From: "Gary Britt" 

Yep I agree, one needs to approach a wiki kb with a bit of skepticism,
because you have no idea of the knowledge, education, and agenda of the
contributors.

Gary

"Mark"  wrote in message
news:439a6d27{at}w3.nls.net...
> I've never been particularly enamored of that "Wikipedia"
thing, and as
each
> day passes my initial skepticism is reinforced.
>
> "Gary Britt"  wrote in message
> news:439a68b4$1{at}w3.nls.net...
> > They left out the part about there was no Holocaust right after all the
> > lame
> > stuff about Al Qaeda and UBL.
> >
> > Gary
> >
> > "John Beckett"
 wrote in message
> > news:n0qkp1pno3cn27j87au0d9ln0lh993cpla{at}4ax.com...
> >> 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
> >>
> >
> >
>
>

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5