Mr. Newman asserts World War I was actually caused by Brittan’s desire to invade Iraq for oil. Mr. Newman states this is why the Orient express was actually constructed. WWI was sold to the world and the citizens of the of the United States by the U.S. Committee on Public Information, which Edward Bernays was a member of. This is essentially where Edward Bernays began to understand the true power of propaganda.
In this film Robert Newman examines the history of the conquest for oil.
Mr. Newman points out the UK and US press have not bothered to cover the 14 permanent military bases being constructed by the US in Iraq.
Mr. Newman examines the 1953 Coup against Iran launched by Brittan and the U.S. which is covered in more depth in the Bill Moyers PBS documentary Secret Government:Constitution In Crisis.
Mr. Newman hypothesizes on a few reasons why the US may have invaded Iraq. One is oil, but the other is Iraq switching to Euro s over Dollars. This caused banks to flush out dollars and accelerated the Inflation Tax.
Robert Newman’s video History of Oil can be purchased from his web site RobertNewman.com/shop.html, but the video appears to only be available in PAL. The UK video standard is PAL. The US standard is NTSC.
In Breaking the SilenceJohn Pilger examines the history of US and British intervention in Afghanistan
Pilger brings to light Jimmy Carter authorized $500 million to support the Mujahideen six (6) months before Russia had invaded Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden was created by this funding and was regarded by the US and Brittan as a “Good Terrorist”.
Americans were completely unaware their government — along with the MI6 (British Secret Service) — had begun training and funding terrorists.
Soon after the Taliban came to power 1996 the administration of Bill Clinton backed a secret plan for a pipeline through Afghanistan from central Asia which has vast reserves of oil and gas.
After 911 the United states invaded Afghanistan, and drove out Taliban, only to place warlords in power. Although driving out Taliban was claimed as a great victory, The warlords won’t allow women to study, have burned down girls schools, and force woman to wear burkas just like the Taliban.
Unlike the Taliban, the war lords support poppy fields that supply most of the heroin being sold in the US and Brittan.
In order to establish a perspective on US foreign policy, Pilger interviews a number of experts: pro and con.
Pilger interviews Ray McGovern a former CIA operative who gave the U.S. President his daily CIA intelligence report for 30 years. Ray Ray McGovern was a personal friend of George Bush Sr. McGovern states there was a group in Washington referred to as “The Crazies.” “Anyone knew who you were talking about if you mentioned the crazies.” The Crazies are now personal friends and allies of George W. Bush: Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perl, Doug Feith, and Donald Runsfeld.
Pilger interviews William Kristol the President for “The Project for The New American Century”. William Kristol states the problem with the U.S. is being to slow to get involved in foreign countries. William Kristol states the U.S. would not intervene in any “decent” country.
Pilger states to Kristol since World War II there have been 72 interventions conducted by the United States. William Kristol replies “That is ludicrous.”
John Pilger goes on to document these interventions, like the U.S. intervention in Chile.
John Pilger does miss one issue. In nearly every case there was a financial interest at stake. In Chile Salvador Isabelino Allende Gossens wanted to nationalize the copper mines, kicking out multinational corporations. This was covered by HBO Chile.
John Pilger uses the Freedom of Information act to examine documents like “The National Security Strategy of The United States of America.”
Pilger interviews Reed Brody from Human Rights Watch. Mr. Brody States the U.S. government multiplied it’s aid to Indonesia as slaughter in East Temor was increasing.
Pilger interviews Denis Halliday former UN Assistant Secretary General. Halliday likens the current U.S. situation to when children where trained to hide under their desks in case a nuclear bomb were to strike. Halliday states the Axis of Evil is fundamental rubbish and part of a political game.
The United States now has 152 military bases around the world. The U.S. military calls this full spectrum dominance.
Charles Lewis from The Center for Public Integrity likens the situation to the Roman Empire.
George Bush states “We cannot accept and we will not accept states that finance, harbor, train, or equip the agents of terror. Those nations that violate this principle will be regarded as hostile regimes.”
Amnesty International has documented thousands of terrorists who were trained in The School Of The Americas who have been granted safe haven in the United States.
Pilger speaks with Colonel Rod Davis Director of Public Affairs for CJTF 180 in Coalition Military force stationed at Bagram Air Base in Afgahnistan. Colonel Davis assures Pilger no torture takes place at any of the holding locations, no abuse, they receive medical attention, and they are fed.
Pilger states there have been reports [of human rights violations]. One example is a military pathologist who sited a man named Delewa who’s death was attributed to homicide. Colonel Davis states “Anyone who’s fair would have to say that Americans in particular but certainly members of the coalition aren’t known for committing atrocities. That’s not part of our history, that’s not the way we do business. It’s not the way we treat people.”
Another example is Wasaya Mohammed, a Kabul taxi driver, who disappeared into Bagram last year [2002]. He’s now in Guantanamo Bay. His crime was to enquirer about another taxi driver who has since been released. Mohammed has never been charged with any crime. Pilger states what makes this case so appalling is this man is recognized by the present government as having resisted the Taliban. He had no connections with Al Qaeda.
There are nine (9) British Citizens being held in Guantanamo including Shafike Razual. Shafike Razual was kidnapped and taken to Guantanamo two weeks after he had arrived in Pakistan where he has relatives. He has been held for two years without being charged.
Andrew Wilkie former Australian Intelligence Officer. Mr. Wilkie is the only serving western intelligence officer who has broken cover to expose what he considers to be the lies that lead the West into the war with Iraq.
General Wesley Clark former NATO commander states from the time he served he never saw any evidence produced to show Saddam was behind Al Qaeda. Clark states “The only reason to have gone to war to deal with a threat so eminent and so dangerous that war as a last resort was the only means available. As I weighed the evidence as I watched the debate emerge. I reflected on my own experiences I listened to the discussions from the Pentagon and inside the White House as I checked with sources in Congress and people who were current on the intelligence that simply wasn’t the case.”
Douglas Feith under Secretary of Defense (remember Ray McGovern stated he’s one of the crazies), states he does not think the threat of weapons of mass destruction was a lie. Feith points out Saddam used weapons of mass destruction on his own people.
John Pilger counters that most of the biological weapons Saddam used, and their components were sold to him by the US and Brittan. Pilger goes on to cite it’s on the record in the Library Congress. A congressional record of a US Senate inquiry from October 27th 1992 shows the US approved the sale of biological weapons from ATCC and Porton Down in Brittan.
Colan Powall’s speech from February 2001 stated Saddam “He has not developed any significant capabilities with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors.”
Condoleezza Rice Bush’s National Security Advisor stated stated in July 2001, “We are able to keep arms from him. His military force has not been rebuilt.”
This was covered up after September 11th when Bush and Tony Blair decided to invade Iraq. Condoleezza Rice had told one official, “The decision has been made. Don’t waist your breath.”
As of the making of this film it was estimated 10,000 civilians died in the attack on Iraq. John Pilger provides footage of injured civilian in hospitals, and interviews Jo Wilding, human rights observer. Wilding describes the wounded civilians in agonizing pain. There wasn’t enough anesthetic in the hospital to administer to all of them.
John Bolton (under Secretary of State) assures John Pilger the number of Iraqis killed was the absolute minimum for modern warfare. John Bolton also accuses John Pilger of being a member of the Communist Party.
At the end of the documentary John Pilger features conclusions by many of his interviewees.
Rita Lasar’s brother Abe Zelmanowitz was killed in the twin towers on 911. Lasar states “There is something so similar between our administration and Al Qaeda, in it’s certainty that God is on its side that it’s laughable. And that the American people should fall for this lie hurts me more than I can tell you.”
Pilger speaking to Ray McGovern states “Norman Mailer wrote the other day that he believed America had entered a prefascist state. What’s your view of that?”
Ray McGovern: “Well In a way, and I’m not saying this to be cynical, but I hope he’s right because there are others who say we are already in a fascist sort of mode. If you say something often enough people begin to believe it, and that strategy has been applied with unfortunately great success by this administration.”
You can also order a copy of Breaking the Silence on DVD for public viewing for $39.00. The public license gives you the right to show the film publicly, but you are not allowed to charge admission. This is great for libraries, or you could hold a fund raiser to rent out a theater.
As with any film distributed through Bull From Films, I do not make any money if you buy the film. I’m only providing this information as a public service.
This John Pilger film looks at UN sanctions driven by the US and Brittan. The sanctions were supposed to force Saddam Hussein into giving up his chemical and biological weapons which had been sold to him by the US and countries in Europe like Brittan.The sanctions didn’t do much to Saddam Hussein, but they did killed a half a million Iraqi children.
The sanctions called the “Oil for Food Program” were managed by the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM).
The U.N. sanctions denied basic necessities like medical equipment, antibiotics, vaccines, cancer medication, and morphine for dying cancer patients.
Iraq has a lot of cancer patients because the U.S. and Brittan used shells coated with depleted uranium while bombing Iraq, and they did it for years.
John Pilger travels to Iraq with former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, Denis Halliday. This is the first time Halliday returned since he resigned in protest over the sanctions in September 1998.
Pilger also exposes the suffering caused by the illegal bombing campaign that was conducted by the US and Britain in the “no-fly zones”.
Bullfrog Films makes this film available to activist groups for the low price of price of $39 (TV rights are NOT available). You are not able to charge for the cost of tickets to rent out a theater, but you can do public screenings in libraries, or try to get local theaters to play the film in film festivals.
The Secret Government: Constitution in Crisis (1987) is a PBS documentary that covers the Iran Contra Scandal of 1987. The Iran-Contra Affair was a political scandal occurring in 1987 as a result of earlier events during the Reagan administration in which members of the executive branch sold weapons to Iran, and illegally used the proceeds to continue funding anti-Sandinista rebels, the Contras, in Nicaragua. One of the business men who helped fund the scandal was Joseph Coors from the Coors Beer fortune.
Other shady operations covered in this video:
The US enlisted Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie “The Butcher of Lyon” and then helped him flee to Bolivia.
The US backed coup take over in Iran of 1953 that took elected official Mohamed Mossadeq out of power and installed the Shaw in Iran. Mossadeq had planned to kick out British Petroleum and nationalize the countries oil fields.
The 1954 coup in Guatemala to over throw Jacobo Arbenz Guzman. Arbenz nationalized the land in the country and gave it to the poor. Much of the land was held by the United Fruit Company.
The Vietnam War of 1968 originally started as US covert operation and support for a puppet leader Ngo Dinh Diem. The Gulf of Tonkin Incident was provoked as an excuse to go into battle. Ralph MacGehee was there for the CIA and helped setup the South Vietnam Secret Police.
More from PBS on the secrecy of the US Government pbs.org/now I am not associated with PBS, but personally I believe the work Bill Moyers does is essential to US Democracy. Please consider making a donation as I have so Bill Moyers can keep up the good work http://www.pbs.org/now/pledge.html This would be a great video to request for at public libraries, give as a gift to state delegates for you local precinct, and to show to friends and family, but I have not been able to find it on DVD. Perhaps if there is enough public support PBS will consider making the DVD available to the public again.
The PBS documentary Buying The War hosted by Bill Moyer, is an excellent documentary on the controlled media.
We can’t expect the mainstream media to be critical of it’s self, but luckily we have Bill Moyer to do it for us.
Bill Moyer interviews people like Bob Simon who had been stationed in Iraq and walked the streets of Baghdad.
Mr. Moyer also interviews the authors of a variety of books on the news coverage leading up to the Iraq war:
James Bamford author of A Pretext for War
Michael Massing author of Now They Tell US
Norman Solomon author of War Made Easy
Eric Boehlert author of Lapdog
There are a couple of interesting connections to make from this film.
One, is William (Bill) Kristol is mentioned as being one of the political pundits who convinced the American People there was a connection between the Iraq, Saddam Hussein and 911. William Kristol is the chairman of Project for the New American Century.
Two, is Michael Gerson was Bush’s speech writer who helped convince the American people there was a connection between Iraq, Saddam Hussein and 911. Michael Gerson left his position as a speech writer for Bush to write for the Washington Post. At the time WP was laying off journalists. All you have to do is Google Michael Gerson to see he is indeed writes for the Washington Post and he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, AKA CFR.
Rather than take my word for it, watch Buying The War and judge for yourself.
I would like to make the suggestion that if you watch the video on PBS’ web site, and find it important, consider making a donation as I have. Bill Moyer won’t be able to continue his work, if we don’t support him.
If you don’t think you agree with Mr. Moyer, at least watch the video before forming an opinion. You can’t credibly dispute an issue (although many people try) unless you have actually examined the material so you know what you’re disputing.
