[Reader-list] Michael Moore on "terrorism"

Mon Sep 17 14:46:15 IST 2001

Hi everyone,

this is an open letter written by Michael Moore  on the current situation 
after the WTC attack. Moore  is the director of a number of documentary 
films including the well known "ROGER AND ME" on the life of GM workers in 
Detroit. Read on....

Ranjani

From: Michael Moore

To: michaelmoore-l at cloud9.net

Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 6:10 AM

Subject: [Mike's Message] Death, Downtown

Death, Downtown

Dear friends,

I was supposed to fly today on the 4:30 PM American Airlines flight from

LAX to JFK. But tonight I find myself stuck in L.A. with an incredible

range of emotions over what has happened on the island where I work and

live in New York City.

My wife and I spent the first hours of the day -- after being awakened by

phone calls from our parents at 6:40am PT -- trying to contact our daughter

at school in New York and our friend JoAnn who works near the World Trade

Center.

I called JoAnn at her office. As someone picked up, the first tower

imploded, and the person answering the phone screamed and ran out, leaving

me no clue as to whether or not she or JoAnn would live.

It was a sick, horrible, frightening day.

On December 27, 1985 I found myself caught in the middle of a terrorist

incident at the Vienna airport -- which left 30 people dead, both there and

at the Rome airport. (The machine-gunning of passengers in each city was

timed to occur at the same moment.)

I do not feel like discussing that event tonight because it still brings up

too much despair and confusion as to how and why I got to live. a fluke, a

mistake, a few feet on the tarmac, and I am still here, there but for the

grace of.

Safe. Secure. I'm an American, living in America. I like my illusions. I

walk through a metal detector, I put my carry-ons through an x-ray machine,

and I know all will be well.

Here's a short list of my experiences lately with airport security:

* At the Newark Airport, the plane is late at boarding everyone. The

counter can't find my seat. So I am told to just "go ahead and get on" --

without a ticket!

* At Detroit Metro Airport, I don't want to put the lunch I just bought at

the deli through the x-ray machine so, as I pass through the metal

detector, I hand the sack to the guard through the space between the

detector and the x-ray machine. I tell him "It's just a sandwich." He

believes me and doesn't bother to check. The sack has gone through neither

security device.

* At LaGuardia in New York, I check a piece of luggage, but decide to catch

a later plane. The first plane leaves without me, but with my bag -- no one

knowing what is in it.

* Back in Detroit, I take my time getting off the commuter plane. By the

time I have come down its stairs, the bus that takes the passengers to the

terminal has left -- without me. I am alone on the tarmac, free to wander

wherever I want. So I do. Eventually, I flag down a pick-up truck and an

airplane mechanic gives me a ride the rest of the way to the terminal.

* I have brought knives, razors; and once, my traveling companion brought a

hammer and chisel. No one stopped us.

Of course, I have gotten away with all of this because the airlines

consider my safety SO important, they pay rent-a-cops $5.75 an hour to make

sure the bad guys don't get on my plane. That is what my life is worth --

less than the cost of an oil change.

Too harsh, you say? Well, chew on this: a first-year pilot on American

Eagle (the commuter arm of American Airlines) receives around $15,000 a

year in annual pay.

That's right -- $15,000 for the person who has your life in his hands.

Until recently, Continental Express paid a little over $13,000 a year.

There was one guy, an American Eagle pilot, who had four kids so he went

down to the welfare office and applied for food stamps -- and he was eligible!

Someone on welfare is flying my plane? Is this for real? Yes, it is.

So spare me the talk about all the precautions the airlines and the FAA is

taking. They, like all businesses, are concerned about one thing -- the

bottom line and the profit margin.

Four teams of 3-5 people were all able to penetrate airport security on the

same morning at 3 different airports and pull off this heinous act? My only

response is -- that's all?

Well, the pundits are in full diarrhea mode, gushing on about the

"terrorist threat" and today's scariest dude on planet earth -- Osama bin

Laden. Hey, who knows, maybe he did it. But, something just doesn't add up.

Am I being asked to believe that this guy who sleeps in a tent in a desert

has been training pilots to fly our most modern, sophisticated jumbo jets

with such pinpoint accuracy that they are able to hit these three targets

without anyone wondering why these planes were so far off path?

Or am I being asked to believe that there were four religious/political

fanatics who JUST HAPPENED to be skilled airline pilots who JUST HAPPENED

to want to kill themselves today?

Maybe you can find one jumbo jet pilot willing to die for the cause -- but

FOUR? Ok, maybe you can -- I don't know.

What I do know is that all day long I have heard everything about this bin

Laden guy except this one fact -- WE created the monster known as Osama bin

Laden!

Where did he go to terrorist school? At the CIA!

Don't take my word for it -- I saw a piece on MSNBC last year that laid it

all out. When the Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan, the CIA trained him

and his buddies in how to commits acts of terrorism against the Soviet

forces. It worked! The Soviets turned and ran. Bin Laden was grateful for

what we taught him and thought it might be fun to use those same techniques

against us.

We abhor terrorism -- unless we're the ones doing the terrorizing.

We paid and trained and armed a group of terrorists in Nicaragua in the

1980s who killed over 30,000 civilians. That was OUR work. You and me.

Thirty thousand murdered civilians and who the hell even remembers!

We fund a lot of oppressive regimes that have killed a lot of innocent

people, and we never let the human suffering THAT causes to interrupt our

day one single bit.

We have orphaned so many children, tens of thousands around the world, with

our taxpayer-funded terrorism (in Chile, in Vietnam, in Gaza, in Salvador)

that I suppose we shouldn't be too surprised when those orphans grow up and

are a little whacked in the head from the horror we have helped cause.

Yet, our recent domestic terrorism bombings have not been conducted by a

guy from the desert but rather by our own citizens: a couple of ex-military

guys who hated the federal government.

  From the first minutes of today's events, I never heard that possibility

suggested. Why is that?

Maybe it's because the A-rabs are much better foils. A key ingredient in

getting Americans whipped into a frenzy against a new enemy is the

all-important race card. It's much easier to get us to hate when the object

of our hatred doesn't look like us.

Congressmen and Senators spent the day calling for more money for the

military; one Senator on CNN even said he didn't want to hear any more talk

about more money for education or health care -- we should have only one

priority: our self-defense.

Will we ever get to the point that we realize we will be more secure when

the rest of the world isn't living in poverty so we can have nice running

shoes?

In just 8 months, Bush gets the whole world back to hating us again. He

withdraws from the Kyoto agreement, walks us out of the Durban conference

on racism, insists on restarting the arms race -- you name it, and Baby

Bush has blown it all.

The Senators and Congressmen tonight broke out in a spontaneous version of

"God Bless America." They're not a bad group of singers!

Yes, God, please do bless us.

Many families have been devastated tonight. This just is not right. They

did not deserve to die. If someone did this to get back at Bush, then they

did so by killing thousands of people who DID NOT VOTE for him! Boston, New

York, DC, and the planes' destination of California -- these were places

that voted AGAINST Bush!

Why kill them? Why kill anyone? Such insanity.

Let's mourn, let's grieve, and when it's appropriate let's examine our

contribution to the unsafe world we live in.

It doesn't have to be like this.

Yours,

Michael Moore

mmflint at aol.com

9/13/01

Across America Tonight ...

Dear Friends,

I am on the road tonight, the only way to get out of L.A. and back home to

our daughter and our friends in New York City. Oddly enough, I have never

driven across this vast country. My wife and I have now stopped in

Flagstaff for a few hours sleep before moving on.

The sorrow and anger builds across America. Talk radio tonight was filled

with calls for carpet-bombing every Arab country. Many want revenge, blood.

But a surprising number of people have called for us to not add to the

killing of more innocent humans. The rest stops and the convenience stores

along the way were filled with quiet, solemn people, many of whom, like us,

can get home no other way than by this four-day trip.

Our daughter is fine, mostly frightened by my desire to fly home to her

rather than drive. Once again, I was outvoted 2 to 1. This is nothing new.

We have learned of more people we know who have lost their lives. Bill

Weems, who worked as a line producer for us this year, was on the flight

from Boston that crashed into the World Trade Center. He was such a sweet

and decent soul. Such senseless madness.

The children of New York who are orphaned tonight ... what do we say or do?

I will do my part -- anything, something -- as soon as I get to New York.

But it will never be enough.

The firefighters of New York: they are on every other block, every day, and

they are your best neighbors. Sitting out on the sidewalks in front of the

fire stations, a good word and a kind smile to all who pass ... now, 350+

of them gone, having risked their lives to save the victims of a carnage

they soon became part of.

A good friend from Flint is a clerical worker at the Pentagon. I have heard

no word about her condition. I have tried contacting her family to no

avail. Her son, Malcolm, worked on our show. I cannot find him. I keep

getting tears in my eyes. Once she gave me a tour of the Pentagon, took me

everywhere, and got such a kick out of taking me around this building I

used to march on. Will our mutual friends who know Barbara, and know how

she is, please write me? Please.

The man who occupies the White House cried today. Good. Keep crying, Mr.

Bush. The more you cry, the less you will go to that dark side in all

humans where anger rages to a point where we want to blindly kill. Your

dad's and Reagan's old cronies -- Eagleberger, Baker, Schultz -- are all

calling for you to bomb first and ask questions later. You must NOT do

this. If only because you do not want to stoop to these mass murderers'

level. Yes, find out who did it. Yes, see that they NEVER do it again.

But GET A GRIP, man. "Declare war?" War against whom? One guy in the desert

whom we can never seem to find? Are our leaders telling us that the most

powerful country on earth cannot dispose of one sick evil f---wad of a guy?

Because if that is what you are telling us, then we are truly screwed. If

you are unable to take out this lone ZZ Top wannabe, what on earth would

you do for us if we were attacked by a nation of millions? For chrissakes,

call the Israelis and have them do that thing they do when they want to get

their man! We pay them enough billions each year, I am SURE they would be

happy to accommodate your request.

But I beg you, Mr. Bush, stay with the tears. Go today to comfort the

wounded of New York. Tell the mayor, a guy most of us have not liked, that

he is doing an incredible job, keeping the spirits of everyone up as high

as they can be at this moment. Being there for a city I believe he loves,

his own cancer still with him, he goes beyond the call of duty.

But do not declare war and massacre more innocents. After bin Laden's

previous act of terror, our last elected president went and bombed what he

said was "bin Laden's camp" in Afghanistan -- but instead just killed

civilians. Then he bombed a factory in the Sudan, saying it was "making

chemical weapons." It turned out to be making aspirin. Innocent people

murdered by our Air Force.

Back in May, you gave the Taliban in Afghanistan $48 million dollars of our

tax money. No free nation on earth would give them a cent, but you gave

them a gift of $48 million because they said they had "banned all drugs."

Because your drug war was more important than the actual war the Taliban

had inflicted on its own people, you helped to fund the regime who had

given refuge to the very man you now say is responsible for killing my

friend on that plane and for killing the friends of families of thousands

and thousands of people. How dare you talk about more killing now! Shame!

Shame! Shame! Explain your actions in support of the Taliban! Tell us why

your father and his partner Mr. Reagan trained Mr. bin Laden in how to be a

terrorist!

Am I angry? You bet I am. I am an American citizen, and my leaders have

taken my money to fund mass murder. And now my friends have paid the price

with their lives.

Keep crying, Mr. Bush. Keep running to Omaha or wherever it is you go while

others die, just as you ran during Vietnam while claiming to be "on duty"

in the Air National Guard. Nine boys from my high school died in that

miserable war. And now you are asking for "unity" so you can start another

one? Do not insult me or my country like this!

Yes, I, too, will be in church at noon today, on this national day of

mourning. I will pray for you, and us, and the children of New York, and

the children of this sad and ugly world ...

Yours,

Michael Moore

mmlfint at aol.com

www.michaelmoore.com