The Power of Nightmares Part 2

This evening I watched the second part to the Power of Nightmares and I have had a change of heart about this series. Last week I was very into the film and was excited to watch the next part, but now I am beginning to have second thoughts. I found that the film was making large assumptions and stretching their facts. They presented the film in a manner that is very biased and over simplified. The film gives a very narrow sense of the incredibly complex issues that surrounds Middle Eastern politics. Just as they understate the role that other groups had in the respective situations in America and Afghanistan, they overstate the role that the neo-conservatives had in the US (unfortunately I do not know enough about Middle Eastern politics in the 1990’s so I cannot fairly speak to some of the information that the film provides on Osama Bin Laden). I found that their heavy bias highly influenced the credibility of their positions and I had a hard time accepting a lot of what they were saying. I do not deny the historical events in any manner it is just the conclusions and connections they make seem to directly connect every major action in Middle Eastern affairs to two groups, the neo-conservatives and the Islamic Jihad.

In all honestly what this film does, through its use of ominous music and conspiracy theories, is attempt to scare the audience. after watching this far into the series I am now just more motivated to do my own research into this time period because the facts in the film I think are mildly distorted.