tw_stuart

Corrected entry: Moore implies that the name of James Bath being blacked out from Bush National Guard records which were released by the White House is due to a conspiracy. It's not and the blackout might appear less sinister if Moore revealed that federal law (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, HIPAA) required the National Guard to black out the names any Guardsmen whose medical information was on the same pages as the records which the Guard released regarding George Bush's health records. In Bath's case, he had been suspended for failing to take an annual physical exam. So what Moore presents as a sinister effort to conceal the identity of James Bath was in fact the legally-required compliance with federal law. Moore gloats: "What Bush didn't know was that I already had a copy of his military records - uncensored - obtained in the year 2000." Moore creates the impression that he is an investigative sleuth. Actually, the records had been released in 2000. The privacy regulations for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) went into effect on April 14, 2003, and so did not apply when the National Guard records were released in 2000.

Corrected entry: Bush once served on the Board of Directors of the Harken Energy Company. According to Fahrenheit: Moore: "Yes, it helps to be the President's son. Especially when you're being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission." TV reporter: "In 1990 when Mr. Bush was a director of Harken Energy he received this memo from company lawyers warning directors not to sell stock if they had unfavorable information about the company. One week later he sold $848,000 worth of Harken stock. Two months later, Harken announced losses of more than $23 million dollars." Moore: "Bush beat the rap from the SEC" What Moore left out: Bush sold the stock long after he checked with those same "company lawyers" who had provided the cautionary memo, and they told him that the sale was legal. Almost all of the information that caused Harken's large quarterly loss developed only after Bush had sold the stock.

Corrected entry: Michael Moore interviews Craig Unger and asks: How much money do the Saudis have invested in America, roughly? Unger says, "I've heard figures inside of $860 billion dollars." Later, Moore says, "So I read where like the Saudis have a trillion dollars in our banks of their money." The Saudi Arabian embassy estimates its investment in the United States is $450 billion. An Arab News Editorial dated 22 August 2002 said, "It is reckoned that private Saudi investments abroad amount to $750 billion, of which investments in the US account for 60 percent or $450 billion. Of that, some 35 percent (around $160 billion) is in the US capital market —- equities and bonds. The rest, $290 billion, is mainly in property."

John Pilge