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Thursday, May 27, 2004 |
How uncanny. How bizarre. Nick Berg's story took a bizarre twist today when Salon reported that the American entrepreneur who was beheaded in Iraq was actually interviewed by Michael Moore for his documentary Farenheit 911 before he traveled to Iraq. Michael Moore verified this fact with Salon today. Here are a few excerpts from Salon's article today, written by Rebecca Traister.
Filmmaker Michael Moore filmed an interview with American Nicholas Berg in the course of producing his documentary film "Fahrenheit 9/11" before Berg left for Iraq, where he was taken hostage and killed, Moore confirmed to Salon in a statement Thursday. The 20 minutes of footage does not appear in the final version of "Fahrenheit 911," according to the statement.
Word of the footage reached Salon through a source unaffiliated with Moore or his film "Fahrenheit 9/11," which is reported to feature stark images of U.S. civilians and soldiers grappling with conditions in war-torn Iraq, as well as examining the relationship between President George W. Bush and the bin Laden family. It received the Palme d'Or, the Cannes Film Festival's highest honor, on Saturday.
In a statement widely circulated by Moore's people after an initial request for comment by Salon, Moore said, "We have an interview with Nick Berg. It was approximately 20 minutes long. We are not releasing it to the media. It is not in the film. We are dealing privately with the family." Moore's camp declined to comment further on any aspect of the interview. Because the footage is not in the film, a spokeswoman for Miramax Films, the production company behind "Fahrenheit 9/11," said the company had no comment.
It was not clear from Moore's statement whether footage from the interview with Berg had ever been included in early cuts of "Fahrenheit 9/11." Reports about a film industry controversy surrounding distribution of the film first hit the news on May 5, a week before Berg's death. The film officially screened for the public and the press for the first time during the Cannes festival on May 17.
The news that Moore spoke to Berg while he was still in the United States only adds to the mystery surrounding the young man's presence in Iraq and tragic death. The interview was shot before the 26-year-old Berg left for Iraq late last year as a private contractor in the hopes of helping to rebuild the ravaged country. Though it was unclear what Berg spoke about in his interview with Moore, or how the two men met, unrelated reports following his death indicate that he headed for the Middle East with plans to work to improve the country's technological infrastructure and communication abilities. He ran his own company, Prometheus Methods Tower Service, in a suburb of Philadelphia.
I wonder if the footage might find its way back into the film. I wonder if Moore is trying to get permission to divulge the contents of the interview. Maybe that is why Moore is "dealing privately with the family." No matter what, this revelation definitely sparks my curiosity about the two weeks Berg spent in US custody in Iraq. My head is full of possible questions and possible theories, some of which might best be kept unsaid.
7:38:37 PM  | |
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If people's mind has been made up by April and May in regards to who they will vote for, Bush is in for a long summer and autumn. I still think it's too early and unwise to predict anything, even though poll results clearly show that American's are not in sync with Bush's vision or the Iraq war.
Josh Micah Marshall of Talking Points Memo linked to a strategy memo by Stan Greenberg and James Carville from the Democracy Corps. They wrote the following about Bush's recent polling stats:
Six months out from the election, the race for president has entered a new and distinct phase with Bush not only endangered, as we suggested earlier, but now with the odds against him. He is more likely to lose than win. Public confidence has collapsed on Iraq, but there is a lot of collateral damage, producing a strong desire for change. Whether it is the vote or job approval or personal favorability, Bush has become a 47 percent president at best. In almost every area, he is being dragged down by even stronger negative trends. Put simply by the voters themselves: just 42 percent want the country to continue in Bush's direction.
Ralph Nader might yet prove to be the spoiler for John Kerry, even though Nader's spin on his purpose in running states the opposite. For proof of this, read this analysis of poll results compiled by the Don't Vote Nader group.
But before you click over there, read this grand idea from a columnist at the Guardian in England. In a masterfully written article titled "The Fall of the Vulcan's," Timothy Garton Ash ponders how the European Commission can help America vote out Bush. His comments reminded me of Kerry's statement back in March or February in which he said many world leaders would like to see him beat Bush. Here's what Ash proposes:
[T]he crucial election for Europe - not the European elections next month, but the American one on November 2 - will be decided by Americans for American reasons. And the deciding factor may not be any foreign entanglement, nor even the economy, but the candidacy of Ralph Nader, which is likely to take pivotal anti-Bush votes away from Kerry, as it did from Al Gore in 2000. If only Nader would stand down.
Now Nader is, in many of his concerns, truly European. It occurs to me that the European Union is having some difficulty finding a new president of the European commission. So why don't we kill two birds with one stone? If we really want to help the vulcans from the American stage, let's make Ralph Nader president of the European commission.
6:40:58 PM | |
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