The Power of Nightmares

Previous Episode

S01E03: The Shadows in the Cave

Curtis argues that, after their failed revolutions, bin Laden and Zawahiri had little or no popular support, let alone a serious complex organisation of terrorists, and were dependent upon independent operatives to carry out their new call for jihad. The film instead shows the United States government wanting to prosecute bin Laden in absentia for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings, and needing to prove him to be the head of a criminal organisation to do so. They find a former associate of bin Laden, Jamal al-Fadl, and pay him to testify that bin Laden was the head of a massive terrorist organisation called "al-Qaeda". With the September 11th attacks, Neo-Conservatives in the new Republican government of George W. Bush use this created concept of an organisation to justify another crusade against a new evil enemy, leading to the launch of the War on Terrorism.

Overview

Examines how politicians have used our fears to increase their power and control over society.

Episodes

S01E01 Baby It's Cold Outside

October 20, 2004 8.7 60 min
In the past our politicians offered us dreams of a better world. Now they promise to protect us from nightmares. The most frightening of these is the threat of an international terror network. But just...

S01E02 The Phantom Victory

October 27, 2004 60 min
Islamist factions, rapidly falling under the more radical influence of Zawahiri and his rich Saudi acolyte Osama bin Laden, join the Neo-Conservative-influenced Reagan Administration to combat the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. They are successful...

S01E03 The Shadows in the Cave

November 3, 2004 60 min
Curtis argues that, after their failed revolutions, bin Laden and Zawahiri had little or no popular support, let alone a serious complex organisation of terrorists, and were dependent upon independent operatives to carry out their...

Cast

Gilles Kepel
Himself
Melvin Goodman
Himself
Stephen Holmes
Himself
William Kristol
Himself
Michael Ledeen
Himself
Richard Perle
Richard Perle
Himself
Azzam Tamimi
Himself
Fouad Allam
Himself
Abdullah Anas
Himself
Milton Bearden
Himself
Vincent Cannistraro
Himself
Anne Cahn
Herself

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