Filmmaker Moore Says He Has Berg Footage (an interview with Berg)

[Robbien]

NEW YORK - Filmmaker Michael Moore, whose incendiary new documentary lambastes President Bush's handling of the war, said Thursday that he has footage unused in the film of Nicholas Berg, the American civilian later beheaded in Iraq.

The footage, of an interview with Berg, "is approximately 20 minutes long. We are not releasing it to the media," Moore said in a statement. "It is not in the film. We are dealing privately with the family."

Neither Moore nor his representatives would describe the nature or contents of the interview with Berg, who held staunch pro-war views.

No one answered the phone Thursday at the home of Berg's parents in West Chester, Pa.

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/opinion/8775965.htm

[gasperc]

1. ain't this interesting

eom

[Eloriel]

17. nevermind

misread

[cestmoi]

63. nt

[Cocoa]

2. Moore has a way of getting good footage

From what I hear of this movie, there's a lot of stuff in there that we should have gotten from the news media.

Good for Michael not to exploit this.

[tridim]

4. But if the dad gives the okay,

which seems quite possible, maybe he'll edit it in for the N.America release.

[osaMABUSh]

30. Right, Berg's Dad ripped * a new one

and directly blamed BushCo for his son's death SO helping Moore with his movie would not be surprising. Moore can change his movie up till release date.

[ewagner]

3. Another coincidence

There have been so many coincidences involving Berg, I just have to shake my head in disbelief.

[KittyWampus]

8. Berg Is Sort Of Like Forrest Gump

showed up in an awful lot of places

[jdj]

32. Fascist Gump. n/t

[hadrons]

5. it would be chilling to hear Berg if he is sharing his pro-war views ....

knowing what happened to him ... Moore did the right thing by going to the family

[lucky777]

6. Why doesn't the mainstream press get this stuff

He seems to get footage that the networks and news shows can't get or won't show.

It just shows how lazy the press is

[cybildisobedience]

16. my thoughts exactly

If we had a real media, we'd have no need for a Moore film. A REAL media -- you know, the one we had when Clinton was in office -- would have shown Bush just sitting there reading a book about a goat while thousands of Americans were incinerated in the WTC. Instead, we have to wait THREE YEARS for a gutsy filmmaker to string it all together, fight with his distributor to release their grip on it, and have it shown in freaking foreign country before we can READ about it. And who knows how long until we can actually see it!

[bobbieinok]

55. 'real media' disappeared abt 1994 or whenever Starr started digging

[0rganism]

45. They don't even want it

Press releases from the white house and footage of the Peterson trial are so much easier to handle than anything that would be construed as investigating into government affairs. Must avoid controversy. Must avoid controversy. :boring:

[Alerter_]

48. the press' job is to cover up

and they do a damn good job

[0007]

59. .....but this administration is very nervous right now and rightfully so!

And are starting to make mistakes that the media can't cover up without looking foolish.

Seymour Hersh uncovers what the White House tries to hide.

Check this website out...

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3267.htm

[minkyboodle]

7. Moore doing the right thing

Deal with the family and leave everything up to them

[Whoa_Nelly]

19. Hope he gives the footage to the family

and let's them decide if they want to release any, all, or none of it.

[jdj]

34. Isn't it strange how liberals are slandered so much,

yet are so much more moral than the so-called "moral majority".

This is like Larry Flynt refusing to release the video of Jessica Lynch.

Which reminds me, the Flynt book is supposed to be coming out in June. I can hardly wait for this one, Flynt supposedly has 4 sworn affadavits from people about Bush taking that Morgan girl to mexico to have an abortion during the coat-hanger days. He allegedly has an affadavit from the doctor and from one of the girl's friend. One more nail in the coffin.

[Snellius]

9. More here at Salon

May 27, 2004 | 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.

http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2004/05/27/fahrenheit_911/index.html

[Miss Authoritiva]

23. Thanks for the Salon link.

I can't get through on their day pass option (imagine it's very busy), so I'm still wondering how Moore and his group came across Berg before he left for Iraq.

[alarcojon]

28. When will the film come out in the States?

From the Salon article:

A source close to "Fahrenheit 9/11" said that a new distributor will be announced shortly, and that the film is expected to be released in theaters during the first week of July, as originally planned

:headbang:

[hayduke1]

46. Those investigating this murder should most definitely want to see this

footage! It will be interesting to see if the authorities investigating this murder request to see the segments and how long it will take them to request a copy. After all, it is an open and active investigation, right?

[newyawker99]

51. Hi hayduke1!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[truthseeker1]

10. Holy crap this is eerie

The Berg story only continues to get more interesting....

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. Just letting the world know

that he's got the goods, must be making Bu$hCo and the OSP guys crap their pants right now.

[al bupp]

12. Endless Hubris

I don't know but if I had to guess, I'd venture that Mr. Moore flys pretty far below the admin's radar. Their hubris appears to know no bounds. I seriously doubt whether they deign to consider the doings of a lowly filmmaker (as they probably see him). Lets hope the American release of the film will eventually change that.

[romantico]

13. bump

((((((((((((((((kick))))))))))))))))))

[DoYouEverWonder]

14. Is that why Jeb

threatened to cut of Disney's tax breaks if they released 9-11?

[al bupp]

29. You may be right

But if so, there's the wonderful irony that the threat has certainly bounced back to bite them, since all it's really accomplished is a lot of free publicity for the film, and pissing-off some Disney investors.

[Cocoa]

15. they freaked out over a stupid Letterman bit

trust me, they're SUPER freaked about this Moore movie.

[robbedvoter]

18. Bingo! Life insurance. Noticed W stopped talking about finding his killers

Watch all their shills quietly dropping the subject.

[Matilda]

61. Yes, I did notice that.

"We will bring these people to justice".

Yes??

Strangely quiet.

[cestmoi]

64. Now that you mention it. It is odd.nt

[mountainvue]

20. My oh my.

I would love to know how MM found Nick Berg.

[Emboldened Chimp]

27. Best post of the thread

Indeed, how did Mr Moore come across Nick Berg? Worthy of it's own documentary...

[Pachamama]

35. Maybe Nick Berg found Michael Moore? Maybe Nick Berg wasn't pro-bush

...as he has been reported to have been....maybe that's why he died...I've wondered all along about why Nick Berg was there....interesting news though about Michael Moore having footage of Nick....Poor Nick and his family..I hope the truth about his killers comes out some day...

[Joanne98]

52. Clears it up doesn't it?

I LOVE MICHEAL MOORE :)

[colonel odis]

21. depending on what the footage does or doesn't show

moore may have put his own life in danger.

never, ever, ever put anything past this administration.

[robbedvoter]

24. The footage may contain nothing serious. But for the guilty is

"I know what you did last summer"

No, I thimk Moore is safe.

[Pachamama]

36. Perhaps, but MM is a smart guy...probably if he was "removed", he'd have

a movie post-humously that would come out and expose them all, including his own murder....

[hang a left]

40. Not just that......

I 'll bet you a buck he has documents, audio, and video in a safe location to be released upon an untimely demise. It's called insurance.

[Pachamama]

42. Yep-MM is safe...Bush Co. might not be so lucky on the PR front....

...I really can't wait to see the film...and also to hear the feedback from the rest of the world when they see it...

[The Stranger]

22. Release the footage.

There is too much that is being kept secret. This isn't footage that has anything to do with the family. Release the footage.

[robbedvoter]

25. How do you know if it has or not anything to do with the family?

For all you know, it may be entirely a message to his parents.

[The Stranger]

26. Okay. So long as it isn't a message to his parents he had Moore film

for his documentary. :eyes:

So long as it isn't that, then release it.

[Pachamama]

37. It's possible it contains impt. info that can help find his killers and...

...releasing it would interfere with finding out who is responsible...If such a thing were true, better not to release it until the truth is ready to come out...all of it....

[daleo]

31. Just one more curious chapter in the Berg saga

The footage may not be particularly revealing of anything peculiar anyway (if it was, you would think Moore would make it public), but the unfortunate Berg has now crossed paths with a lot of important figures in the 911/Iraq Invasion saga. He is beginning to seem like a tragic version of one of those people who manage to keep popping up in famous photographs. I haven't seen the movie, but I think Woody Allen did something called Zelig, on this theme.

[bossfish]

33. Agree, there are too many odd "co-inky-dinks" involving Berg...

and, yes, the film was "Zelig"

[candy331]

38. Things just keep going

"bump in the night." I tell you everyday brings a new revelation.

[hang a left]

41. A thought just occured to me.......

Perhaps he was one of Moore's "inbeds"

[DoyBoy]

43. If this is true...

it could explain Berg's choice of clothing in the released footage.

this may be out there but, we know he was in what appeared to be US prison wear. But one difference. They appear to be made of a shinier kind of fabric than the standard cotton we normally see (I think most of us who have seen at least the beginning of the tape can attest to that).

Now here's the connecty dots...If, perhaps, it turns out he was connected with Moore in the above manner, he could have had those prison clothes made for him prior to leaving (delibrately made of a different kind of orange fabric to tell them from real one's yet still make the point). He took them to wear for whatever he was actually doing. Perhaps the reason why he was detained in the first place and why he was wearing them in the video. He would have had them on since being arrested.

Any way you look at it it's still a horrible thing. Someone will answer for this...and I think they ain't gonna be of middle eastern persuasion.

....but just a late night thought. Goodnight

[JohnnyFianna1]

39. This is terribly wrong, there are too many coincedences involving Berg.

[Mace]

44. Indeed

[Iceburg]

47. Kick

[Justice]

49. One point

Whatever Berg said in that 20 minute segment was apparently not relevant to Moore's film (since Moore did not use it in the final version). Seems to me that if the footage was intriguing in some way (either very pro or very anti war), Moore would have used it.

If Berg's interview is just an interview with an American worker looking for work in Iraq - I wonder how many other Americans (and others) like Berg are in Iraq.

[TNMOM]

60. Maybe Moore didn't get it until recently.....

When did Moore receive the video????

[dusty64]

50. VERY interesting.

This just keeps getting stranger and stranger. Time for another terra "alert", it always seems to get the damaging news off the front pages no matter how bogus.

[John_H]

53. Fuck!! Moore is CIA. I knew it! He's connected to the CIA berg killers

right, tinfoilers? I mean, every tiny bit of info--from gold rings to the order pages read by killers--points to a conspiracy. How huge is it that out of the hundreds of thousands of westerners in Iraq, Berg ends up being interviewed by a major American filmmaker for 20 minutes!!!!!!!!


STOP THE PRESSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[foo_bar]

54. how do you know Berg was killed?

[Algomas]

58. Color me confused but...

Are you suggesting that Berg is pro-Bush and the execution was staged to elicit sympathy for the occupation?

Or are you suggesting that Bushco found out Berg talked to MM and then snuffed him for propaganda objectives?

Or are you suggesting MM is somehow acting under Bush control?

[notbush]

56. I've never been a fan of Mr. Moore

If he says something Fans like, he's a real journalist with all the facts.
If he tells lies...well, he took a little journalistic creativity ....
He's a VERY RICH fat man that at the very least...streetches the thruth.
He has little or no journalistic credabillity...he hurts the cause.
Flame Away, MM fans......

[notbush]

57. O.K Just Give The Family The Interview.......

Let them decide, if it's relavent.....or does it even exist.

[rocktivity]

62. And the coincidences just keep on coming

The real question, of course, is whether or not Moore did the interview before or after the beheading.

:headbang:
rocknation