Towards the end of this fine documentary film Mr. Moore goes to the US capitol area to ask the senators if any one of them would enlist their children in the military. Some said NO, some just sighed away and some even walked away in an apparent bid to evade controversial Moore. 

He says that it is just one senator in the 500 and odd US senators that have one of their children enlisted in the military. 

Such is the patriotism of the US senators! No one wants their children’s life to be put at risk. Mr. Moore says that it is always the ones who does not have much means or top education who enlist in the Military. It is them who prepare themselves to the eventuality of war. It is those people who die when we enjoy the freedom they hand out to us. He says that the least we must do to help them is send them to war when there is no way out. Only when war is inevitable! 

In the film he has succeeded in portraying the clear grounds for refraining from having gone to war with Iraq. Hence he says that lives lost of the helpless soldiers who went heeding their orders were lost in vain. Number of them who died now stands more than 900. He mocks the Bush govt. of the WMD and all the many other reasons given for war. They tried to create an impression in the peoples mind by repeatedly saying Al Queda and Iraq to establish a mental connection while none existed. In the film this is made glaringly clear. 

Today commission after commission are coming out and describes “intelligence failure” and administrations false conclusions both in the US and UK. Administrations are changing their lines of argument in front of the public. Force of their arguments and some arguments itself has been taken off the table. 

There was so much talk about the “Fahrenheit 9/11” that I could not keep myself from going for it. However I was not sorry that I did. It was an extraordinary documentary. I don’t think even a good action film would have made this kind of an impact on me. Some people might argue it is heavily one sided but what is there on the other side that has been good to show? 

Film started with the US presidential election that went onto the Supreme Court to decide the next president. Finally the court ruled that the next president is Mr. Bush. Fact is that the court was overwhelmingly republicans and film says bush family’s friends and relatives!  However according to the documentary Mr. Bush went on with the first 8 months in office vacationing most of the time. He says “according to the Washington post”, bush was vacationing 43% of this time. Then came the September 11^th! 

Bush was at an elementary school when the planes hit the WTC. Film present Mr. Bush’s expressions when he was told of the incident. First 7 minutes or so passed after the attack with Mr. Bush doing almost nothing. Mr. Moore says “he must have been waiting for somebody to tell him what to do”. 

Mr. Moore explains elaborately about the flights taken off from US soil after every plane was grounded by the FAA to evacuate the Bin Laden families out of the US so that they would not be attacked by anyone. In the film this incident is compared with Mr. Clinton evacuating the Oklahoma bombers family after the Oklahoma bombing so that they would be safe. 

Film also talks elaborately about the business interests of the Bush family and other top administration officials like Mr. Dick Cheney. In the end Mr. Bush looks like a fool to the average person and I think that feeling is full of truth given what has happened in the past few years. 

He mocks the current coalition of the willing; saying it included Iceland, Costarica which had hardly any military and Afghanistan which had the US military. He shows the conditions of the military men in various US hospitals, he says Bush has only reduced the Military’s pay; he talks about the coffins of the dead solders not being shown to the public. He did not touch the prison torture in detail; probably the only thing that he left out. 

I remember having learned about Abraham Lincoln in school. I used to wonder how he rose to the position of the president of the US considering his difficult childhood when he read and learned sometimes from the street light. 

There is an involuntary comparison with the goings on in India that I normally can’t avoid although Mr. Moore did not have anything to do with India in his film. I know of Indian president great Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister great Manmohan Singh who have fine minds and enjoy the respect and love of the people.  

Mr. Moore says they (Bush team) now rule by instilling fear into people’s minds by constantly talking of terror and terrorists and by stepping up and stepping down the terrorism threat graph! Rulers who must enjoy the love and respect of their fellow citizens have stooped to a level much lower and seeks their support through the talk of terrorists and terrorism! Where is all the bravery gone? Should I be telling myself to live in fear or to live fearlessly? This however mildly, resembles what Advani has been doing in India in the past when he was in power; talking all the while about terrorism and nothing else.  

Of-course there is terrorism! But is that what stops us from enjoying our lives? Then, what about the population, corruption, and self serving politicians; in the case of India? What about the 90 hapless children who were charred to death in Tamil Nadu recently? It is a corruption of the system. The whole machinery which was supposed to have approved the school for education is at fault. Whether it is Bush or those who rule our country, rulers are a peculiar class. They breed more problems than they solve! It seems Pakistanis welcomed Indians with much fervor during the last cricket match there. Not only the team, but even the people who went from India to watch the match were received with passion. It seemed that Indians are special to them! What about our leaders? Will they talk to each other if met face to face?

By T. P. Gopinath.
( Writer is an IT professional residing in Dubai, UAE. )
Please send your comments on this article to e-mail gopi@calicutnet.com )