The Power of Nightmares

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The Power of Nightmares is a BBC series of documentary films, written and produced by Adam Curtis.

The central claims of the series are that the same politicians that exaggerated the threat of communism in the 1970s and 80s have exaggerated the scale of the terrorist threat, from which they offer to protect us; that the fortunes of neo-conservatism and radical Islamism are closely connected; and that some popular beliefs about these groups are inaccurate. According to the programme's introduction:

In the past, politicians promised to create a better world. They had different ways of achieving this, but their power and authority came from the optimistic visions they offered their people. Those dreams failed and today people have lost faith in ideologies. Increasingly, politicians are seen simply as managers of public life, but now they have discovered a new role that restores their power and authority. Instead of delivering dreams, politicians now promise to protect us: from nightmares.
They say that they will rescue us from dreadful dangers that we cannot see and do not understand. And the greatest danger of all is international terrorism, a powerful and sinister network with sleeper cells in countries across the world, a threat that needs to be fought by a War on Terror. But much of this threat is a fantasy, which has been exaggerated and distorted by politicians. It's a dark illusion that has spread unquestioned through governments around the world, the security services and the international media. This is a series of films about how and why that fantasy was created and who it benefits.
At the heart of the story are two groups: the American neoconservatives and the radical Islamists. Both were idealists, who were born out of the failure of the liberal dream to build a better world and both had a very similar explanation of what caused that failure. These two groups have changed the world, but not in the way that either intended. Together, they created today's nightmare vision of a secret organised evil that threatens the world, a fantasy that politicians then found restored their power and authority in a disillusioned age. And those with the darkest fears became the most powerful.

Contents

Part 1 - Baby It's Cold Outside

In the 1950s Sayyid Qutb, an Egyptian civil servant turned revolutionary, and Leo Strauss, an American professor of political philosophy, both came to see western liberalism as corrosive to morality and to society. Qutb had been sent to the U.S. to learn about its public education system but was disgusted by what he saw of its society. They each argued that radical measures, including deception and (in Qutb's case) even violence, could be justified in an effort to restore shared moral values to society, and their arguments heavily influenced radical Islamism and American neo-conservatism, respectively. Senior American civil servants and politicians influenced by neo-conservatism came to believe anti-communist propaganda and saw it as an evil force against which the U.S. should be presented as a force for good. This propaganda included Donald Rumsfeld's over-estimation of Soviet military technology and the William Casey-led CIA assertion that various terrorist organisations were backed by the Soviet Union. Meanwhile Qutb became influential in the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and was then jailed after some of its members attempted to assassinate President Nasser.

This was first broadcast on Wednesday 20 October 2004. Its title is taken from a popular song which Qutb heard played at a church-organised dance for young people, which he saw as symptomatic of the immorality of American society.

Part 2 - The Phantom Victory

In the 1980s the Islamist mujaheddin and the neo-conservative-influenced Reagan administration temporarily cooperated in fighting a common enemy, the Soviet Union and the Soviet-backed regime in Afghanistan. Although the Soviet Union was already on the verge of collapse, both groups came to believe that it was their actions in Afghanistan that had caused it to fall. However, other attempts by Islamists to incite popular revolution failed, and the neo-conservatives lost power in the U.S. as the presidency passed to George H. W. Bush and subsequently to Bill Clinton. Both groups, having failed to achieve lasting political influence, identified new targets to attack: the neoconservatives sought to demonise Clinton while the radical Islamists decided that those who had not aided their cause were legitimate targets for violence.

This was first broadcast on Wednesday 27 October 2004.

Part 3 - The Shadows in the Cave

In the late 1990s the Taliban set up military training camps in Afghanistan for Islamist fighters. Most were only interested in fighting in their home countries, but Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad and follower of Sayyid Qutb, paid the Taliban to allow them to recruit volunteers for attacks on the U.S. from these camps. Prosecutors for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings believed bin Laden organised them and wanted to convict him in absentia by showing that he headed a criminal organisation. Jamal al-Fadl, a former associate of bin Laden, described such an organisation to them, which the investigators called al-Qaeda. While bin Laden apparently aided the attacks he had no organisation through which he could command and control them; al-Fadl seems to have told investigators what they wanted to hear in return for money and witness protection. Similarly, while bin Laden provided funds and volunteers to carry out the September 11, 2001 attacks, they were actually planned by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

Following this attack, the neo-conservatives were able to convince George W. Bush to begin a War on Terror and to paint al-Qaeda as an international network of terrorists. The war in Afghanistan removed bin Laden's main source of recruits, but the U.S. military and the Afghan Northern Alliance also captured and killed many people in the Taliban camps that had nothing to do with him. The story circulated that bin Laden and the core of al-Qaeda had retreated to an underground complex in Tora Bora, but an exhaustive search revealed no sign of this. Al-Qaeda could not be found because it never really existed; Islamist terrorists are connected only by ideology and not by an organisation that can be cut off at its root.

The arrests of various groups of suspected terrorists in the U.S. following the September 11 attacks failed to find any substantive evidence, but did show a lot of imagination of the part of investigators. Similarly, in the U.K., arrests under new terrorism laws have resulted in only 3 convictions of Islamists, all for fundraising. Much of the media coverage of potential terrorist attacks is also highly speculative and sensational. For instance, a terrorist attack using a radiological weapon, referred to by the media as a dirty bomb, wouldn't kill many people from fallout because the radioactive material would be spread thinly by any explosion. However, the neo-conservatives had found they could use the threat of Islamist terrorism, and the claimed possibility of sponsorship by Iraq, as an enemy against which to unite the U.S., and other politicians such as Tony Blair claimed an important role in protecting their countries from attack. Politicians and counter-terrorist agents have decided that they must be proactive in imagining the worst possible attacks and in stopping those who seem likely to carry out attacks.

This was first broadcast on Wednesday 3 November 2004. Its title appears to refer to Plato's allegory of the cave and to the belief in the complex in Tora Bora.

Distribution

The Power of Nightmares was first broadcast on BBC Two in three hour-long parts on consecutive Wednesday evenings in the autumn of 2004. The series was rebroadcast in late January 2005 on three consecutive nights, with the final part updated to reflect the Law Lords ruling from the previous December that detaining foreign terrorist suspects without trial is illegal.

Although the series has not been shown on U.S. television, its three episodes were shown in succession on 26 February 2005 as part of the True/False Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri, USA. After the film, Curtis made a public appearance and lead a discussion in which he expressed pessimism about an eventual American TV airing or DVD release.

Curtis has also stated: "Something extraordinary has happened to American TV since September 11. A head of the leading networks who had better remain nameless said to me that there was no way they could show it. He said, 'Who are you to say this?' and then he added, 'We would get slaughtered if we put this out.' When I was in New York I took a DVD to the head of documentaries at HBO. I still haven't heard from him."

An edited two and a half hour version was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2005, with Pathé buying up distribution rights to exhibit this version in cinemas worldwide.

The Power of Nightmares was aired in Canada in April 2005 by CBC Newsworld.

In Australia, the programme was to be screened on SBS commencing 2005-07-12 [1], however this screening of the series was cancelled. An e-mail response enquiring as to this cancellation was worded "SBS Management made the decision that in light of the recent London bombings it would not be appropriate to screen the series at this time."

No DVD of the programme is available, but the programme is widely available for download on the Internet, specifically from archive.org.

Criticism and Responses

Various attacks have been made on the programme, its author, the BBC and the arguments presented. Curtis has responded to some of the criticism.

The program misrepresents the past

The use of fear in politics is nothing new, dictators and democratic leaders throughout history have demonized opponents and enemies. In modern times, fears of global warming, pollution, corporations, globalization, etc, have all been exploited politically.

The programme is, or presents, a conspiracy theory

David Aaronovitch has suggested that the programme "is a conspiracy theory". In the everyday sense of the phrase, this is a semi-plausible attack for some of the points the piece makes; for example the reasons for the attacks on President Clinton's character can be considered to constitute a conspiracy theory against him. However, the evidence put forward includes interviews by at least one of the then attackers admitting that they made the whole thing up for political gain and details how this was done, and why the attacks were falacious.

Curtis defends his view: "The use of fear in contemporary politics is not the result of a conspiracy, the politicians have stumbled on it. In a populist, consumerist age where they found their authority and legitimacy declining dramatically they have simply discovered in the 'war on terror' a way of restoring their authority by promising to protect us."

The programme neglects to analyse the impact of economic interests

Critics such as MediaLens, who believe that US government policy is shaped to a large extent by powerful business interests, point out that Curtis did not address this aspect. Curtis accepts this criticism as "serious and important", but defends his programme: "Both the neoconservatives and the Islamists have become powerful and influential and I chose to make a series of films that explained the roots of their ideas and how they were taken up, simplified and distorted. You want me to have made a different series [about] a perfectly good and very important subject - but different." [2]

The programme makes unfalsifiable assertions

A question might be raised: whether the programme is falsifiable or whether it is pure conjecture unsupported by facts. Most assertions made in the documentary can be verified through evidence and testimony, some of which was provided in the documentary itself. The intentions of the neocons and others in the US government, the islamists, the followers of Zawahiri, CIA employees, etc can never be proven, however; one can only examine their actions and what they say, both of which can be attributed any number of motivations, though some more plausibly than others. It should be noted that anything that speculates as to a person's intentions is subject to the same criticism. It should also be noted that information provided to the public by government intelligence agencies similarly lack verifiability.

The programme plays on anti-American sentiment

It has also been accused of playing upon anti-American sentiment, by fostering the view that the US is somehow 'parallel' to Al Qaeda in extremism, or that the US is manipulative and scheming.

Terrorist events disprove his theory

It has also been suggested that in light of the 9/11 attacks, the Madrid bombings, and the more recent bombings in London, that it is "ludicrous" to claim that the threat of terrorism by radical Islamists is exaggerated.

Curtis said: "The series did not say this. It was very clear in arguing that although there is a serious threat of terrorism from some radical Islamists, the nightmare vision of a uniquely powerful hidden organisation waiting to strike our societies is an illusion." Additionally Curtis said: "The attacks on 11 September were not the expression of a confident and growing movement, they were acts of desperation by a small group frustrated by their failure which they blamed on the power of America."

Furthermore, it is suggested that if terrorist attacks by radical Islamists continue around the globe, then the thesis that the threat of terrorism does not exist, is insignificant, or comes out of the desperation of a failing movement, will lose its credibility. Thousands of people in dozens of countries have been killed or injured by terrorism linked to extreme Islamists, which, by U.S. State Department and other independent group's measures have only increased since September 11th, 2001. Indeed, they have increased so much since the invasion of Iraq, that the State Department has not yet published figures for this year. In light of the escalation of terrorism since 2001, it remains to be seen whether Curtis' view that the threat is exaggerated will be vindicated. However, this view neglects the possibility that the "nightmare vision" of the Islamist terrorist threat may act like a self-fulfilling prophecy, that is, the credibility and influence which Islamist terrorist groups gain solely through exaggration of the threat may empower them with the ability to inspire and mobilise large numbers adherents and imitators, thereby creating the world depicted in the nightmare vision.

Al-Qaeda was misrepresented

It has been noted by critics that al-Qaeda may not exist as a highly organised and structured group, but neglected that they do not operate as the group that perpetrated the 9/11 bombings, or have the same leaders. They are new groups, "franchises" using the same name. The critics talk about al-Qaeda not being highly organised and therefore not dangerous. Other critics counter that Curtis suggested that the level of danger has been exaggerated, not fabricated.

Critics suggest al-Qaeda is still dangerous, even if symbolically or in a promotional role. Curtis has never denied this. The programme did not say there was no threat. It said there is not a uniquely powerful hidden organisation behind them. Critics say it has been suggested by experts that the true nature of al-Qaeda is not entirely clear as the organization has a history of mutating and adapting to new conditions.

The neoconservatives were "misrepresented"

Clive Davis in "The Power of Bad Television" at the National Review claims that the characterisation of neoconservatives' views in the programme is inaccurate. He has also suggested that the degree to which neoconservatives have been influenced by Leo Strauss is greatly exaggerated. Further he maintains that this programme suggests that "it is Strauss, not Osama bin Laden, who is the real evil genius."

However, examination of the transcript of the programme shows that it only accuses Strauss of suggesting that certain myth-making might be important, nothing evil is ever imputed.

BBC contradictions

Critics of the programme assert that it is not consistent that the BBC News division has suggested recently that the bombings in London may be the work of al-Qaeda. Others point out, however, that the news division regularly speculates on the causes of events.

Critics of the programme also assert that the BBC's documentary suggests that al-Qaeda should not exist, and that this is contradictory with the BBC's reporting. However, the documentary does not make such an assertion, and so the validity of the programme's claims are unaffected. Moreover, they assert that the BBC is publicly funded and has a mandate to be impartial, and so a full spectrum of opinions are presented.

Music

Not in order

See also

Books recommended by Adam Curtis to follow up watching the series

Islamism

The history of Neoconservatism

"The weirdness of the 1990s"

External links

Reviews

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