Michael Moore Sued By Iraq War Veteran Over 'Fahrenheit 9/11'

Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore has been sued by a US soldier for $85 million over allegations that Moore used television clips of him without his approval. The soldier, Sgt Peter Damon, also claims that Moore's award-winning documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11, gives a false impression that Damon is opposed to the Iraq War.

As Reuters reports, Sgt Peter Damon " lost his right arm near the shoulder and his left arm above the wrist when a tire on a Black Hawk helicopter exploded while he and two other soldiers were servicing the aircraft on the ground in Iraq. His left arm later had to be amputated at the elbow." The incident claimed the life of one of Damon's colleagues.

In the lawsuit against Michael Moore, Sgt Damon claims that Moore edited the footage, originally used by NBC for a story about medical treatment being received by war veterans, to make Sgt Damon appear to "voice a complaint about the war effort." Ireland On-Line further quoted the case papers as saying that Sgt Damon "agrees with and supports the President and the United States' war effort."

According to the CBC, Sgt Damon says in the lawsuit against Michael Moore that " The work creates a substantially fictionalized and falsified implication as a wounded serviceman who was left behind when Plaintiff was not left behind but supported, financially and emotionally, by the active assistance of the President, the United States and his family, friends, acquaintances and community."

Michael Moore's documentary, the Palme D'Or-winning Fahrenheit 9/11, shows Sgt Damon laying in on a gurney at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Maryland, saying it felt like his hands were being "crushed in a vice." Sgt Damon goes on to say "But they (the pain-killers) do a lot to help it. And they take a lot of the edge off of it." Following this scene in Moore's movie, is a scene with Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott (Washington), who is speaking out about the Bush Administration, by saying "You know they say they're not leaving any veterans behind, but they're leaving all kinds of veterans behind."

Reuters quoted Sgt Damon as saying "It was kind of almost like the enemy was using me for propaganda. What soldier wants to be involved in that? I didn't lose my arms over there to come back and be used as ammunition against my commander-in-chief." As a result of this, Sgt Damon is suing Michael Moore for $75 million, while his wife is suing Moore for $10, claiming "mental stress and anguish."

Michael Moore first became famous for his documentary, Roger & Me, about the city of Flint, Michigan, and the aftermath the city suffered when General Motors closed its factories in Flint, in favor of setting up factories in Mexico. The "Roger" referred to in the title is Roger B. Smith, the CEO and President of GM at the time. After Roger & Me, Moore directed the satirical comedy, Canadian Bacon, about a (fictional) American President engineering a fake war against Canada to bolster approval ratings. Moore moved back to documentaries with The Big One, a documentary about his book tour slamming mass lay-offs and slave labor, despite massive corporate profits. Possibly his most famous documentary was Bowling For Columbine, which looked at gun culture in the United States, as well as the Columbine High School Massacre. Finally, in 2004, Moore released Fahrenheit 9/11, looking at America in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, and the relationship between the Bush family and the bin Laden family.

[Additional Sources: Reuters, Ireland On-Line, CBC]