Hijacking Catastrophe - 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American Empire

Synopsis: America is out to rule the world in a New American Century. This film analyses and occasionally exposes the neo-conservatives who would bring about a new era of empire.

"The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." Hermann Goering.

I always get nervous when going to see a film about September 11, the Bush administration, etc, and then see names like Michael Franti, Tariq Ali and Noam Chomsky listed among the talking heads. See, I think people like to polarise on these issues, generally looking for an excuse to hate something or someone. These sorts of things are never positive, since, as Yoda likes to remind us, "Hate leads to suffering". It doesn't really matter if you hate Bush or Bin Laden, hating something diminishes a person. More to the point, polemics that rant on about how George Bush and his mates are evil incarnate is not going to convince a person who isn't already looking for an excuse to think that the U.S. is doing very stupid things in conducting its international affairs. Put simply, while people bag Fox News for being incredibly partisan and divisive, most documentaries coming from the left are guilty of the exact same crime, only their lies are in the service of "good" not "evil". Witness the continual controversies over Michael Moore's playing fast and loose with the truth in service of his own agendas. Neither side is honest in their approach, so who can blame the silent majority for being cynical and passive?

So it was with great relief that I came out of this film feeling like I had actually heard some rational arguments. Not to say there isn't the usual conspiracy theories and general statements of plots to overtake the world by the U.S., but Hijacking Catastrophe has got more than that to it. By far the best section of the film comes when it delves into economic policy and explains how America is funding its war on terror by borrowing heavily from overseas. The national debt is currently dwarfing the sum total of Third World debt by a staggering margin, and since the money isn't going into anything that will generate a return, the implication is that the U.S. is headed for economic ruin. Whether that will actually happen or not is an entirely different matter, but it was something I hadn't heard before and it was good to see a film that actually delved into some factual information rather than simply airing a bunch of people's opinions on how the U.S. is bent on dominating world oil and so on. (You get that too mind you.)

The join-the-dots approach, linking a number of events together to demonstrate that the neo-conservatives in Washington have been planning the current state of affairs for over a decade didn't entirely convince me. As a friend of mine who used to work in the British nuclear weapons program once told me: "There is no such thing as a conspiracy, only cock-ups and cover-ups". Possibly not useful as a blanket statement, but, whilst being far from easily dismissable, the film does draw a long bow over a number of issues. In the end the reality is that in a little while George W. Bush will be out of office, and someone else will take his place. Predictions of an ongoing conspiracy to dominate the world seem a little silly in light of this simple fact. Nothing lasts forever. Not even Rome.

 

 

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