The Power of Nightmares is a fascinating look at the war on terror.
It's central thesis is that Western politicians have effectively manufactured the war on terror in order to make themselves needed and relevant to the general public. In support of this thesis, the film makers present a range of experts, including many former CIA operatives, who all confirm that: (1) the islamist terrorists were generally poorly organised and lacked an an overarching structure and (2) that Western leaders, particularly Bush and Blair, knew that the Islamic terrorists operated in an ad hoc and fairly chaotic manner but nonetheless have been trying to convince the public that there was a well-organised and centrally controlled global terrorist organisation
Some of the interviews with the neo-conservatives are very amusing, particularly Professor Pipes who headed up a committee during the Cold War to examine Soviet military capabilities. Accordingly, to Pipes the absence of evidence that the Soviet's had a particularly military capability, was proof that they did in fact have that capability.
The only criticism I have of this documentary is its use of images. There are fairly lengthy periods of the three hour plus film when all the filmmakers do is flash up a series of images which have a loose relationship to what the narrator was saying. I found this technique quite annoying after a while. I think it would have been more engaging if they had simply had an on-screen narrator rather than a voice-over narrator.
Overall this is a very fascinating and well put together documentary which is available for free download at the Internet Archive - http://www.archive.org/index.php.
It's central thesis is that Western politicians have effectively manufactured the war on terror in order to make themselves needed and relevant to the general public. In support of this thesis, the film makers present a range of experts, including many former CIA operatives, who all confirm that: (1) the islamist terrorists were generally poorly organised and lacked an an overarching structure and (2) that Western leaders, particularly Bush and Blair, knew that the Islamic terrorists operated in an ad hoc and fairly chaotic manner but nonetheless have been trying to convince the public that there was a well-organised and centrally controlled global terrorist organisation
Some of the interviews with the neo-conservatives are very amusing, particularly Professor Pipes who headed up a committee during the Cold War to examine Soviet military capabilities. Accordingly, to Pipes the absence of evidence that the Soviet's had a particularly military capability, was proof that they did in fact have that capability.
The only criticism I have of this documentary is its use of images. There are fairly lengthy periods of the three hour plus film when all the filmmakers do is flash up a series of images which have a loose relationship to what the narrator was saying. I found this technique quite annoying after a while. I think it would have been more engaging if they had simply had an on-screen narrator rather than a voice-over narrator.
Overall this is a very fascinating and well put together documentary which is available for free download at the Internet Archive - http://www.archive.org/index.php.