From: John Beckett 

I don't recall discussion of this interesting TV series: THE POWER OF
NIGHTMARES - Adam Curtis

It's over three hours - here are a couple of points. I'm not saying that I
believe each of these, but they were interesting to me (there are many here
who have read a lot of material on this topic (not me), and the ideas may
not be as interesting to you).

Islamists and neocons formed an alliance to defeat the USSR in Afghanistan.
Shortly after, the USSR collapsed. The Islamists regarded the collapse as a
sign of their power - they could do anything. The neocons came to the same
conclusion.

Islamists initially believed they could spread their message by attacking
politicians regarded as "corrupt" (pretty much by definition in
their view, any politician is corrupt because they are not fulfilling all
the requirements of strict Islam). However, to the surprise of Islamists,
in countries where terror against politicians was tried, the general
population did NOT rise up to welcome Islamism.

Islamists then came to believe that the general population had been
corrupted, particularly by westernism - i.e. the enemy is the US. Hence the
desire to attack US interests.

The 9/11 attack was in fact an act of desperation by a very small band of
people. OBL was *not* the commander - he was approached by someone who
planned the attack for finance and other assistance. There was no Al Qaeda.
There was no international network of sleeper cells. There was no
"terrorist head office" complex in the Tora Bora caves or
anywhere else.

Of course, it is true that there ARE terrorists and they are very dangerous
and need to be stopped. But it BENEFITS politicians and the media to
exaggerate the dangers. For example, nuclear experts say that there is
actually NO DANGER from a "dirty bomb".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_of_Nightmares
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/3755686.stm
THE POWER OF NIGHTMARES - Adam Curtis Three part series - 2004
1. Baby It's Cold Outside
2. The Phantom Victory
3. The Shadows In The Cave

---Program Introduction---
In the past, politicians promised to create a better world. They had
different ways of achieving this, but their power and authority came from
the optimistic visions they offered their people. Those dreams failed and
today people have lost faith in ideologies. Increasingly, politicians are
seen simply as managers of public life, but now they have discovered a new
role that restores their power and authority. Instead of delivering dreams,
politicians now promise to protect us: from nightmares.

They say that they will rescue us from dreadful dangers that we cannot see
and do not understand. And the greatest danger of all is international
terrorism, a powerful and sinister network with sleeper cells in countries
across the world, a threat that needs to be fought by a War on Terror. But
much of this threat is a fantasy, which has been exaggerated and distorted
by politicians. It's a dark illusion that has spread unquestioned through
governments around the world, the security services and the international
media. This is a series of films about how and why that fantasy was created
and who it benefits.

At the heart of the story are two groups: the American neoconservatives and
the radical Islamists. Both were idealists, who were born out of the
failure of the liberal dream to build a better world and both had a very
similar explanation of what caused that failure. These two groups have
changed the world, but not in the way that either intended. Together, they
created today's nightmare vision of a secret organised evil that threatens
the world, a fantasy that politicians then found restored their power and
authority in a disillusioned age. And those with the darkest fears became
the most powerful.

John

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