Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : WHO IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT IN 2004 -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (2188)	6/3/2003 4:04:28 PM
From: Raymond Duray	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10965

THE PHONY pResident exposed... thestar.com 9/11 movie paints Bush as hero LINDA MCQUAIG In real life, Wyatt Earp probably dove under the bed at the first sign of trouble. But he sure looked brave on the big screen, taking on troublemakers in Dodge City. Of course, anyone's story can be magically transformed by Hollywood screenwriters, who routinely turn the tawdriest tales into heroic sagas. Even so, they must have dug deep into their bag of tricks to write the made-for-TV movie — filmed in Toronto this spring — of George Bush's heroic handling of the 9/11 crisis. The film, which qualifies for generous Canadian federal and provincial cash incentives for film production, is sure to help the White House further its two-pronged re-election strategy: Keep Americans terrified of terrorism and make Bush look like the guy best able to defend them. Lionel Chetwynd, the writer-producer of this heartily pro-Bush movie, is a kind of west coast David Frum — a Canadian who has fully embraced the Bush revolution and even joined the administration (sitting on a White House arts committee). His film — unlikely to enhance the reputation of Canadian filmmakers — portrays Bush as decisive and in-charge on 9/11, commanding officials on Air Force One to take him to Washington. "If some tinhorn terrorist wants me, tell him to come and get me! I'll be at home! Waiting for the bastard!" Whoever was driving Air Force One apparently wasn't listening; as we know, the president was flown instead to Nebraska and only returned that evening to the White House, where Laura Bush was holding the fort. One real-life scene unlikely to get much attention in the Hollywood epic was captured on video the morning of Sept. 11. It shows the president, right after he's been told a plane has hit the World Trade Center, strolling into a Grade 2 classroom at a Florida school. Minutes later, an aide informs him a second plane has hit the WTC. The president continues watching the children read a story about a pet goat and then chit-chats with them about reading. (This leaves the casting options wide open — Arnold Schwarzenegger as Bush, but Mr. Dress-Up would have worked too.) Anyone who's seen that video will recall Bush's inscrutable look the moment he hears about the second plane. Does he realize the course of history has changed? Is he afraid of goats? In researching his film, Chetwynd reportedly had "lengthy" interviews with Bush and top officials, including Donald Rumsfeld, Andrew Card and Karl Rove. This access is in stunning contrast to the short shrift the administration has given to serious attempts to investigate 9/11, including efforts by a joint Congressional inquiry, which was denied access to top officials. The White House is currently blocking publication of most of the inquiry's 800-page report. It is also putting roadblocks in the path of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, which Bush initially resisted establishing, but agreed to, under pressure from 9/11 families. Among the many questions needing answers: Why was the multi-billion-dollar U.S. military unable to muster any defence of the nation that day, not even sending U.S. fighters up to investigate the hijacked planes? As Harvard academic Elaine Scarry wrote in the Boston Globe last fall: "On Sept. 11, the Pentagon could not defend the Pentagon, let alone the rest of the country ... Does [this] mean that 50 years of American defence policy is all wrong?" Interesting question — just don't expect a response. Canadians should ponder that question, as we consider backing Bush's missile defence project. Is it likely that the U.S. military — which couldn't even deal with large planes flying over its own territory for more than an hour on Sept. 11 — would be able to deal with a sleek, camouflaged missile approaching suddenly, at great speed, from some unknown location? It's astonishing that the most catastrophic event in American history has gone all but uninvestigated in the world's most apparently open democracy. As Randal Davis, owner of a small Oregon floor cleaning company, noted in an e-mail to me, "If someone slips and falls at the supermarket where I contract, there is always an investigation. We want to know why things happen so they don't happen again." This investigative zeal applies to just about everything in America — except 9/11. If nothing else, aren't Americans curious to know what went wrong that day? Curious or not, they're soon to get the airbrushed version, which will paint Bush as a hero and remind Americans how much there is to fear. As E. J. Dionne noted in the Washington Post last week: "(T)he only thing Republicans have to fear is the end of fear itself." Linda McQuaig, a Toronto-based author and political commentator, writes every Sunday.