Terror Watch: More Distortions From Michael Moore

Newsweek, June, 2004 by Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball

In his new movie, "Fahrenheit 9/11," film-maker Michael Moore makes the eye-popping claim that Saudi Arabian interests "have given" $1.4 billion to firms connected to the family and friends of President George W. Bush. This, Moore suggests, helps explain one of the principal themes of the film: that the Bush White House has shown remarkable solicitude to the Saudi royals, even to the point of compromising the war on terror. When you and your associates get money like that, Moore says at one point in the movie, "who you gonna like? Who's your Daddy?"

But a cursory examination of the claim reveals some flaws in Moore's arithmetic--not to mention his logic. Moore derives the $1.4 billion figure from journalist Craig Unger's book, "House of Bush, House of Saud." Nearly 90...

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