Saw it last night...
Have some mixed feelings. I think some of the points he makes are pretty salient, especially the Bush Admin's shift of focus from Al Qaeda the Taliban and Afghanistan to Saddam and Iraq just because is one of my biggest beefs with the current Administration. And the fact that most of America thinks there are ties between the two makes me sort of ill.
The part about poor kids and kids in general fighting in Iraq when they don't need to be there, and the recruiting practices of the Armed Services. I don't have a beef with that. Its a volunteer Army, you don't have to be there and if you're naive enough to join up then its your own damn fault you're over there. I have a buddy from high school that's been there for almost 18 months. I think of him every day and hope he comes home soon, but I also think about how he was so gung ho to go into the Army and wanted to serve our country for so long. Sure you may not like the reason why you're there but you can't really do anything about it since you chose to sign up for that risk. Lots of kids I knew in school did it for college money. Is that a good trade off? I would guess most people would say no.
That being said, the reasons we are there seem to be more and more because Bush and Friends wanted to get Saddam out of there at all costs. And there are people dying every day both innocent civillians, non-innocent civillians and our own Soldiers. I hope every day we can find a way to get out of there ASAP and get our people home safe and sound.
The other good point I think Moore makes is the Bush family ties to the Saudis. Its not just them as there are plenty of fingers on both sides of the aisle with fingers in the Saudi pot. But with that much money floating around and that much oil at stake, its hard not to think twice about who Bush is really looking out for sometimes.
My biggest problem with American politics since even before 2000 is that you can't seem to have a middle of the road approach to anything. Listening to the radio the last few weeks all I have heard is people either trashing this as the biggest piece of **** since Gigli or that its the best film since Gone With The Wind. I don't think its either, I think he has some good points but some of the stuff really doesn't bother me. I find the radical views of both parties and their loyalist a little disheartening for the vast majority of people that fall in the middle somewhere like myself.
One question...Has Bush's Approval ratings changed at all since the film has been released?