Random Michael Moore Deceits [#37]

James Bath [from Fahrenheit 9/11]

"The film next makes clear why Moore goes to these lengths to try to imply some wrongdoing with the flights of Saudis: he wants to suggest an improper relationship between the family of George W. Bush and the Saudis (or even specifically the Bin Laden family). Moore then proceeds to unroll a convoluted scheme by which he seeks to connect Bush and the Bin Ladens. He begins by telling us that in early 2004 he (Moore himself) had called Bush a deserter in a speech and that "in response" the White House released copies of Bush's military service records. (The arrogant notion that these records were released in response to Moore's particular charge is ludicrous; they were actually released in response to an Associated Press Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that had nothing to do with Moore's remarks.) In any case, Moore argues that the records had a name blacked out which had not been blacked out in a copy of the same records he had obtained back in 2000. The name was that of James R. Bath. Moore asks: "Why didn't Bush want the press and public to see Bath's name on his military records? Perhaps he was worried that the American people would find out that at one time James R. Bath was the Texas money manager for the Bin Ladens." Well, actually the reason Bath's named was blacked out is that privacy laws prohibit the government from releasing the records-especially medical records, like the documents in question of persons without their permission (http://www.usdoj.gov/foia/privstat.htm). Bush gave permission to have his records released, but Bath had not done so (and had not been asked to do so, since the Freedom of Information Act request had nothing to do with him), and so his name had to be removed from common records.

Moore then says, "Bush and Bath had become good friends when they both served in the Texas Air National Guard. After they were discharged, when Bush's dad was head of the CIA, Bath opened up his own aviation business, after selling a plane to a man by the name of Salem Bin Laden, heir to the second-largest fortune in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Binladin Group." He next tells us that James Bath was hired to manage money for the Bin Laden family in Texas, and then that when Bush tried his hand at the oil business, he got an early investment from his friend James Bath. We are supposed to conclude, of course, that Bath invested the Bin Ladens' money in Bush's company. Moore never actually says so, but he implies so. He fails to mention that Bath himself has plainly said the money was his own and not the Bin Ladens'. In fact, Craig Unger, who is interviewed in the movie, and whose book House of Bush, House of Saud is the source for most of Moore's absurd assertions in this part of the movie, himself doubts any connection here. Here is how Newsweek put it:

"Leaving aside the fact that the bin Laden family, which runs one of Saudi Arabia's biggest construction firms, has never been linked to terrorism, the movie "which relied heavily on Unger's book" fails to note the author's conclusion about what to make of the supposed Bin Laden-Bath-Bush nexus: that it may not mean anything. The "Bush-Bin Laden relationships" were indirect-two degrees of separation, perhaps-and at times have been overstated," Unger writes in his book. While critics have charged that bin Laden money found its way into Arbusto [Bush's company] through Bath, Unger notes that "no hard evidence has ever been found to back up that charge" and Bath himself has adamantly denied it. "One hundred percent of those funds (in Arbusto) were mine," says Bath in a footnote on page 101 of Unger's book. "It was a purely personal investment." (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5335853/)

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