Why Does Fahrenheit 9/11 Pursue Conspiracy Theory?
Submitted by Yoshie Furuhashi: Some left-wing viewers of Fahrenheit 9/11 — perhaps out of wishful thinking? — believe that the film makes an argument that Riyadh and Washington “have collaborated for decades in a violent project of repression” (Doug Henwood, LBO-talk, July 9, 2004) based only on well-checked facts provided by credible experts (Dennis Redmond, LBO-talk, July 9, 2004). I wish that Fahrenheit 9/11 made such an argument, but it doesn’t, even though, if only Michael Moore had wanted to do so, he had mountains of indisputable facts readily available to all that he could have used to provide historical analysis, which, with his talent for sharp satire, he could have also made as entertaining as the film he did make: e.g., As Saudi Arabia’s longtime chief of intelligence, Prince Turki al Faisal helped nurture the Afghan resistance movement that begot the country’s Taliban leadership. . . . Saudis trace their policy to the early days of the anti-Soviet resistance in Afghanist
