The Power of Nightmares

The award winning BBC series, which has been screened in a feature documentary version at Cannes 2005. The series questions whether we should be worried about the threat from organised terrorism or is it simply a phantom menace being used to stop society from falling apart?
In the past our politicians offered us dreams of a better world. Now they promise to protect us from nightmares. The most frightening of these is the threat of an international terror network. But just as the dreams were not true, neither are these nightmares. In the series, the Power of Nightmares explores how the idea that we are threatened by a hidden and organised terrorist network is an illusion. It is a myth that has spread unquestioned through politics, the security services and the international media.

The Series: The power of Nightmares

• PartI: Baby It’s Cold Outside
• PartII: The Phantom Victory
• PartIII: The Shadows in the Cave

PartI

‘Baby it’s cold outside’ explores the origins in the 1940s and 50s of Islamic Fundamentalism in the Middle East, and Neoconservatism in America. It parallels between these movements, and their effect on the world today.

PartII

‘The Phantom Victory’ looks at how two groups, radical Islamists and neo-conservatives with seemingly opposing ideologies came together to defeat a common enemy in Afghanistan(Communism). It shows how the Afghan Jihad, the CIA, Osama Bin Laden, the Collapse of the Soviet Empire, Gulf War I, the Algerian Civil War and the Lewinsky Affaire interrelate.

PartIII

The concluding part, ‘The Shadows in the Cave’ looks at how the shock and panic caused by the 9-11 attacks have led to the world today. It balances the idea that there is a dangerous and highly organized group of fanatical individuals around the world that has been inspired by extreme Islamist ideas, and that will use the techniques of mass terror.