By IANS
New York : Acclaimed director Michael Moore has defended his decision to take the sick 9/11 rescue workers to Cuba because he wanted to prove that Al Qaeda detainees were receiving better healthcare facilities there.
His new documentary "Sicko" has drawn ire from various quarters, as he took a group of rescue workers to Cuba, where they were hoping to receive free treatments, hollywood.com reported.
But Moore says he was shocked to see that the detainees there were receiving better healthcare compared to the American emergency personnel.
In an interview on "Larry King Live", he says: "The irony of the fact that the Al-Qaeda detainees in Guantanamo, who we accused of plotting 9/11, receive full free medical, dental, eye care, nutrition counseling.
"And it just seemed highly ironic to me that the people who tried to save lives on 9/11 weren't getting help. The people who helped to plot 9/11 were getting all this free help. So I thought, 'Why don't we take them down there and see if we can get the same kind of help'."