A War on Scams

What if there really was no need for much - or even most - of the Cold War? What if, in fact, the Cold War had been kept alive for two decades based on phony WMD threats?

What if, similarly, the War On Terror was largely a scam, and the administration was hyping it to seem larger-than-life? What if our "enemy" represented a real but relatively small threat posed by rogue and criminal groups well outside the mainstream of Islam? What if that hype was done largely to enhance the power, electability, and stature of George W. Bush and Tony Blair?

And what if the world was to discover the most shocking dimensions of these twin deceits - that the same men promulgated them in the 1970s and today?

Pretty provocative stuff. And before you write this off as just more fringe rambling, it's actually a 3-hour BBC documentary largely about the neocon and Islamist movements entitled "The Power of Nightmares" (aired October 2004). You can find the actual show via the first link, but if you just want to read the transcript, that's here.

Tags: politics, war on terror