Counterpunch: Why Iraqi Detainees Should Sue Michael Moore

[Columbia]

http://www.counterpunch.org/wolff06162004.html

Why Iraqi Detainees Should Sue Michael Moore
By DANIEL WOLFF

Last week, filmmaker Michael Moore admitted that he withheld footage documenting the abuse of Iraqi detainees by US troops. He explained his bizarre decision this way: "I wanted to come out with it sooner, but I thought I'd be accused of just putting this out for publicity for my movie. That prevented me from making maybe the right decision.''

I'd like to make a stab at translating Michael Moore's statement back into English:

"I wanted to release the information that U.S. soldiers were abusing Iraqi prisoners, thus, potentially, creating enough stir to stop the practice, save lives and reveal the inhumanity that is at the core of this war. In fact, when people more courageous than I did release this information, it went a long way to undermining the war and the Bush administration I profess to be against. I wanted to release the torture footage, but I thought that if I did, I would be accused of drawing attention to myself and my movie (which, like all my others, is based on drawing attention to myself).

"Instead, I withheld the evidence, allowing the torture to go on undetected.

"Then, I created a stir of publicity for myself and my movie by going public on Disney's refusal to distribute the film. I accused Disney of being more concerned with its image than in getting the truth out although, geesh, as I think about it, that was kind of my thinking when I withheld the information about torture going on. But I liked creating publicity for myself and my movie when it seemed to be me against the big corporation, and I didn't like the idea of publicity when it was me against the ... err... war.

<Continued...>

[rumguy]

1. And Counterpunch strikes again...

[buycitgo]

2. really......suck ass Alex etal

and isn't this another puff piece?

[rumguy]

3. your post is a puff piece

:puffpiece:

[buycitgo]

5. your puff post is a piece of

puff

see?

[rumguy]

7. I'm gonna call it like I see it

:puffpiece: :puffpiece: :puffpiece: :puffpiece: :puffpiece: :puffpiece: :puffpiece:

[buycitgo]

15. see? si!

I can't get those things to work

[Cheswick2.0]

30. You have to do this :puffpiece:

are you forgetting the :'s?

:puffpiece:

[MAlibdem]

4. i don't necessarily agree...

I think letting the mainstream media break the story was more effective than letting an anti-war partisan break it could have been.

[rocktivity]

6. The detainees should also sue CBS

for agreeing to sit on their story about the Abu Ghrab photos. Too bad they ended up on the Internet somehow...

:headbang:
rocknation

[Eric J in MN]

12. The story began with Sy Hersh of The New Yorker, and from

The story began with an investigation Sy Hersh of The New Yorker, and from there went to CBS's "60 Minutes II."

The photos went to the internet after the "60 Minutes II" broadcast.

[BattyDem]

8. If Michael Moore released that footage months ago ...

he would have been arrested for treason - endangering military operations and troop safety, etc. He would have been blamed for every death that occurred in "retaliation" of the prisoner abuse. You know the GOP drill ... it's not the message that bad, it's the messenger!

[rumguy]

9. that's exactly right, in addition, he had no idea how widespread it was

[durutti]

19. Bull.

Anyone who was paying attention to the reports of reputable human rights organizations could've inferred that such things were occurring.

[acmavm]

11. You are absolutely right. Not to mention these guys would have been

given the time they needed to prevent any of the pictures coming out. They would have gone in there and sanitized the whole mess and shut down their little torture operation.

It was much better that the story exploded the way it did. It was also a bigger shock, therefore wake up call, to the American people when the media began leaking the pictures. Because the media had their noses up bush*'s ass up until that point. You notice that you don't hear shrieks and screams about it not being true like you would have if Michael Moore would have spoken out.

[Eric J in MN]

10. What bull.

There were plenty of reports of US soldiers mistreating Iraqi prisoners before the Abu Ghraib story ran.

If there had been one more of those, it wouldn't have changed anything.

I believe the US is still torturing prisoners at Guantanmo and at the prison near Baghdad airport.

[DeadHead67]

13. I have not seen F9/11. . . . .

,but based on everything I've read, this film may well be one of THE single biggest factors in bringing down the regime. SO, whether you like Mike Moore or not is immaterial. He's doing invaluable work. As far as him getting rich? Who gives a shit!!! He'll NEVER make as much doing good as the assholes from Halliburton or Enron have made killing people and stealing people's retirement money.

[maggrwaggr]

14. oh yeah, it's all Michael Moore's fault. And Clinton's. And Hillary's

who else can they possibly blame?

[buycitgo]

17. Buddy?

[ConsAreLiars]

16. If it echoes the Rovian spin, it will get posted to DU

by somebody. One of the predictable characteristics of disinformation campaigns is that that try to make it hard to tell the difference between the "ultra" leftists and the reichists. They share talking points, so the only real difference is the mask they wear. They then get echoed by individuals who might be dupes, or who might might be operatives. Which doesn't matter that much, because in either case the diversion they create serves the goal of the Cons.

[buycitgo]

18. right......that's how they got away with killing JFK

very high noise to signal ratio

[ConsAreLiars]

24. Right now Moore is very high on the FundieCon hit list

This means that folks who work on their behalf or follow their lead will be out in force on message boards, letter writing, speaking on talk shows, and working inside progressive organizations - doing everything they can to attack Moore and the film, and to divert attention away from the actual facts covered in the documentary. We can expect to see a lot of this kind of attempt to change the subject. Watch closely and see how they work.

[durutti]

20. Please!

Alexander Cockburn has more Leftist credentials than anyone on DU.

[rumguy]

21. he's on the Rove payroll

[DerekG]

25. Oh, sure he is...

Just like Zinn, Parenti and Vidal, right?

:eyes:

[rumguy]

26. he feeds at the trough of rove slop

[ConsAreLiars]

28. Uhh, it was written by

Daniel Wolff. As for Cockburn having "more Leftist credentials" than anyone here, I'm not sure what that says about the author of the hit piece, if anything.

[TahitiNut]

22. "Kill the messenger!" still seems to gain some purchase ...

... in the muddled soil of corrupted minds.

[Solly Mack]

23. Oh yeah, between those evil digital cameras and Micheal Moore

I don't know why anyone would think to go after Bush Inc.

[FDRrocks]

27. Sue Michael Moore, not the US Military and/or Government....

that doesn't make any sense.

[AP]

29. I say, any American who doesn't make a documentary about Bush's fascism

or doesn't do everything they can to get Bush out of office should be sued by Iraqi torture victims.

I think all potential victims of Bush's torture should probably think about giving Moore a medal if Bush gets the boot thanks to this documentary.

[progressivebydesign]

31. Counterpunch BARELY deserves a response to that shit..

..but if they really cared about it, why wouldn't they say that the detainees should sue RUMSFELD? Or any one of the numerous officials who knew LONG before Moore did, that it was happening. And frankly, the stuff Moore knew about was a drop in the bucket compared to what's been exposed since. This is such bullshit. Sue the government. Moore didn't order the abuse, he wasn't the first person to witness it, or know about it. This is just a stupid slam.