Stranger Than Fiction

In Adam Curtis' BBC documentary, find out how Neocons fear "possible devastating effects" from individual freedom and self-expression, and how their desire to maintain order and stability propel them to to extremes by implementing false policy and national direction based on an ideology joining patriotism and religion rooted in fear, concocted from deliberate fantasy. The real problem begins to snowball as they, and their disciples begin to believe their own myths. To start, we witness the striking similarities and ideological origins of both Neocons and Jihadists (like Bin Laden). Are Neocons and Jihadists alike?

This documentary leaves the viewer wondering if, in the words of Delbert Grady, the steely-eyed british-accented ghost waiter/caretaker of the Overlook Hotel to the completely crazed Jack Torrance (Nicholson) in The Shining,

"I'm sorry to defer with you, sir. But you are the caretaker. You've always been the caretaker. I should know, sir. I've always been here."

In this BBC documentary, the Neocons (students of Leo Strauss, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, and William Kristol) create an imaginary threat with the help of new disciple, Donald Rumsfeld. Later attracting dozens of GOP luminaries to form PNAC Project for a New American Century, which then influenced the entire party and its constituents.



In the late 70's, the Neocons seized their opportunity to lay the grass roots that would one day lead to 911 and beyond. The Neocons allied themselves with Donald Rumsfeld and began a fear-mongering campaign that would convince President Ford to authorize an inquiry on the intentions and technological capabilities of the Soviet Union. Thought the idea sounded noble enough, the inquiry dubbed "Plan B" was authorized by Ford under the full-biased control of none other than the Neoconservatives (AKA the "Team-B").

The Neocons had one huge obstacle however, the CIA as well as other international agencies had already proven that the Soviet Union was headed for a collapse and had no intention of attacking America. Regardless of the fact, the Neocons began their assessment. "But however closely they looked" at the CIA's findings, "there was little evidence of the dangerous weapons or defense systems they claimed the Soviets were developing" at the time.

Since Neocons were on a quest to create a simplistic view of the world as "good and evil" and nothing in between, the truth was not about to get in their way. Team-B simply made an assumption: "The Soviets had developed systems that were so sophisticated, they were undetectable." Sadly, with the help of Rumsfeld's hypnotic, all-out chanting and ranting of fear and impeding doom (as shown in the video), the quivering politicians and the government 'ate it up' -- and thus began the era of the Neoconservatives.

The story will continues in the next installments to show how the Neocons help finance, arm, and train the "freedom fighters" in Afghanistan, which would later become known as "terrorists."

This gives foundation to the question — Well, How did we get here?

additional resources:
UK Indymedia
Philosophy of Deception
You Can't Handle the Truth
PNAC in Wikipedia
Sayed Kotb(Sayyid Qutb)
BBC producer Alan Curtis