Nightmare power
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
An excellent programme tonight on BBC2 called 'The Power of Nightmares'. It was tracing the parallels between Islamic miltancy and the beliefs of the US neocons by first looking at the roots of both in Syed Qutb and Leo Strauss respectively. The most shocking revelations came in the part dealing with the neocon sabotaging of US-USSR detente under Ford and Reagan. You know the neocons are pure evil when they can make Kissinger seem one of the good guys.
Part of the strategy to undermine detente rested on trying to prove that the USSR had a huge arsenal of hidden WMDs. Does that sound familiar. This was in the 70s. Who was involved? Rumsfield, Cheney, Wolfowitz. I guess if it works once you know you'll be able to fool people again. It must be a satisfying thing basing your whole career on trying to fool the people who elect you.
The saddest part was when Reagan's new CIA chief - Casey - was trying to get someone in the CIA to write a report backing up some nonsense of a book blaming the USSR for running a global terror network. The CIA staffers showed Casey that the stupid theory at the heart of the book was based on some black propaganda they had created themselves many years previously. They knew the book was rubbish because they had made up the story. Casey went elsewhere to get his dossier to convince Reagan to begin worldwide covert actions against popular movements of the left.
It's the sheer repetition of all these things that is so wearing and depressing. Cycles of deceit practised by the same people for the same reasons.
Tme for bed and nightmares.
Part of the strategy to undermine detente rested on trying to prove that the USSR had a huge arsenal of hidden WMDs. Does that sound familiar. This was in the 70s. Who was involved? Rumsfield, Cheney, Wolfowitz. I guess if it works once you know you'll be able to fool people again. It must be a satisfying thing basing your whole career on trying to fool the people who elect you.
The saddest part was when Reagan's new CIA chief - Casey - was trying to get someone in the CIA to write a report backing up some nonsense of a book blaming the USSR for running a global terror network. The CIA staffers showed Casey that the stupid theory at the heart of the book was based on some black propaganda they had created themselves many years previously. They knew the book was rubbish because they had made up the story. Casey went elsewhere to get his dossier to convince Reagan to begin worldwide covert actions against popular movements of the left.
It's the sheer repetition of all these things that is so wearing and depressing. Cycles of deceit practised by the same people for the same reasons.
Tme for bed and nightmares.
