I’ve been reading alternative news sources for a few years now and feel like most of what I encounter are elaborations of what I already know. This wonder documentary, however, really covered a lot of new ground, mostly about the recent history of neo-conservatism and their ideological roots. I highly recommend it. I’ve bullet pointed the main/most interesting points from each of the three parts, stressing the history of neo-conservativism, as that was what interested me most.
* The cold war rise of neo-conservatives & radical islamists.
* Both philosophies preach that ends justify the means.
* Leo Strauss supports spreading myths that would fill Americans with identity and purpose. He seems disgusted by the American left because it’s liberalism ushers in what he perceives as moral depravity. America, he contends needs a great myth (manifested in defeating an evil enemy) to fill people with virtue and purpose. He supports lying to establish this myth because it’s done for the greater good. Many present-day neo-cons are his students.
* Neo-cons supported organization called Team B to spread myths about Soviet power, contradicting CIA findings (much like the administration contradicted CIA findings before the Iraq war).
* When William Casey became head of CIA, he began pressuring CIA to exaggerate Soviet Threat along the lines of Team B.
* Neo-cons supported rise of Christian politics.
* Both radical Islamists & neo-cons considered the fall of the Soviet Union (which was a house of cards all by itself), as an endorsement of their violent ideology.
* Radical Islamists pursue war against corrupt regimes in the Middle East, but fail to win popular support.
* Straussians compared to Marxists. Conceal their agenda. Lie to promote their vision of the world. They consider the Christian right’s emphasis on social issues combating the moral depravity they perceive. They consider themselves warriors against liberal social corruption.
* Algerian generals infiltrate and radicalize radical Islam to use them as enemy.
* Radical Islamist ideology fails because there is no end to the list of enemies. One group concludes that the whole world (except for their group) is unfaithful and must be killed.
* Rise of Christian right causes many defectors who elect Clinton. Neo-cons begin propaganda against Clinton including this story and this one, which I posted here on lost republic. Was I overzealous? Paranoid?
* One neo-con writes a book entitled “The Death of Outrage” blames America’s moral corruption for failing to impeach Clinton.
* Radical Islamists failed to gain popular support in the years which followed the victory in Afghanistan. They attempted to regain support by striking at the West.
* This fit the neo-con plan of replacing the Soviet enemy with the Islamic one.
* Bin Laden began calling his organization Al Quaeda AFTER he realized that was how American’s referred to him.
* Neo-conservatives return to power under Bush W. They exaggerate Islamic radial threat similar to how they exaggerated the Soviet threat. They work from the Straussian philosophy that America’s purpose is to fight evil. I think they are like adolescent boys who find meaning in their lives and feel manly when they send better men off to war.
* So much of the sleeper cell hype is complete nonsense. The government “experts” who interpret much of the evidence in the legal cases against sleeper cells are extraordinarily creative nonsense, in which every gesture, scribble, and photo is an elaborate secretly coded message.
* Both the radical Islamists and neo-cons continue to benefit from the Straussian idea of creating a false mythology.
* All studies show dirty bomb (radiation bomb) would do zero damage. Despite this, its mythology grows.
* Politics of fear, ie. insisting on preparing for the worst-possible case scenario, began with ecology movement. (I can understand why they saved this controversial statement for the end of the three-hour documentary.) Ecology movement considered it government’s duty to prepare for the worst, regardless of evidence. This is the same principle which shaped the war on terror, the “preventive paradigm.”
The introduction of a new Senate bill, S.3480, dubbed the “Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010,” is sparking concerns about a massive power grab over the Internet under the guise of “national security.”
(Read more from news.antiwar.com)