The power of nightmares. The rise of the politics of fear

The power of nightmares. The rise of the politics of fear is a three-part documentary by Adam Curtis which BBC aired in 2004. Following the influence of two opposite characters, Political Philosopher Leo Strauss, a major referent for the US neo-conservatist movement and Mr. Sayyid Qutb, one of the founders of modern political Islamism the film traces on one side the rise of an agenda-driven set of public officials in the US and the inception of an armed Islamist movement known as Al-Quaeda, with the two parties intertwining during the CIA-supported war in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union invasion and occupation.

 

4-minute trailer uploaded by tracrunner13

The film deconstructs the  so called war on terror rethoric, showing how it has been used by governments and other actors as an excuse to curtail liberties and freedoms while using fear as a control tool.

The story behind the " detainee 001" story. John Walker Lindh´s dad piece in The Guardian

  America's 'detainee 001' – the persecution of John Walker Lindh

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Frank Lindh, father of 'American Taliban' John Walker Lindh, explains why his son is an innocent victim of America's 'war on terror'

• Frank Lindh

John Walker Lindh following his capture by US troops in December 2001. Photograph: Getty Images

John Phillip Walker Lindh, my son, was raised a Roman Catholic, but converted to Islam when he was 16 years old. He has an older brother and a younger sister. John is scholarly and devout, devoted to his family, and blessed with a powerful intellect, a curious mind, and a wry sense of humour.

Labelled by the American government as "Detainee 001" in the "war on terror", John occupies a prison cell in Terre Haute, Indiana. He has been a prisoner of the American government since 1 December 2001, less than three months after the terror attacks of 9/11.

John is entirely innocent of any involvement in the terror attacks, or any allegiance to terrorism. That is not disputed by the American government. Indeed, all accusations of terrorism against John were dropped by the government in a plea bargain, which in turn was approved by the US district court in which the case was brought.

Link to the complete article 

More on the issue

• Four Days in Guantanamo Video footage reveals a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between captor and captive at Guantanamo Bay prison. Witness Al Jazeera January 12  

New HRW report on torture under the Bush Administration.

 A good report by Human Rights Watch on toture and ill treatment on detainees under the Bush administration just came out, naming and establishing the responsibility of high-ranked officials in the commission of what ammounts to war crime .

We shall like to highlight the appendix, focusing on legal proceedings in foreign countries regarding US detainees treatment (France, Germany, Spain...) and remind everyone that an Spanish Journalist, Jose Couso, was killed by US troops in Baghdad in April 8th  2003;US authorities  blocked all attempts by Spanish  judicial authorities to investigate his death

Here is the slightly reduced press release and access to the report:

Getting Away with Torture

The Bush Administration and Mistreatment of Detainee

The report,  Getting away with torture, presents substantial information warranting criminal investigations of Bush and senior administration officials, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and CIA Director George Tenet, for ordering practices such as “waterboarding,” the use of secret CIA prisons, and the transfer of detainees to countries where they were tortured.

Targeted killings and "surgical interventions", the automation of death

In June 2011 The Washington Post and  The New York Times amongst other U.S. corporate media outlets reported on the first attack by U.S. unmanned aerial vehicles ( drones ) in Somali territory. The episode is the first known attack by the Pentagon in Somalia since the targeted assassination (followed by retrieval of ADN samples from corpses ) of Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, Sheikh Hussein Ali Fidow and other presumed high-ranked members of the al-Shabab armed group in an helicopter raid by U.S. commandos attached to the Vth  float in 2009 and the first use of a U.S. drone for offensive purposes in that country. Drones had been used previously in the country for surveillance and monitoring, including identification of targets for future attacks, one of them being shot down in October 2009.

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Asesinatos selectivos e "intervenciones quirúrgicas", la automatización de la muerte.

A finales de Junio de 2011  el Washington Post, el New York Times y otros medios corporativos estadounidenses informaron acerca de la primer ataque realizado por  EE.UU. con vehículos aéreos no tripulados (drones) en territorio Somali.

El episodio constituia   el primer ataque   reconocido por el Pentágono en Somalia  desde la eliminación de Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, Sheikh Hussein Ali Fidow entre otros miembros del grupo armado al-Shabab  mediante una incursión en helicóptero realizada por comandos estadounidenses adscritos a la Va Flota  en 2009 y el primer uso de un drone estadounidense  con fines ofensivos en  ese país. Anteriormente se habían utilizado  drones en el país para vigilancia y monitoreo, incluida la identificación de objetivos para  posteriores ataques , uno de ellos siendo  derribado en octubre de 2009.