Michael Moore's Candid Camera

Correction Appended

ABSTRACT - Frank Rich article on Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 9/11; says material used by Moore on some events in Iraq, such as abuse of prisoners, was available to news organizations months ago but media chose not to use it; says Moore is being selective in what he chooses to include in his moive; he is a polemicist, not journalist; but he implicitly raises issue that much of what we have seen elsewhere during this war, often under label of 'news,' has been just as subjectively edited; holds perhaps most damning sequence in documentary is one showing American troops as they ridicule hooded detainees in holding pen near Samara, Iraq, in December 2003; photos (M)

Correction: January 2, 2005, Sunday

An article on Oct. 30 about a videotaped message from Osama bin Laden in which he told the United States that it could avoid a repetition of the 9/11 attacks if it stopped threatening Muslims' security referred incorrectly to material being read in a Florida classroom where President Bush was visiting when he learned of the attacks. (The error also appeared in earlier articles, starting on May 23.) The reading was a story -- not a book -- and it was titled ''The Pet Goat,'' not ''My Pet Goat.'' A reader telephoned last week to point out the error.