some credentials from a prior campaign,

461. in Washington D.C., people tend to respect that.

462. And, access is power.

463. And, uh, I can find my dad and talk to him any time of the day.

464. Yes, it helps to be the president's son,

465. especially when you're being investigated

466. by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

467. In 1990, when Mr. Bush was a Director of Harken Energy,

468. he received this memo from company lawyers

469. warning directors not to sell stock

470. if they had unfavorable information about the company.

471. One week later, he sold $848,000 worth of Harken stock.

472. Two months later, Harken announced losses of more than $23,000,000.

473. The James Baker law partner

474. who helped Bush beat the rap from the SCC

475. was a man by the name of Robert Jordan, who,

476. when George W. Became president, was appointed ambassador

477. to Saudi Arabia.

478. After the Harken debacle,

479. the friends of Bush's dad got him a seat on another board

480. of a company owned by the Carlyle group.

481. We wanted to look at which companies

482. actually gained from September 11th.

483. Turned up this company, Carlyle Group.

484. The Carlyle Group is

485. a multinational conglomerate that invests

486. in heavily government-regulated industries like telecommunications,

487. healthcare, and particularly, defense.

488. Both George W. Bush and George H. W. Bush

489. worked for the Carlyle Group,

490. the same company that counted the Bin Laden family among its investors.

491. Carlyle Group was holding its annual investor conference

492. on the morning of September 11th

493. in the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Washington D.C. At that meeting,

494. were all of the Carlyle regulars,

495. James Baker, likely John Major,

496. definitely George H. W. Bush,

497. though he left the morning of September 11th,

498. Shafiq Bin Laden, who is Osama Bin Laden's half-brother

499. and was in town to look after

500. his family's investments in the Carlyle Group,

501. um, all of them together in one room watching

502. as the planes hit the towers.

503. And then in fact, the Bin Laden family was invested

504. in one of their defense funds, which ironically meant

505. that, um, as the United States started

506. increasing its defense spending, the Bin Laden family stood to gain

507. from those investments through the Carlyle Group.

508. Our Commander-in-chief, our president, George W. Bush!

509. With all the weapons companies it owned,

510. the Carlyle Group was in essence

511. the eleventh largest defense contractor in the United States.

512. Thanks a lot!

513. It owned United Defense,

514. makers of the Bradley armored fighting vehicle.

515. September 11th guaranteed that United Defense

516. was going to have a very good year.

517. Just six weeks after 9/11,

518. Carlyle filed to take United Defense public,

519. and in December, made a one day profit

520. of 237 million dollars, but sadly,

521. with so much attention focused on the Bin Laden family

522. being important Carlyle investors,

523. the Bin Ladens eventually had to withdraw,

524. Bush's dad, though, stayed on as Senior Advisor

525. to Carlyle's Asia Board for another two years.

526. As unseemly as it seems,

527. uh, to... know that George H. W. Bush

528. was meeting with the Bin Laden family

529. while Osama was a wanted terrorist,

530. way before September 11th.

531. It's very discomforting for Americans to know that.

532. George H. W. Bush is a man who has, obviously, incredible reach

533. into the White House.

534. He receives daily CIA briefings,

535. which is the right of any ex-president,

536. but very few ex-presidents actually exercise that right, he does.

537. And I think in a very real way,

538. they are benefiting from the confusion that arises

539. when George H. W. Bush visits Saudi Arabia, on behalf of Carlyle,

540. and meets with the royal family and meets with the Bin Laden family.

541. Um...

542. Is he representing the United States of America

543. or is he representing an investment firm

544. in the United States of America or is he representing both?

545. This company is about money, it's not about conspiracies to run the world

546. or you know engineer political maneuvering, things like that.

547. It's about making money, and it's about making a lot of money,

548. and they've done very well.

549. If I can get you on the record on this question.

550. In the White House view, there is no ethical conflict

551. in former President Bush and former Secretary of State,

552. Jim Baker, using their contacts with world leaders to represent

553. one of the most well-known military arms dealers, the Carlyle Group?

554. The president has full faith that his family

555. will conform with all proper ethics laws, all ethics laws,

556. and will act properly in their conduct.

557. OK, so let's say one group of people,

558. like the American people,

559. pay you $400,000 a year to be

560. President of the United States.

561. But then another group of people invest in you,

562. your friends

563. and their related businesses

564. 1.4 billion dollars over a number of years,

565. who are you gonna like?

566. Who's your daddy?

567. Over here, sir!

568. Because that's how much the Saudi Royals and their associates

569. have given the Bush family.

570. - Their friends... - How are you, Sir?

571. and their related businesses in the past three decades.

572. We've had a very nice reunion with friends.

573. Is it rude to suggest that when the Bush family

574. wakes up in the morning,

575. they might be thinking about what's best for the Saudis

576. instead of what's best for you or me?

577. 'Cause 1.4 billion just doesn't buy a lot of flights out of the country,

578. it buys a lot of love.

579. Sooner or later, this special relationship with a regime

580. that Amnesty International condemns as a widespread human rights violator

581. would come back to haunt the Bushes.

582. Now, after 9/11, it was an embarrassment,

583. and they preferred that no one asked any questions.

584. The investigation should have begun on September 12th, um...

585. There's no reason why it shouldn't have.

586. 3,000 people were dead, it was a murder,

587. and it should have gotten started immediately.

588. First, Bush tried to stop Congress

589. from setting up its own 9/11 investigation.

590. It's important for us to, uh...

591. not reveal how we collect information!

592. That's what the enemy wants. And we're fighting an enemy.

593. When he couldn't stop Congress,

594. he then tried to stop an independent 9/11 commission from being formed.

595. The president's position was a break from history.

596. Independent investigations were launched within days of Pearl Harbor

597. and President Kennedy's assassination.

598. But when Congress did complete its own investigation,

599. the Bush White House censored 28 pages of the report.

600. The president is being pressed by all sides

601. to declassify the report.

602. U.S. officials tell NBC News most of the secret source

603. involve Saudi Arabia.

604. We have given extraordinary cooperation

605. with chairmen Keane and Hamilton.

606. We haven't gotten the materials we needed,

607. and we certainly haven't gotten them in a timely fashion.

608. The deadlines we set have passed.

609. Will you testify before the commission?

610. This commission?

611. You know, I don't, testify. I mean, I'd be glad to visit with them.

612. What it will do is, the hole that's in my heart,

613. and has been in my heart since September 11th,

614. I lost my husband of fifteen years.

615. I am now by myself. Um...

616. I need to know what happened to him.

617. I know what I got back, from the... the autopsy.

618. Uh...

619. That man was my life, and I have no plan.

620. I took a... I was taking a class,

621. and they asked me what was I going to do in the next five years.

622. And if I'm not doing something with this,

623. I don't know what reason I have to live.

624. So, it's very important.

625. Very important.

626. OK? Thank you.

627. Ignored by the Bush administration,

628. more than 500 relatives of 9/11 victims

629. filed suit against Saudi royals and others.

630. For lawyers, the Saudi Defense Minister

631. hired to fight the 9/11 families,

632. the law firm of Bush family confident, James A. Baker.

633. So, right here in the center of three important American landmarks,

634. the Watergate hotel and office building,

635. the Kennedy center over there,

636. and the embassy of Saudi Arabia.

637. Yeah!

638. How much money do the Saudis have invested in America, roughly?

639. I've heard figures as high as 860 billion dollars.

640. 860 billion?

641. Billion!

642. - That's a lot of money! - A lot!

643. And, uh...

644. what, what percentage of our economy does that represent?

645. It seems like a lot.

646. Well, in terms of in investments on Wall Street,

647. American equities, it's roughly

648. six or seven percent of America.

649. They own a fairly good slice of America.

650. And most of that money goes into the great blue chip companies.

651. Citigroup, Citibank is the largest stockholder is a Saudi.

652. AOL Time Warner has big Saudi investors.

653. So, I read the Saudis have a trillion dollars

654. in our banks, of their money. What would happen if like, one day,

655. they just pulled that trillion dollars out?

656. A trillion dollars?

657. That would be an enormous blow to the economy.

658. Right, right.

659. Mr. Moore, can I speak to you for a moment?

660. Yeah, sure!

661. - How are you? - Good, how are you doing?

662. Steve Kimball, Secret Service. How are you, Sir?

663. We're just ascertaining information regarding...

664. - Oh, OK. - Are you doing a documentary

665. regarding the Saudi Arabia embassy, the chancellery?

666. No, I am doing a documentary.

667. - Right. - Part of it is about Saudi Arabia.

668. Even though we were nowhere near the White House,

669. for some reason, the Secret Service had shown up

670. to ask us what we were doing standing across the street

671. from the Saudi embassy.

672. We're not here to cause any trouble or anything,

673. uh, you know. Is that...

674. No, that's fine. We just wanted to make sure,

675. just wanted to get some information as far as what was actually going on.

676. Yeah.

677. I didn't realize the Secret Service guards foreign embassies.

678. Not usually. No, sir.

679. No, no. Do they give you any trouble, the Saudis?

680. Uh, no comment on that, sir.

681. Oh, OK, I'll take that as a yes.

682. Alright, good. Thank you very much.

683. It turns out that Saudi Prince Bandar

684. is perhaps the best protected ambassador in the U.S.

685. The U.S. State Department provides him with a six-man security detail.

686. Considering how he and his family

687. and the Saudi elite own seven percent of America,

688. it's probably not a bad idea.

689. Prince Bandar was so close to the Bushes,

690. they considered him a member of the family

691. and they even had a nickname for him, Bandar Bush.

692. Two nights after September 11th,

693. George Bush invited Bandar Bush

694. over to the White House for a private dinner and a talk.

695. Even though Bin Laden was a Saudi,

696. and Saudi money had funded Al-Qaeda,

697. and 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis.

698. Here was the Saudi ambassador casually dining

699. with the president on September 13th.

700. What were they talking about?

701. Were they commiserating? Or comparing notes?

702. Why would Bandar's government

703. block American investigators

704. from talking to the relatives of the 15 hijackers?

705. Why would Saudi Arabia become reluctant

706. to freeze the hijacker's assets?

707. The two of them walked out on the Truman Balcony

708. so that Bandar could smoke a cigar and have a drink.

709. In the distance, across the Potomac, was the Pentagon, partially in ruins.

710. I wonder if Mr. Bush told Prince Bandar not to worry,

711. because he already had a plan in motion.

712. You come in September 12th ready to plot what response

713. we take to Al-Qaeda. Let me talk to the...

714. about the response that you got from top administration officials.

715. On that day, what did the president say to you?

716. The president, in a very intimidating way, left us, me and my staff,

717. with the clear indication

718. that he wanted us to come back with the word that there was an Iraqi hand

719. behind 9/11, because they had been planning to do something

720. about Iraq from before the time they came into office.

721. Did he ask about any other

722. - nations other than Iraq? - No. No, no.

723. No, not at all, it was "Iraq, Saddam, find out, get back to me!"

724. And were his questions more about Iraq than about Al-Qaeda?

725. Absolutely. Absolutely! He didn't ask me about Al-Qaeda.

726. The reaction you got from the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld

727. and from his assistant Paul Wolfowitz?

728. Well, Donald Rumsfeld said

729. when we talked about bombing the Al-Qaeda infrastructure in Afghanistan,

730. he said there were no good targets in Afghanistan.

731. "Let's bomb Iraq!"

732. And we said: "But Iraq had nothing to do with this."

733. And that didn't seem to make much difference.

734. And the reason they had to do Afghanistan first

735. was it was obvious that Al-Qaeda had attacked us

736. and it was obvious that Al-Qaeda was in Afghanistan.

737. The American people wouldn't have stood by

738. if we had done nothing on Afghanistan.

739. The United States began bombing Afghanistan

740. just four weeks after 9/11, Mr. Bush said he was doing so

741. because the Taliban government of Afghanistan

742. had been harboring Bin Laden.

743. I will smoke them out of their holes.

744. We'll smoke them out! Smoke him out!

745. Smoke him out of his cave!

746. Let's rush him and smoke him out!

747. For all this tough talk,

748. Bush really didn't do much.

749. But, what they did was slow and small.

750. They put only 11,000 troops into Afghanistan.

751. There are more police here in Manhattan,

752. more police here in Manhattan than there are U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

753. Basically the president botched the response to 9/11,

754. he should have gone after Bin Laden,

755. the U.S. Special Forces didn't get into the area

756. where Bin Laden was for two months!

757. Two months?

758. A mass murderer

759. who attacked the Unites States was given a two months head start?

760. Who in their right mind would do this?

761. Anybody say nice shot?

762. Nice shot! Hell of a shot.

763. Or was the war in Afghanistan

764. really about something else?

765. Perhaps the answer was in Houston, Texas.

766. In 1997, while George W. Bush was governor of Texas,

767. a delegation of Taliban leaders from Afghanistan

768. flew to Houston to meet with Unocal executives

769. to discuss the building of a pipeline through Afghanistan,

770. bringing natural gas from the Caspian Sea.

771. And who got a Caspian Sea drilling contract

772. the same day Unocal signed the pipeline deal?

773. A company headed by a man named Dick Cheney,

774. Halliburton.

775. From the point of view of the U.S. government,

776. this was kind of a magic pipeline,

777. um, because it could serve so many purposes.

778. And who else stood to benefit from the pipeline?

779. Bush's number one campaign contributor, Kenneth Lay,

780. and the good people of Enron.

781. Only the British press covered this trip.

782. Then in 2001, just five and a half months before 9/11,

783. the Bush administration welcomed a special Taliban envoy

784. to tour the United States to help improve the image of the Taliban government.

785. You have imprisoned the women.

786. It's a horror, let me tell you.

787. And I'm really sorry to your husband.

788. He must have a very difficult time with you.

789. Here is the Taliban official visiting

790. our State Department to meet with U.S. officials.

791. Why on Earth would the Bush administration

792. allow a Taliban leader to visit the United States,

793. knowing that the Taliban were harboring the man

794. who bombed the USS Cole

795. and our African embassies?

796. Well, I guess 9/11 put a stop to that.

797. When the invasion of Afghanistan was complete,

798. we installed its new president,

799. Hamid Karzai.

800. Who was Hamid Karzai?

801. He was a former advisor to Unocal.

802. Bush also appointed as our envoy to Afghanistan

803. Zalmay Khalilzad

804. who was also a former Unocal advisor.

805. I guess you can probably see

806. where this is leading.

807. Faster than you can say "Black Gold, Texas Tea",

808. Afghanistan signed an agreement with their neighboring countries

809. to build a pipeline through Afghanistan

810. carrying natural gas from the Caspian Sea.

811. Oh, and the Taliban?

812. Ah, they mostly got away.

813. As did Osama Bin Laden and most of Al-Qaeda.

814. Terror is bigger than one person

815. and, he's just... He's a person who's now been marginalized.

816. So I don't know where he is, nor—

817. You know I just don't spend that much time on him,

818. to even be honest with you.

819. "Didn't spend that much time on him?"

820. What kind of president was he?

821. I'm a war president.

822. I make decisions here in the Oval Office, uh,

823. in foreign policy matters, with war on my mind.

824. With the war in Afghanistan over

825. and Bin Laden, forgotten,

826. the "war president" had a new target...

827. the American people.

828. We've got an unusual terror warning from the Feds to tell you about.

829. Fox News has obtained an FBI bulletin that warns terrorists could use pen guns,

830. just like in James Bond, filled with poison, as weapons.

831. Good evening everyone, America is on high alert tonight,

832. just four days before Christmas.

833. A possible terror threat...

834. As bad as, or worse than 9/11.

835. But where? How?

836. There's nothing specific to report.

837. Be on the lookout for model airplanes

838. packed with explosives.

839. And the FBI is warning ferries may be considered particularly at risk

840. for hijacking.

841. Could these cattle be a target for terrorists?

842. - Fear works! - Fear does work, yes!

843. You can make people do anything if they're afraid.

844. And how do you make them afraid?

845. Well, you make them afraid by creating an aura of endless threat.

846. They played us like an organ.

847. They raised the... They lit the orange, and then up to red,

848. and they dropped it back to orange.

849. I mean, they gave these mixed messages, which were crazy making.

850. The world has changed after September 11th.

851. It's changed because we're no longer safe.

852. Fly and enjoy America's great destination spots.

853. We've entered what may very well prove to be

854. the most dangerous security environment the world's known.

855. Take your families and enjoy life!

856. Terrorists are doing everything they can

857. to gain even deadlier means of striking us.

858. Get down to Disney World in Florida.

859. It's like training a dog.

860. You tell him "Sit down" and you tell him to roll over at the same time,

861. dog doesn't know what to do.

862. Well, the American people were being treated like that.

863. It was really very, very skillfully and ugly what they did.

864. We must stop the terror!

865. I call upon all nations to do everything they can

866. to stop these terrorists killers.

867. Thank you.

868. Now watch this drive.

869. Alright, hit another one!

870. They will continue, in my view, as long as this administration is in charge,

871. of every once in a while stimulating everybody to be afraid.

872. Just in case you forgot.

873. It's not going to go down to green or blue.

874. It's never gonna get there.

875. There clearly is no way

876. that anyone can live constantly on edge like that.

877. The harsh reality facing American families today

878. is that they're not as safe as they used to be.

879. Drug dealers and users looking for their next fix.

880. Gangs who roam the streets in search of their next victim,

881. and the growing threat of terrorists

882. means the need for protection is ever greater.

883. And now, that protection is here.

884. Zytech Engineering, LLC has developed

885. and tested a safe room

886. finally affordable to the average American citizen.

887. The kind of protection formerly obtainable

888. only by the wealthy or powerful.

889. Heck, you can be sitting in here drinking your finest Bordeaux

890. and enjoying life while

891. chaos is erupting outside.

892. Every family in America should prepare itself

893. for a terrorist attack.

894. Now to escaping from a skyscraper, John Rivers

895. is the CEO of the Executive Chute Corporation.

896. - Good morning to you, John. - Good morning, Matt.

897. Tell me about the product you're bringing to the market.

898. It's an emergency escape chute. It's an option of last resort.

899. How high do you have to be in the building

900. for that chute to actually take effect?

901. You only have to be on the tenth floor or above

902. - They can put this on themselves? - Right.

903. They can put this on themselves in as easy as about thirty seconds.

904. It's really easy to put on.

905. You...

906. - Sorry. - It's okay.

907. Really easy to put on, but...

908. When you first get the chute, you're gonna want to put it on

909. and try it on a few times yourself.

910. Jamie's having a little trouble putting that thing on,

911. I mean, is this something that, that you honestly think

912. in a moment of panic, that someone can operate properly?

913. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it is, it's...

914. Jamie's probably never put this thing on before in her life, so...

915. It's okay, don't worry about it.

916. It's something that when you get it,

917. you're gonna want to put it on several times.

918. Well, despite the raising of the terror alert level,

919. residents here in Saginaw are continuing with their Christmas errands.

920. Frances Stroik and her family do some last minute holiday shopping

921. knowing that Al-Qaeda is planning to attack America.

922. She says being in Saginaw doesn't make her feel any safer

923. than if she was in New York City.

924. Midland is close-by.

925. And I said: "Detroit's not far, that far away",

926. I said: "there could be something",

927. and Flint could also be some, be concerns for people around here.

928. Well you, you never know where they're gonna hit.

929. One potential target specifically mentioned by the terrorists

930. has security officials baffled.

931. It's tiny Tappahannock, Virginia, population 2,016.

932. Such an attack could generate widespread fear.

933. That even here, in rural small town America,

934. no one is entirely safe.

935. Oh, on the six o'clock news,

936. there was something about a terrorist alert in Tappahannock.

937. What did the FBI tell you?

938. Well, they contacted me by phone.

939. Uh, basically to let me know about this word Tappahannock,

940. and that's how it started.

941. In their so-called chatter that they pick up,

942. they weren't sure, "Tappahannock", there's a "Rappahannock County".

943. This is the "Rappahannock River".

944. There is a Rappahannock, a place called Rappahannock,

945. and they got it mixed up.

946. This is Tappahannock, not Rappahannock.

947. Is there any terrorist target around here?

948. Not that we can really think of.

949. It can happen anywhere.

950. - We have a Walmart here. - We have a big spaghetti supper here.

951. Walmart, probably!

952. Do you feel suspicious of outsiders?

953. Oh, everybody does it.

954. It's just something that happens.

955. When I look at certain people, I wonder: "Oh, my goodness!

956. Do you think they could be a terrorist?"

957. - You never know what's gonna happen. - It's right, you never know!

958. It could happen right now.

959. Never trust nobody you don't know!

960. And even if you do know them, you really can't trust them then.

961. From Tappahannock

962. to Rappahannock,

963. to every town and village in America,

964. the people were afraid.

965. And they turned to their leader to protect them,

966. but protect them from what?

967. Meet John Ashcroft, in 2000,

968. he was running for re-election as Senator from Missouri

969. against the man who died the month before the election.

970. The voters preferred the dead guy.

971. So, George W. Bush made him his Attorney General.

972. He was sworn in on a stack of Bibles,

973. 'cause when you can't beat a dead guy, you need all the help you can get.

974. During the summer before 9/11,

975. Ashcroft told acting FBI director, Thomas Pickard,

976. that he didn't want to hear anything more about terrorist threats.

977. Mr. Watson had come to you and said that the CIA was very concerned

978. that there would be an attack.

979. You said that you told the Attorney General

980. this fact repeatedly in these meetings. Is that correct?

981. I told him

982. at least on two occasions.

983. And you told the staff,

984. according to this statement, that Mr. Ashcroft told you

985. that he did not want to hear about this anymore.

986. Is that correct?

987. That is correct.

988. His own FBI knew that summer

989. that there were Al-Qaeda members in the U.S.,

990. and that Bin Laden was sending his agents to flight schools

991. around the country.

992. But Ashcroft's Justice Department turned a blind eye and a deaf ear.

993. But after 9/11, John Ashcroft had some brilliant ideas

994. for how to protect America.

995. The U.S.A. Act adopted by Congress

996. and signed by Bush six weeks after the attacks

997. changed the way the government does business.

998. The U.S.A. PATRIOT Act allows for searches of medical

999. and financial records, computer and telephone conversations,

1000. and even for the books you take out of the library.

1001. But most of the people we spoke to

1002. say they're willing to give up some liberties to fight terrorism.

1003. Maybe that's a good thing.

1004. It's definitely sad, but it has to be done.

1005. Yes, something needed to be done.

1006. These are the good people who make up Peace Fresno.

1007. A community group in Fresno, California.

1008. Unlike the rest of us,

1009. they've received an early lesson in what the PATRIOT Act is all about.

1010. Each week they meet to discuss matters of peace!

1011. They sit around, they share stories.

1012. They eat cookies.

1013. Some have more than one.

1014. This is Aaron Stokes,

1015. a member of Peace Fresno.

1016. The other members liked him.

1017. He had come to the meetings, he went with us,

1018. we'd go out on Friday nights

1019. and stand on a very busy corner in Fresno,

1020. and he had gone with us, he had handed out flyers,

1021. he went with us in June to a W.T.O. protest.

1022. Then one day, Aaron didn't show up to the meeting.

1023. My friend Dan and I were reading the Sunday newspaper,

1024. and when I picked up the paper, in the local section,

1025. Aaron's picture caught my eye.

1026. The article said that a Sheriff's deputy had been killed

1027. and I saw it had a name that wasn't the right name.

1028. It said that he was a member of the sheriff's anti-terrorism Unit.

1029. That's right!

1030. The photo of the man in the newspaper

1031. was not the Aaron Stokes they had come to know.

1032. He was actually Deputy Aaron Kilner

1033. and he had infiltrated their group.

1034. Sheriff Pierce made it very clear that yes, in fact,

1035. Aaron Kilner was assigned to infiltrate Peace Fresno,

1036. that he was able to infiltrate organizations

1037. that are open to the public.

1038. You could understand why the police

1039. needed to spy on a group like Peace Fresno.

1040. Just look at them!

1041. A gathering of terrorists, if I ever saw one!

1042. This is Barry Reingold, a retired phone worker from Oakland, California.

1043. Barry likes to work out in the gym.

1044. Somewhere between his cardio and his strength training,

1045. Barry got political.

1046. We were up in the gym and it was after we were working out

1047. and a number of us were talking about 9/11 and Afghanistan and Bin Laden,

1048. and someone said:

1049. "Bin Laden's a real asshole for murdering those people."

1050. and I said: "Yeah that's true!

1051. But he will never be as big an asshole as Bush,

1052. who bombs all over the world for oil profits."

1053. Barry didn't have to worry about the police spying on him.

1054. His fellow weight lifters were more than willing to turn him in.

1055. I was taking a nap, and I guess it was 1:30 p.m.,

1056. two o'clock in the afternoon,

1057. and they came to my place and I said:

1058. "Well, who's there?" and they said: "The FBI."

1059. I said: "The FBI?"

1060. I mean, why are they here?

1061. Yes, the FBI had come to see Barry,

1062. and they weren't there to Jazzercize.

1063. The FBI said:

1064. "Have you been talking to people about 9/11

1065. and about Bin Laden and oil profits and Afghanistan?"

1066. I said: "A lot of people are talking about these things."

1067. And I feel my rights have been, you know, trampled on.

1068. I mean, if you have something to say to me in the gym, well, then, fine!

1069. Don't tell the FBI and they come to my apartment while I'm taking a nap.

1070. There's nothing to be ashamed of here. There is full transparency.

1071. There is nothing about the PATRIOT Act that I am ashamed of

1072. in any way, shape or form.

1073. I have a 1-800 number, call me!

1074. I'm the guy you call, if there's a violation or abuse.

1075. If you've got a poster child on this, I wanna see it, that's what I do.

1076. I'm hired by the people of the United States to provide oversight,

1077. I provide oversight.

1078. Trent Lott said the day the bill was introduced:

1079. "Maybe now we can do things we've wanted to do for the last ten years."

1080. You know, a dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier,

1081. it's no question about it.

1082. I mean, they had all this on the shelf somewhere,

1083. ideas of things they would like to do.

1084. And they got 9/11 and they said: "It's our chance! Go for it!"

1085. There was an immediate assumption on the part of the Administration

1086. that there had to be a surrender of certain of our rights.

1087. There's several definitions in the Bill that are quite troubling.

1088. First of all, the definition of "terrorist"!

1089. It's so expansive that it could include people—

1090. No one read it, that's the whole point!

1091. They wait till the middle of the night, they drop it in the middle of the night,

1092. it's printed in the middle of the night,

1093. and the next morning when we come in, it passes.

1094. Erm, how could Congress

1095. pass this PATRIOT Act without even reading it?

1096. Sit down, my son!

1097. Uh, we don't read most of the bills.

1098. Do you really know what that would entail

1099. if we were to read every bill that we pass?

1100. Uh...

1101. Well the good thing, it would slow down the legislative process.

1102. I couldn't believe that virtually no member of Congress had read

1103. the PATRIOT Act before voting on it.

1104. So I decided the only patriotic thing to do was for me

1105. to read it to them.

1106. Members of Congress, this is Michael Moore!

1107. I would like to read you the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act!

1108. Section one, section 210 of this code reads as follows!

1109. Section 2703 C.

1110. My job is to secure the homeland and that's exactly what we're going to do.

1111. But I'm here to take somebody's order.

1112. That would be you, Stretch, what would you like?

1113. - Right behind you! - I'm gonna order some ribs!

1114. We all know you can't secure the homeland on an empty stomach.

1115. And in order to remain secure, everyone needs to sacrifice.

1116. Especially little Patrick Hamilton.

1117. I'm sure each of us has our own personal airport security horror story.

1118. But here's my favorite:

1119. the terrorist threat that was posed by his mommy's breast milk.

1120. I thought if I just put a little bit on my lips, then that would be sufficient

1121. because obviously I'm tasting it.

1122. And she looked at me and I felt like she was telling me:

1123. "You need to chug that." She goes: "No, you need to drink more."

1124. And of a four ounce bottle, I wound up drinking two more ounces of breast milk

1125. that, then, because it's touched my lips, has to be tossed.

1126. While Homeland Security was making sure breast milk

1127. was kept off our planes,

1128. they were also doing everything possible

1129. to ensure no one could light a fire bomb on board.

1130. I can bring that on the plane?

1131. Actually, you can, yes, you're fine.

1132. Oops! One too many books of matches.

1133. You can have four books of matches and two lighters.

1134. When we already have the experience of Richard Reid, the shoe bomber,

1135. who would have

1136. blown up an airplane with his shoe bomb,

1137. had he had a butane lighter, according to the FBI,

1138. why would the Transportation Security Agency say it's okay

1139. to take four books of matches and two lighters in your pockets

1140. as you board an airplane?

1141. I'm guessing that somebody

1142. put pressure on them to say, you know:

1143. "When an airplane lands, people want to light up pretty quickly,

1144. so don't take their lighters away."

1145. OK, let me see if I got this straight!

1146. Old guys in the gym? Bad.

1147. Peace groups in Fresno? Bad.

1148. Breast milk? Really bad.

1149. But matches and lighters on a plane? Oh, hey, no problem!

1150. Was this really about our safety? Or was something else going on?

1151. This is where the Pacific Ocean meets the shores of Oregon,

1152. over 100 miles of beautiful open coastline on our border.

1153. And, thanks to the budget cutbacks,

1154. the total number of State police protecting it...

1155. One!

1156. Part-time.

1157. Meet trooper Brooks.

1158. I maybe get a chance to hit this stretch of highway

1159. once, maybe twice a week during my shifts.

1160. Um, you know, it's just to even drive up here and look.

1161. You know, I mean, as far as I know,

1162. somebody could... There's lot of things they could do.

1163. I don't even want to suspect, because it just makes me ill inside.

1164. Back at the State trooper patrol office,

1165. thanks to the budget cuts, trooper Kenyon had to come in on his day off to catch up

1166. on some paperwork.

1167. For the most part, especially during the summertime, when people show up,

1168. this is exactly what they get, they close the door,

1169. they can read the sign about the office closure,

1170. and, it just basically explains that, you know, due to our cutbacks,

1171. that our office is not open for administrative business.

1172. There's a little sign down at the bottom that explains when the office is closed.

1173. And that they can use the phone booth to get in touch with our dispatch.

1174. Ironically enough, that phone is a piece of junk, it doesn't work very well,

1175. so, half the time, when they pick up the phone

1176. and dispatch gets a bunch of static and they don't hear anything.

1177. For Tuesday, there'll be no troop on patrol.

1178. Wednesday, there'll be no troop on patrol.

1179. Thursday, there'll be no troop on patrol

1180. You get calls all the time, people will call in a suspicious vehicle,

1181. or somebody looking suspicious, you know...

1182. And I don't hardly ever respond to that anymore.

1183. I just don't have the time to do it.

1184. One night I asked: "How many people do we have in this state of Oregon

1185. on duty tonight?"

1186. And we had eight troopers on for the entire state of Oregon working.

1187. I think, you know, Oregon is a prime example

1188. that homeland security is not as secure as what,

1189. I think, people would like to believe.

1190. Nobody's sent me any manual that says here's how you catch a terrorist,

1191. you know, and if I had that manual, I'd read it.

1192. But I don't, so...

1193. Yeah...

1194. Of course, the Bush administration didn't hand out a manual

1195. on how to deal with the terrorist threat,

1196. because the terrorist threat wasn't what this was all about.

1197. They just wanted us to be fearful enough

1198. so that we'd get behind what their real plan was.

1199. Four minutes!

1200. Start from the top!

1201. Okay. Alright?

1202. How much time?

1203. Three minutes! Stand by!

1204. 30 seconds!

1205. Fifteen seconds!

1206. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five,

1207. four, three, two, one.

1208. My fellow citizens!

1209. At this hour,

1210. American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations

1211. to disarm Iraq, to free its people, and to defend the world from grave danger.

1212. On my orders, coalition forces have begun striking selected targets

1213. of military importance to undermine Saddam Hussein's

1214. ability to wage a war.

1215. On March 19th, 2003,

1216. George W. Bush and the United States military

1217. invaded the sovereign nation of Iraq.

1218. A nation that had never attacked the United States.

1219. A nation that had never threatened to attack the Unites States.

1220. A nation that had never murdered a single American citizen.

1221. What's this baby's crime? Was he going to fight the soldiers?

1222. Cowards! I went out with a bat and asked the soldier to hit me.

1223. I swear on the Quran. Those who don't fear death don't die.

1224. Now, we're going to find this, I think, piece of my neighbor, young girl.

1225. Age twenty, Sham's.

1226. I think is other part of her body. That's all.

1227. There is a lot of innocent civilians that were killed

1228. and I think that's because the U.S. Army,

1229. you know, we came in,

1230. and we knew it wasn't gonna be easy,

1231. and they pretty much at first, shot anything that moved.

1232. When war happens and the fighting starts,

1233. you know, it's kinda like we're pumped up and motivated and ready to go.

1234. It's the ultimate rush.

1235. 'cause you know you're going into the fight to begin with,

1236. and then you got a good song playing in the background,

1237. and that's... That gets you real fired up, ready to do the job.

1238. You can hook your CD player to the tank's internal communications system.

1239. To the Charlie box.

1240. So that way, when you put your helmet on, you can hear it through it.

1241. This is the one we listen to the most, this is the one we travel

1242. when we kill the enemy,

1243. Drowning Pool's "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor"

1244. is just fitting for the job we were doing.

1245. "The Roof is on Fire", because basically it symbolized

1246. Baghdad being on fire

1247. and at the time we wanted it to burn to get Saddam and his regime out.

1248. This is a whole totally different picture here, being pushed into

1249. the city, urban warfare in a tank, you know!

1250. Civilians!

1251. Yeah, the civilians, it gets...

1252. You don't know who's friendly, who's enemy.

1253. This was a lot more real and true than just a video game.

1254. A lot of people thought it was gonna be: "Yeah, look through the sight and shoot!"

1255. No, a lot of this is face to face, and especially riding by

1256. after the bombs that went off and seeing all the people

1257. on the side of the road bloated up, and just...

1258. all the smells around you, I mean, from the people lying dead and rotted.

1259. It's... It's a lot more gruesome than you think.

1260. We called in with some artillery and napalm and things like that.

1261. Some innocent women and children got hit.

1262. We met them on the road and they had...

1263. I mean, little girls with noses blown off

1264. and husbands carrying their dead wives and things like that.

1265. That was extremely difficult to deal with 'cause you're like:

1266. "Shoot, what the hell do we do now?"

1267. The targeting capabilities and the care that goes into targeting...

1268. ... is as impressive...

1269. as anything, anyone could see.

1270. Ah, erm... I get one! The other one!

1271. The care that goes into it, the humanity that goes into it!

1272. They have no conscience! They know nothing!

1273. They slaughtered us! They destroyed our houses!

1274. God will destroy their houses! God is great!

1275. God will destroy their houses! God is great!

1276. God is great! Victory to Iraq!

1277. Victory to Iraq! Victory to Iraq!

1278. You mean they killed civilians?

1279. Yes, civilians! It's our uncle's house!

1280. We're all civilians. There is no militia here.

1281. I pray to God to avenge us! I can only count on you, God!

1282. I can only count on you, God!

1283. We've had five funerals because of the bombings.

1284. Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God!

1285. Oh, God!

1286. God save us from them!

1287. God, where are you?

1288. Where are you?

1289. Honestly, I think we should just trust our President in every decision that he makes

1290. and we should just support that, you know,

1291. and, um, be faithful in what happens.

1292. - Do you trust this president? - Yes, I do.

1293. Britney Spears was not alone.

1294. The majority of American people trusted the president, and why shouldn't they?

1295. He had spent the better part of last year giving them every reason why

1296. we should invade Iraq.

1297. Saddam Hussein has gone to elaborate lengths, spent enormous sums,

1298. taken great risks to build and keep weapons of mass destruction.

1299. Saddam Hussein is determined to get his hands on a nuclear bomb

1300. "Nucular" weapon.

1301. Active chemical munitions bunkers,

1302. mobile production facilities.

1303. We know he's got chemical weapons.

1304. He's got them!

1305. Huh, that's weird,

1306. because that's not what Bush's people said when he first took office.

1307. He has not developed any significant capability

1308. with respect to weapons of mass destruction.

1309. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors.

1310. We are able to keep arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt.

1311. Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists

1312. including members of Al-Qaeda.

1313. There was a relationship between Iraq and Al-Qaeda.

1314. Saddam! Al-Qaeda!

1315. Saddam! Al-Qaeda!

1316. Saddam! Saddam! Al-Qaeda!

1317. It is only a matter of time

1318. before terrorist states armed with weapons of mass destruction

1319. develop the capability to deliver those weapons to U.S. cities.

1320. What we are giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence.

1321. The man who hates America.

1322. This is a man who cannot stand what we stand for.

1323. His willingness to terrorize himself!

1324. He hates the fact, like Al-Qaeda does, that we love freedom.

1325. After all, this is the guy that tried to kill my dad at one time.

1326. They simply got people to believe

1327. that there was a real threat out there, when in fact, there wasn't one.

1328. You get told things every day that don't happen,

1329. it doesn't seem to bother people.

1330. Of course, the Democrats were there

1331. to put a stop to all these falsehoods.

1332. I will vote to give the president the authority he needs.

1333. The United States is prepared to lead

1334. a coalition of the willing that will do it.

1335. When I say we will lead a coalition of the willing

1336. to disarm him if he chooses not to disarm, I mean it.

1337. Who is in that Coalition of the Willing now, are...

1338. You will find out who's in it.

1339. The Coalition of the Willing!

1340. Roll call! The Republic of Palau.

1341. The Republic of Costa Rica!

1342. The Republic of Iceland!

1343. Of course, none of these countries has an army,

1344. or for that matter, weapons,

1345. so it looked like we'd be doing most of the invading stuff ourselves.

1346. Then, there was also...

1347. Romania!

1348. The Kingdom of Morocco!

1349. Morocco wasn't officially a member of the coalition,

1350. but according to one report,

1351. they did offer to send 2,000 monkeys

1352. to help detonate landmines.

1353. These are men of vision!

1354. The Netherlands!

1355. And I'm proud, I'm proud to call them allies.

1356. Afghanistan!

1357. Afghanistan? Oh, yeah, they had an army.

1358. Our army!

1359. I guess that's one way to build a coalition.

1360. Just keep invading countries.

1361. Yes, with our mighty coalition intact,

1362. we were ready!

1363. One could almost say

1364. it's the mother of all coalitions.

1365. Fortunately, we have an independent media

1366. in this country who would tell us the truth.

1367. The rallying around the president, around the flag and around the troops

1368. clearly has begun.

1369. And we're gonna win!

1370. You have to be with the troops to understand the adrenaline they get.

1371. I just want you to know, I think Navy SEALS rock!

1372. The pictures you're seeing are absolutely phenomenal.

1373. When my country's at war, I want my country to win.

1374. Iraqi opposition has faded in the face of American power.

1375. What you're watching

1376. is truly historic television and journalism.

1377. It was absolutely electrifying,

1378. they actually had to strap me in with my camera at the back of the plane.

1379. An awesome synchronized killing machine.

1380. There is an inherent bias in the coverage of the American press in general.

1381. Am I slanted and biased? You damn well bet I am!

1382. Yeah!

1383. But one story the media wasn't covering was the personal story

1384. of each and every soldier

1385. who was killed in the war,

1386. the government would not allow any cameras

1387. to show the coffins coming home.

1388. That kind of story is a downer.

1389. Especially when you're getting ready for a party on a boat.

1390. My fellow Americans,

1391. major combat operations in Iraq have ended.

1392. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.

1393. Get out of the way!

1394. Move it! Move it!

1395. Move it! Move it! Move it!

1396. One hundred sixty-two, the number of troops killed by bombing.

1397. Two hundred and forty-four U.S. troops.

1398. Three hundred eighty-four U.S. troops have lost their lives.

1399. - Total killed, 484. - Died on the line of duty, 500.

1400. Six hundred and thirty-one American troops.

1401. More than 825 troops have been killed in Iraq.

1402. Largest number of American military deaths since Vietnam.

1403. There are some who feel like, that, uh, if they...

1404. attack us, that we may decide to leave prematurely.

1405. They don't understand what they're talking about, if that's the case. Let me finish.

1406. Um, there are some who, uh, feel like that, you know,

1407. the conditions are such that they can attack us there.

1408. My answer is: "Bring 'em on!"

1409. The United States were just planning on,

1410. just walking through here

1411. like it was going to be easy and all,

1412. it's not that easy to conquer a country, is it? Huh!

1413. The renewed battle for control of Iraq

1414. raged for a fourth day today,

1415. with street clashes in nearly every corner of the country,

1416. Iraq could become, quote, "Another Vietnam".

1417. Officials say they see evidence

1418. that Sunni and Shia extremists might be joining forces.

1419. They're not happy they're occupied.

1420. But I wouldn't be happy if I were occupied either.

1421. Two Japanese aid workers and a journalist kidnapped by men

1422. calling themselves the Mujahedeen Squadrons.

1423. They've threatened to burn their hostages alive

1424. if Japan does not withdraw its troops from Iraq within three days.

1425. What's happened?

1426. - Uh, oh! - They attacked our convoy.

1427. - Wanna give us your name? - Hamilton.

1428. Thomas!

1429. The Pentagon might keep up to 24,000 troops

1430. in combat beyond their tour.

1431. I know our numbers in the military have gone down.

1432. They talk about retention.

1433. Yeah, I never expected

1434. to be deployed this long, I don't think anybody did.

1435. I don't have any clue as to why we're still in Iraq.

1436. If Donald Rumsfeld was here, I'd ask him for his resignation.

1437. With the war not going as planned

1438. and the military in need of many more troops...

1439. where would they find the new recruits?

1440. Military experts say three times

1441. the 120,000 U.S. troops now deployed would be needed

1442. to pacify and rebuild the country.

1443. They would find them all across America

1444. in the places that had been destroyed by the economy.

1445. Places where one of the only jobs available was to join the army.

1446. Places like my hometown of Flint, Michigan.

1447. I was watching TV one day,

1448. and they showed some of the buildings and areas that had been hit by bombs

1449. and things like that, and while watching, I got to thinking,

1450. parts of Flint look like that and we ain't been in a war.

1451. Look at the neighborhood I live in!

1452. Most of them are abandoned.

1453. I mean, you know, that's not right, you want to talk about terrorism?

1454. Come right here, president Bush, right here! Come right here!

1455. He knows about this corner, I emailed him.

1456. At the end of January of '04,

1457. the unemployment rate in Flint was actually 17%,

1458. but you have to take into consideration as well

1459. that when your unemployment runs out, you're no longer counted.

1460. I would say that we're probably close to at least 50%, not working

1461. or under-employed.

1462. Because being under-employed is just as dangerous.

1463. So my family has gone through the welfare system,

1464. when it was Jobs Central, in the mid-80s,

1465. I came through the job training partnership program,

1466. here at Jobs Central,

1467. and I went to a secretary school.

1468. Years later, I'm the executive assistant to the president of the agency.

1469. Interesting!

1470. My mother used to tell me all the time that:

1471. "Why do you always go for the underdog?"

1472. It was because the underdog is who needed me.

1473. People that don't have anything, that's who I have to fight for.

1474. And that's who I have fought for my entire life.

1475. I started taking my children, and telling my children:

1476. "The military is a good option, I can't afford to have you go to college,

1477. I cannot pay your way. Financial aid will not help you."

1478. So, I, as a mother, started teaching my children

1479. about the options that the military could do.

1480. That would take them around the world, they would see all the things that I,

1481. as a mother, could not let them see, it would pay for their education

1482. that I, as their mother, and their father, could not pay for.

1483. The military's a good option for kids in Flint?

1484. Military's an excellent option for the people in the city of Flint.

1485. How many have a friend or a family member in the service?

1486. Anybody currently serving overseas?

1487. - Brother of mine. - My cousin.

1488. Yeah, a cousin.

1489. - Where is your brother? - Iraq.

1490. Germany!

1491. My cousin got shipped off to Iraq, like, three days ago.

1492. Alright!

1493. There's, like, an army or Navy recruiter or Marines recruiter

1494. up there almost every week.

1495. He's in the lunch room recruiting students from the lunch room!

1496. There are people with a calling.

1497. Most serve one weekend a month

1498. and two weeks a year.

1499. Earning money for college.

1500. Protecting their community.

1501. In the Army National Guard, you can!

1502. I'm going into the Air Force myself.

1503. I'm going to take a year off, probably after high school,

1504. and then make a career, I want to be an aircraft maintenance technician.

1505. I ran into a recruiter and, uh, there was something I noticed about it,

1506. and this is kinda on another... I noticed it was odd.

1507. It was more like he was hiring me for a job than recruiting me for the Army.

1508. It was the way he approached me,

1509. he approached a friend of mine.

1510. I was in Borders Books and Music, he just came up,

1511. he handed us a business card.

1512. They have business cards made for the Army.

1513. Meet Marine Staff Sergeant Dale Kortman

1514. and Sergeant Raymond Plouhar.

1515. They are two of the many recruiters assigned to Flint, Michigan.

1516. They're very busy these days.

1517. Look it, he's running away already.

1518. He's seen us coming.

1519. Yeah!

1520. What we got here? It's like a little gangster!

1521. Yeah!

1522. We're heading over to the Courtland mall right now.

1523. They decided not to go to the wealthier Genesee Valley mall

1524. in the suburbs, they have a hard time recruiting young people there.

1525. Instead, they went to the other mall.

1526. Let's go in through Mervyns.

1527. - In through Mervyns? - And then, we'll walk—

1528. - Straight down. - Straight back and to the lunch room or—

1529. Gents, you know we're looking at you, right?

1530. You guys ever think about joining up?

1531. I thought about going to college and playing basketball.

1532. Okay, you any good?

1533. - Yeah. - Alright!

1534. - Especially basketball. - Good! You can play ball

1535. for the Marine corps, you know, travel around the world,

1536. get on the Marine Corps basketball team.

1537. David Robinson was in the military as well.

1538. - Oh, was he? - So, yeah, you can definitely hook it up.

1539. Right now there is somebody out there who wants to be a Marine,

1540. but has no idea how to do it.

1541. - Where you work at? - I work at KFC.

1542. - Sweet! - On Dort and Lapeer.

1543. - You can hook us up with some deals! - Yes!

1544. They wait to get recruited.

1545. I don't know, I was probably gonna start to get a little career in music.

1546. Career in music?

1547. Maybe we can get you a career in music, you know, let the Marines go for it.

1548. I'm sure you know who Shaggy is, right?

1549. - Yeah! - You know anything about him?

1550. - Yeah, he Jamaican or something. - Yeah!

1551. How about a former Marine?

1552. - Huh! - Did you know it?

1553. You need to know discipline if you're gonna get into music.

1554. - Yeah, I— - Especially discipline with the money.

1555. - Right. - When you make a million, you need

1556. to manage that money, so come in the office,

1557. we can sit down and talk,

1558. show you everything we know about the Marines. Sound like a plan?

1559. What do you got going on this afternoon? How about tomorrow?

1560. We say around ten o'clock Monday morning?

1561. - Yeah, that sounds pretty good. - OK.

1562. You want me to come pick you up?

1563. Better to get them when they're ones and twos.

1564. - Hey, pal! - And work on them that way.

1565. Ladies, you're ready to join up?

1566. Green hat behind us.

1567. - Looks young. He's young. - Yeah!

1568. - Yeah. - We got two over here.

1569. - Yeah. - Right over by the red van.

1570. You go that way, I go this way, we corner him.

1571. - You're in the ninth grade? - Yes, sir!

1572. Man, you look older than ninth grade!

1573. - Yes, sir! - Alright, here's my card!

1574. You ever thought about being a Marine, man?

1575. I thought about it, I got a wife and kid now, so...

1576. Even more reason to join now.

1577. - What I want to do, man, real quick, is... - Yes, sir!

1578. Just get some information from you, so I can scratch you off my list

1579. saying I've talked to you, and you know, you're not interested.

1580. - Is that cool? - Yeah!

1581. Alright. What's your name?

1582. Your phone number? Your address, Mario?

1583. Add another one to the list.

1584. However, one would love to have that chance to experience college life

1585. you know, stuff young people can do without having the risk

1586. of dying in the process, I guess I can say candidly.

1587. The holidays do add a little bit more...

1588. friction as opposed to just another night.

1589. We want to give our guys

1590. a little bit of time off, a little bit of time to relax,

1591. however, we are in a combat zone, my soldiers do recognize that fact.

1592. Everybody's a little bit nervous about it, I guess, but...

1593. We're professionals, we're going to take care of you.

1594. I promise!

1595. Every house here has the right to have weapons.

1596. Maximum one AK47. We always expect the targets to be armed.

1597. Rock 'n' roll!

1598. They're fucking bolt cutters. He's got everything to crack doors open.

1599. Pops this in there.

1600. Hey, just hold up!

1601. No, no, no, no, where is she going?

1602. - I'll go with her. - Where is she going?

1603. She goes to call him.

1604. She's gonna call him? No, no! Just where, where is he at right now?

1605. Not on the phone. Not on the phone.

1606. Is he in the house? Is he in the house?

1607. Man, Passerelli!

1608. - Is he in the house? - Passerelli!

1609. He is! He is in the house. Where?

1610. - This is it? - Get on the second floor!

1611. - Watch out, watch out! - Go, go, go!

1612. Watch out, Adele, watch out!

1613. One coming up!

1614. That's Suheib Al Douri. Suheib Al Douri?

1615. - What's your name? - Suheib, Suheib.

1616. - This is Suheib? - Yeah!

1617. What has he done? He's just a student!

1618. Tell them to calm down! Tell them to calm down.

1619. Alright, going to the roof!

1620. You will not be harmed!

1621. We appreciate your conversation. This is the target!

1622. So he's about to bring him out!

1623. Alright, move, go!

1624. As you go back to the old saying:

1625. "Win the hearts and minds of the people."

1626. That's our job. We have to bring the...

1627. the ideal of democracy and freedom to the country

1628. and show them that the American people are not here to rule Iraq.

1629. Don't be afraid. He's not going to hit you.

1630. What did he do?

1631. Why don't you tell us? God keep you, what did he do?

1632. Hey! Tell them to be quiet.

1633. I start doing evidence turn in, that process takes about three hours, so,

1634. that's going to be it for the night and that concludes Christmas Eve.

1635. Merry Christmas, PRT, Merry Christmas! Santa came to Iraq just for you guys.

1636. Trying to keep the skies clear for you, Santa.

1637. You consider yourself a proud American?

1638. Absolutely. I'm an extremely proud American.

1639. I think I'm probably more proud than the average Joe.

1640. When I put my flag out, I can't allow it to touch the ground

1641. because I know the lives that were lost and the blood that was shed,

1642. so that I could be here and have a flag.

1643. How often do you put it out? Every single day.

1644. Every single day! I started when my daughter was in Desert Storm.

1645. I had the same flag flying on my front porch and the same yellow ribbons,

1646. praying and hoping every single day that my child would come home safe,

1647. and that everybody's child would come home safe.

1648. - And she did? - And she did!

1649. Do you have other family members that have been in the military?

1650. Absolutely. Uncles, aunts, cousins, brothers, father.

1651. - Very strong military family. - Very strong!

1652. My family was...

1653. My family is what I consider part of the backbone of America.

1654. It's families like mine, and it's not just my family,

1655. there's hundreds of families, millions of families out here,

1656. that this country was founded on their backs.

1657. I have been known to be a conservative Democrat.

1658. - Yeah, yeah. - That's what you consider yourself, yeah?

1659. - Yeah, it's a great country. - It's a great country!

1660. The cross that I choose to wear, if you notice, it's a multicultural,

1661. a multicolored cross,

1662. that's because I believe that all God's people come in many colors.

1663. And my family itself is multicultural.

1664. You have a daughter who went into the military.

1665. And your first born son, uh, in the military!

1666. That's, uh, you know, that's quite a gift to the country.

1667. - Exactly. - From your family!

1668. So, having a son in the Army, pretty proud thing.

1669. Oh, you know what? He made it!

1670. What was your reaction to protestors

1671. during, say, the Gulf War or Vietnam?

1672. I always hated the protestors. I always hated the protestors.

1673. It was just a slap in my face.

1674. It was just like...

1675. They were dishonoring my son.

1676. And I burned in my soul

1677. to tell them: "You don't understand.

1678. They're not there because they wanna be there."

1679. But then I came to understand

1680. that they weren't protesting the men and the women that were there,

1681. they were protesting the concept of the war.

1682. I know I'm a soldier and I'm here to do a job and,

1683. I've been a soldier for a while.

1684. Once you have to go and do your job and you see the things that you see...

1685. I was saying that there's some disillusionment in that.

1686. Battalion commander fully expects us

1687. to be attacked in some type of way before we get there.

1688. I know that so far it's been pretty calm,

1689. not much has happened,

1690. but, be aware that it can and it probably will.

1691. They're beginning to organize themselves, just in neighborhoods.

1692. The kids get together a lot, well, can't say "kids", but, uh...

1693. guys about 17, 18, starting to come together and they hate us.

1694. Just why? I'm not really sure.

1695. Immoral behavior breeds immoral behavior.

1696. When a president commits the immoral act

1697. of sending otherwise good kids to war, based on a lie,

1698. this is what you get.

1699. Hey, are you ticklish?

1700. Ali Baba still has a hard-on!

1701. Don't tell me! Why are you touching someone else's?

1702. He touched his dick!

1703. To have these people shoot at us, kill us, blow us up,

1704. whatever means they can, and I don't understand it,

1705. we're trying to help these people and it seems they don't want our help.

1706. "Get out of here", but the minute something goes wrong with them,

1707. "Oh, why weren't you here? Why didn't you do this?"

1708. You know, it's... I hate this country.

1709. You know, you, you...

1710. I feel that a part of your soul... is destroyed in taking another life.

1711. And, yes, that statement is very true, you...

1712. cannot kill someone without killing a part of yourself.

1713. If you get called up, would you go back to Iraq?

1714. No.

1715. - You're not? - No!

1716. What repercussions do you face, if you don't?

1717. It's possible jail time, that's one possibility.

1718. Are you willing to risk that?

1719. Yes. Yes, I...

1720. I will not let my person...

1721. I will not let anyone

1722. send me back over there to kill other poor people.

1723. especially when they pose no threat to me and my country.

1724. I won't do it.

1725. This is an impressive crowd: the haves, and the have-mores.

1726. Some people call you the elite.

1727. I call you my base.

1728. While Bush was busy taking care of his base

1729. and professing his love for our troops,

1730. he proposed cutting combat soldiers' pay by 33%.

1731. And assistance to their families by 60%.

1732. He opposed giving veterans a billion dollars more

1733. in healthcare benefits.

1734. And he supported closing veteran hospitals.

1735. He tried to double the prescription drug costs for veterans

1736. and opposed full benefits for part-time reservists.

1737. And when staff Sergeant Brett Petriken from Flint was killed in Iraq on May 26,

1738. the Army sent his last paycheck to his family,

1739. but they docked him for the last five days of the month that he didn't work

1740. because he was dead.

1741. They say they're not going to leave any veteran behind, but they're leaving

1742. all kinds of veterans behind.

1743. To say that we're forgotten, no, I know we're not forgotten, but missed?

1744. Yes. Yes. You know, there are a lot of soldiers that have been missed,

1745. that have been skipped over,

1746. that didn't get the proper coverage that they deserved.

1747. They have a death toll, but they're not showing the amount of people

1748. that have been injured or are amputated because of their injuries, you know.

1749. - Like, I still feel like I have hands. - Yeah!

1750. And the pain is like, my hands are being crushed in a vice.

1751. But they do a lot to help it, and they take a lot of the edge off it,

1752. and it makes it a lot more tolerable and...

1753. I was injured in late April, on patrol in Baghdad.

1754. Um... a couple of guys came out.

1755. Ambushed us.

1756. I've got nerve damage and stuff like that, and I've got a lot of pain,

1757. I'm constantly in pain.

1758. Um, I take a lot of morphine to help with that stuff.

1759. I'm doing... you know, just readjusting,

1760. getting life back on track.

1761. You know what I'm saying?

1762. Yes. I'm not gonna do what it is that I did before.

1763. Um, I... I was a Republican for quite a few years.

1764. And, um...

1765. For some reason, they...

1766. They conduct business in a very dishonest way.

1767. I'm gonna be incredibly active

1768. in the Democratic party down where I live once I get out.

1769. So, I'm gonna definitely do my best to ensure that the Democrats win control.

1770. Iraq, Baghdad, I didn't know anything of those things.

1771. And we were in the hallway in the upstairs of our house,

1772. and he was crying,

1773. he said that he was really scared and he didn't want to have to go to Iraq.

1774. We were able to have a whole conversation about sometimes some fear is healthy,

1775. because it keeps our senses about us.

1776. And that's when he told me that he had not told anybody else but he knew

1777. he was going to Baghdad.

1778. As everybody, we were glued to the TV.

1779. Just glued, completely glued to the television,

1780. in hopes of seeing a glimpse of him.

1781. "Can't you please go to where the helicopters are,

1782. can't you please let us see him?"

1783. Then, that night, it was about ten something,

1784. I went upstairs to the bedroom,

1785. I was lying in bed and I was flipping the channels, all I heard was:

1786. "Black Hawk down, South Central Iraq."

1787. All I can tell you at this hour is that last night the Army did indeed lose

1788. a Black Hawk helicopter.

1789. We are being told by officers on the ground

1790. that there were six occupants inside the Black Hawk.

1791. The next morning, I got up and I said:

1792. "You push those thoughts out of your mind!

1793. OK Jesus, I need you to come in,

1794. I need you Jesus, you gotta help me through this!"

1795. The army called me,

1796. I remember getting on the phone and him asking me if I was Lila Lipscomb.

1797. I said yes and he said: "Mother of Sergeant Michael Pedersen?"

1798. And I remember dropping the telephone.

1799. And all I can honestly say that I remember is:

1800. "Ma'am!

1801. The United States Army, the Secretary of Defense regretfully informs you..."

1802. That's all I know.

1803. The grief grabbed me so hard

1804. that I literally fell on the floor.

1805. And I was alone, I didn't have anybody to pick me up.

1806. So I literally crawled over to my desk,

1807. and was hanging on, and I remember screaming:

1808. "Why does it have to be Michael? Why did you have to take my son?

1809. Why is it my son that you had to take? He didn't do anything!

1810. He wasn't a bad guy, he was a good guy, why did you have to take my son?"

1811. Uh, I, erm...

1812. I can't imagine what it must be like to lose a son or a daughter,

1813. or a husband or a wife, and I... it pains me.

1814. You have his last letter?

1815. And it was mailed March 16th

1816. but I didn't get it until about a week before he was killed.

1817. "Hello. Hey mama, well, sorry I haven't been able to call,

1818. they took the phones seven days ago, I got the letter and box,

1819. that is so cool, your first grandson came...

1820. the same day your oldest son did.

1821. How is everyone? I'm doing fine.

1822. We are just out here in the sand and windstorms, waiting.

1823. What in the world is wrong with George 'trying to be like his dad' Bush?

1824. He got us out here for nothing whatsoever.

1825. I am so furious right now, Mama.

1826. I really hope they do not re-elect that fool, honestly.

1827. I am in good spirits and I am doing OK.

1828. I really miss you guys.

1829. Thanks for the Bible...

1830. and books, and candy.

1831. I really look forward to letters from you guys.

1832. Well, tell all the family hello

1833. and that I am doing fine.

1834. We don't expect anything to happen any time soon.

1835. I cannot wait to get home and get back to my life.

1836. Tell Sputnik congrats.

1837. And I'll see my first nephew soon,

1838. as soon as I get back to the States.

1839. Hope you guys are doing OK

1840. and keep sending the mail.

1841. It makes getting through the days easier.

1842. Well, I am on my way to bed, so I will write you guys soon.

1843. I love and miss all of you guys."

1844. "Love, Michael."

1845. I want him to be alive,

1846. and I can't make him alive.

1847. But your flesh just aches.

1848. You want your child, it's out of sync.

1849. A parent is not supposed to bury their child.

1850. I feel, I... I... I feel sad for my family

1851. because we lost our son.

1852. But...

1853. I really feel sorry for the other families

1854. that is losing their kids as we speak.

1855. And for what?

1856. I don't...

1857. That's the, I guess, sickening part. For what?

1858. You've heard a lot about Halliburton lately.

1859. Criticism is okay. We can take it. Criticism is not failure.

1860. Our employees are doing a great job.

1861. We're feeding the soldiers, we're rebuilding Iraq.

1862. Will things go wrong? Sure they will, it's a war zone.

1863. We're serving the troops because of what we know,

1864. not who we know.

1865. Well, let me tell you about Halliburton, the company I ran.

1866. I'm very proud of what I did at Halliburton,

1867. the people of Halliburton are very proud of what they've accomplished

1868. and I frankly

1869. don't feel any need to apologize for the way I've spent my time

1870. over the last five years as the C.E.O. and Chairman

1871. of a major American corporation, a good one.

1872. This is also an attempt to divert attention away from the fact

1873. they have no energy policy.

1874. And as the Secretary of Energy said, we were caught unawares!

1875. In the middle of the war, Microsoft,

1876. DHL and other corporations invited Halliburton

1877. to a conference

1878. to figure out how much money could be made in Iraq.

1879. Having worked

1880. this, uh... effort even since before the invasion,

1881. the, uh, liberation of Iraq started.

1882. You, industry, are definitely a vital part of that effort.

1883. We appreciate your interest in this. We need you.

1884. Now, lots of you are small businesses and you are struggling.

1885. How do we get a piece of this big action?

1886. All of you, the big guys, are going to get it and the rest of us

1887. that have subcontracting capability, or no, none at all.

1888. U.S.T.V.A. is for you.

1889. Once that oil start flowing and money coming,

1890. it's going to be lots of money,

1891. it's the second largest oil reserve in the world.

1892. There's no question about how much money is there.

1893. I've been getting complaints from Iraqi firms and from American firms,

1894. that the lack of transparency, the corruption...

1895. I think the profits that American companies are making,

1896. the majors, the main companies,

1897. are so overwhelming,

1898. I mean, like when you have a line item for a million dollars

1899. and you subcontract it out for 50 or 60 or 70 thousand dollars,

1900. that's a huge profit,

1901. and it's the American taxpayer that's going to pay for that.

1902. And it's going to get better!

1903. Start building relationships because it's going to get much better

1904. as the oil flows and their budget increase.

1905. The good news is, whatever it costs, the government will pay you.

1906. War is always good for certain companies

1907. that are in the war, the business of war.

1908. We're very proud of the work we're doing in supporting the U.S. government

1909. and the U.S. military,

1910. and the real heroes of the campaign, the real heroes of the reconstruction,

1911. are the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces,

1912. and we're proud of being any part of that that we can in supporting them.

1913. Halliburton delivers hot meals, supplies,

1914. clean clothing and communications to our soldiers.

1915. So they can be a little closer to home.

1916. It's a girl? It's a girl!

1917. Proud to serve our troops.

1918. I just read in the paper how Halliburton got another contract.

1919. - Halliburton got another contract! - That's right!

1920. Which is not being...

1921. contested at all!

1922. Because nobody knows!

1923. Well, it's in the papers, so somebody knows!

1924. But that's after it happens, it's after the fact, it's too late.

1925. The United States is now a major player in the Iraqi oil business.

1926. American troops guard the oil fields

1927. as Texas oil workers assess their potential.

1928. It's a safe environment to work in.

1929. We don't feel any risk, we feel we're being well protected here,

1930. or we wouldn't be here.

1931. It's no secret, I mean, I make, between 2,000 and 3,000 a month.

1932. A Halliburton employee out here driving a bus

1933. can make all between 8,000 and 10,000 a month,

1934. explain that one to me, for 40 hours a week,

1935. driving the same two and a half mile route.

1936. Go figure! Where do you... Where's the justification in that?

1937. There's no other single area of the world today

1938. with the opportunity for business, new business,

1939. similar to the opportunity that's available today in Iraq.

1940. The president went in and did what he did

1941. and we're all supporting him and our troops

1942. and we wanna make sure that the efforts and the lost lives and...

1943. It wasn't for no reason.

1944. If it wasn't for the oil, no one would be there.

1945. Nobody would worry about it.

1946. Unfortunately, at least for the near term,

1947. we think it's going to be a good situation and a dangerous situation.

1948. Good for business, bad for the people.

1949. Today, on the news, Rumsfeld was saying...

1950. And Wolf? Wolfowitz!

1951. They were saying: "Oh, the Iraqi people are much, much better off.

1952. Isn't it better that we got rid of Saddam

1953. and now the Iraqi people can do what they want to do

1954. and really be free?"

1955. Will they ever be free? No, they'll not be free.

1956. And where are the weapons of mass destruction?

1957. It was a... We were duped. We were really duped.

1958. And these poor people, the young men and women who are being killed there,

1959. it's unnecessary. I... That's it!

1960. - No more. - That's a disgrace.

1961. They died in a just cause for defending freedom

1962. and they will not have died in vain.

1963. Lila had called to tell me

1964. that she was coming down from Flint to Washington, D.C.

1965. to attend a job's conference.

1966. On her break, she said she was going to go and pay a visit

1967. to the White House.

1968. Killed! Bush killed children!

1969. - Iraqi children! - My son killed.

1970. He killed my people in the Spain yesterday.

1971. - Yes! - He lies, kill people, your children too.

1972. - Yes, my son. - Business to do Iraq now.

1973. And they killing all these young Americans.

1974. - Yes. - For what? For oil.

1975. Bush is a terrorist!

1976. No, he isn't, this is all staged!

1977. - Yes, he's the butcher of Iraq. - This is staged.

1978. My son!

1979. Where was he killed?

1980. You tell me my son is not a stage?

1981. - Where was he killed? - He was killed in Karbala.

1982. April second, it's not a stage, my son is dead.

1983. Well, a lot of other people too.

1984. Blame Al-Qaeda!

1985. What did that woman yell at you?

1986. That I'm supposed to blame the Al-Qaeda.

1987. The Al-Qaeda didn't make a decision to send my son to Iraq.

1988. Ignorance that we deal with with everyday people!

1989. 'Cause they don't know.

1990. People think they know, but you don't know,

1991. I thought I knew, but I didn't know.

1992. I need my son!

1993. God, it's tougher than I thought it was gonna be to be here.

1994. But it's freeing also, because I finally have a place to...

1995. to put all my pain, all my anger!

1996. And to release it!

1997. I guess I was tired of seeing people like Lila Lipscomb suffer.

1998. Especially when, out of the 535 members of Congress,

1999. only one had an enlisted son in Iraq.

2000. I asked Corporal Henderson of the United States Marine Corps

2001. to join me on Capitol Hill

2002. to see how many members of Congress we could convince

2003. to enlist their children to go to Iraq.

2004. Congressman, I'm Michael Moore.

2005. Hey Michael, how are you doing? I'm good, John Tanner.

2006. Yeah, nice to meet you, very nice to meet you.

2007. - What are you doing? - Well, I'm here with Cpl. Henderson.

2008. - U.S. Marine Corps. - Corporal, I was in the Navy years ago.

2009. - Okay, Sir! - 1968 to 72.

2010. We had Marines guarding the base.

2011. You have kids? Yeah.

2012. Is here anyway we can get them to enlist and go over and help out with the effort?

2013. I have all the brochures.

2014. One of them got two children.

2015. Oh, oh, well!

2016. See, there's not that many Congressmen that've got kids over there.

2017. And in fact, only one.

2018. So we just thought maybe you guys should send your kids there first.

2019. What do you think about that idea?

2020. - I don't disagree with you. - Oh, you don't?

2021. Oh good, well, here, take some brochures then, here.

2022. At least take a Marine brochure, and pass it around.

2023. Yeah!

2024. Encourage fellow members, if they're for the war, to get behind it,

2025. and send their own!

2026. - Thank you, Mike. - Thank you, Sir, thank you very much.

2027. Congressman! Michael Moore.

2028. - How are you doing? - Good, good!

2029. I'm trying to get members of Congress to get their kids to enlist in the Army

2030. and go over to Iraq.

2031. Congressman! Congressman!

2032. Congressman Castle! Congressman Castle!

2033. Congressman! Congressman!

2034. - Congressman Doolittle, Michael Moore! - Ah, no, no, no!

2035. I'm wondering if...

2036. Is there any way that...

2037. Uh!

2038. Of course, not a single member of Congress wanted to sacrifice their child

2039. for the war in Iraq.

2040. And who could blame them?

2041. Who would want to give up their child. Would you?

2042. Would he?

2043. I've always been amazed that the very people

2044. forced to live in the worst parts of town, go to the worst schools

2045. and who have it the hardest,

2046. are always the first to step up to defend that very system.

2047. They serve so that we don't have to.

2048. They offer to give up their lives

2049. so that we can be free.

2050. It is remarkable, their gift to us.

2051. And all they ask for in return,

2052. is that we never send them into harm's way.

2053. Unless it's absolutely necessary.

2054. Will they ever trust us again?

2055. He had used weapons.

2056. We know where they are,

2057. they're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad,

2058. and East, West, South, and North.

2059. There is a tie between Iraq and what happened on 9/11.

2060. The struggle can only end with their complete and permanent destruction.

2061. We waged a war to save a civilization itself.

2062. We did not seek it,

2063. but we will fight it, and we will prevail.

2064. George Orwell once wrote

2065. that it's not a matter of whether the war is not real or if it is.

2066. Victory is not possible.

2067. The war is not meant to be won.

2068. It is meant to be continuous.

2069. A hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance.

2070. This new version is the past

2071. and no different past can ever have existed.

2072. In principle, the war effort

2073. is always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation.

2074. The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects,

2075. and its object is not the victory

2076. over either Eurasia or East Asia,

2077. but to keep the very structure of society intact.

2078. There's an old saying in Tennessee,

2079. I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee,

2080. that says: "Fool me once...

2081. shame on...

2082. shame on you!

2083. Fool me, you can't get fooled again."

2084. For once, we agreed.