POWER OF NIGHTMARES, THE: THE RISE OF THE POLITICS OF FEAR: BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE {PART 1 OF 3} (TV)
Summary
Part one in this three-part documentary series that explores whether a highly organized international terrorist network is real, or a fear-based illusion to be used for political gain, as developed by American neo-conservatives and radical Islamists. The movements are traced through archival film clips and interviews with political experts and scholars, cross-cutting between prominent Islamics and influential neo-conservatives from 1949 to 1983.
Sayed Kotb is a middle-aged school inspector from Egypt sent to study America's educational system in 1949. Kotb becomes agitated by what he perceives as Americans' materialism and lack of values. Upon returning to Egypt, the now-radicalized Kotb is jailed and tortured for working against Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser's efforts to Westernize Egypt. Kotb is put on trial for treason and executed in 1966, but his writings greatly influence Ayman Zawahiri, a student who becomes the leader of an Islamic cell that assassinates Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981. Subsequently jailed and tortured, Zawahiri becomes a mentor to Osama bin Laden, setting the stage for the movement's increasingly dramatic actions. The neo-conservative movement is represented by Leo Strauss, a Jewish German-American political philosopher who moved to America in 1937.
While teaching at the University of Chicago from 1949 to 1968, he maintains that Western liberalism leads to nihilism. Neo-conservatives ally themselves with two of President Gerald Ford's staff: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Chief of Staff Dick Cheney. Rumsfeld calls Russia an overwhelming threat to America. When no evidence is found of Soviet weapons, Ford's appointed investigators declare that Russia's weapons exist, but are undetectable. Neo-conservatives later forge an alliance with the religious right, asking their help to get Ronald Reagan in the White House. After his victory, Reagan puts neo-conservatives Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle and Richard Pipes in his cabinet and adopts their beliefs that Moscow wants to take over the world and is responsible for a hidden terror network. However, CIA Director William Casey knows that the assertions are based on CIA-generated propaganda.
Part two continues on T:86897.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by The New York Times Company Foundation.
Details
- NETWORK: BBC2 (United Kingdom)
- DATE: October 20, 2004
- RUNNING TIME: 0:58:33
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:86826
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: International Collection - United Kingdom
- SERIES RUN: BBC2 (United Kingdom) - TV, 2004
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Peter Horrocks … Executive Producer
- Stephen Lambert … Executive Producer
- Adam Curtis … Producer, Director, Writer
- Hossam Al-Hamalawy … Researcher
- Satiyesh Manoharajah … Researcher
- Stuart Robertson … Researcher
- Neil Stevenson … Researcher
- Adam Curtis … Narrator
- bin Laden, Osama
- William Casey
- Dick Cheney
- Gerald Ford
- Sayed Kotb
- Gamal Abdel Nasser
- Richard Perle
- Richard Pipes
- Ronald Reagan
- Donald Rumsfeld
- Anwar Sadat
- Leo Strauss
- Paul Wolfowitz
- Ayman Zawahiri