Adam Curtis ('The Power of Nightmares') on Yemen

[muriel_volestrangler]

Tucked away in a corner of the BBC, Adam Curtis, the documentary maker of 'The Power of Nightmares', 'The Century of the Self', 'The Trap' and more, has a blog, on which he writes about current topics and illustrates them with archive news or documentary footage (which occasionally may not play correctly outside the UK - sorry). It's a bit like the programmes he hasn't quite made. There's stuff on Congo, Afghanistan, Dubai and now Yemen:

What I find so fascinating about the reporting of the War on Terror is the way almost all of it ignores history - as if it is a conflict happening outside time. The Yemen is a case in point. In the wake of the underpants bomber we have been deluged by a wave of terror journalism about this dark mediaeval country that harbours incomprehensible fanatics who want to destroy the west. None of it has explained that only forty years ago the British government fought a vicious secret war in the Yemen against republican revolutionaries who used terror, including bombing airliners.
...
First that the chaos that has engulfed the Yemen today and is breeding new terrorist threats against the west is a direct result of that conflict of forty years ago.

Secondly it also had a powerful and corrupting effect on Britain itself. To fight the war both Conservative and Labour governments in the 1960s set up international arms deals with the Saudis. These involved bribery on a huge scale which led to the Al Yamamah scandal that still festers today.

To fight the war in secret the British government also allowed the creation of a private mercenary force. Out of it would come today's privatized military industry that fights wars for dictators throughout Africa and is deeply involved in fighting against the insurgency in Iraq.
...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2010/01/yemen_the_return_of_old_ghosts.html

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. His docs are available on Goodle Video.

I have marked The Mayfair Set for future watching.

From Wiki:

The Mayfair Set is a series of programmes produced by Adam Curtis for the BBC, first broadcast in the summer of 1999.

The programme looked at how buccaneer capitalists of hot money were allowed to shape the climate of the Thatcher years, focusing on the rise of Colonel David Stirling, Jim Slater, James Goldsmith, and Tiny Rowland, all members of The Clermont club in the 1960s. It received the BAFTA Award for Best Factual Series or Strand in 2000. <1>

[snot]

2. Thanks for this. Adam Curtis is terrific; needs to be better-known.

[MinM]

3. K&R

Power of Nightmares is one of the best documentaries ever. Must see teevee.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7164259&mesg_id=7165572

[Mithreal]

4. Excellent find. Enthusiastic K&R