Moore Turns Up Heat on White House

Charlotte Higgins, Agence France Presse

Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" is without doubt the film the Cannes film
festival crowds all want to see. And with good reason, because Moore hopes
it will bring down the US Government.

The American film-maker has hitherto kept a tight lid on the contents of
the documentary, and said only that it includes evidence of links between
the Bush and bin Laden families.However, in two appearances in Cannes at the weekend before its premiere
yesterday, he revealed that the movie contains shocking footage from Iraq.

He said: "When you see the movie you will see things you have never seen
before. You will learn things you have never known before.

"Half the movie is about Iraq. We were able to get film crews embedded with
American troops without them knowing that it was Michael Moore. They are
totally f---ed.

"The film is only partly to do with the bin Ladens and Bush. I was able to
send three different freelance film crews to Iraq. Soldiers had written to
me to express their disillusionment with the war. It's a case of our own
troops not being in support of their commander-in-chief," Moore said on
Saturday.

Reactions at the few low-key preview screenings that have already taken
place in the midwest were "overwhelming".

He added: "People who were on the fence — undecided voters — suddenly
weren't on the fence any more."

Moore was enthusiastic about doing everything in his power to help defeat
President George Bush in the election in November.

"We thought, 'We cannot leave this to the Democrats this time to f--k it up
and lose'." He wanted to "inspire people to get up and vote in November".

Moore said the film was also a tool that would inspire US voters to remove
"the dumbest man who ever ran for the presidency" and overturn foreign
policies that had created "a lot of havoc in the world". He alleged that
the White House was behind a campaign to stop the film from being
distributed in the US before the election. An unnamed senior Republican
politician, "someone connected to the White House", telephoned companies
that bankrolled the film to get them to drop their commitments to it, he said.

The Disney corporation has reneged on a distribution deal for the film.He
vowed that Americans would see the documentary soon. "I want this film out
and I want it out this summer. After, I'll have things to say," he said.
Moore's position has not met with universal sympathy. A piece in the Los
Angeles Times last week accused his last film, Bowling for Columbine, of
being "a torrent of partial truths, pointed omissions and deliberate
misimpressions".

He said he was prepared for a backlash by some Americans, but claimed he
was "the most patriotic American" because he believes in the US's founding
principles."One of those principles is that you do not invade another
country that is not invading you. "Only people who are un-American would
cover up the torture and abuse in Iraq." Moore is planning films "on the
Israelis and Palestinians, and the oil industry and lack of oil we are
going to be faced with".