"Hijacking Catastrophe" flick has more integrity than F9/11

I got the documentary "Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear and the Selling of American Empire" a couple weeks ago, and I've watched it several times over with various people. Here's a review from the SF Gate and Variety. This short documentary might be the "Fahrenheit 9/11 for the rational mind" that we've been missing. It's a direct, stripped down kind of documentary, outlining the Wolfowitz doctrine of global domination by force from its origins in the 1993 Defense Planning Guidance document, through to the Project for a New American Century's work and the famous "catalyzing event...like a new Pearl Harbor" license for action. Noam Chomsky makes a few brief, very down-to-earth statements, Norman Mailer makes a few cracks, Chalmers Johnson illustrates the Sorrows of Empire, and such characters as Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkoski, Stan Goff and weapons inspector Scott Ritter each have fascinating 30 minute interviews available on the DVD. (Pentagon Papers star Daniel Ellsberg and Canadian neocon attacker Shadia Drury have DVD interviews too). Medea Benjamin, Tariq Ali, Normon Solomon and William Hartungg from the World Policy Institute all get some time that's been so carefully denied them by the mainstream media.

Narrated by NAACP honcho Julian Bond, this documentary even covers the origins of the "Shock and Awe" doctrine as the Wolfowitz doctrine of domination operationalized. The quotes from Harman Ullmann's original Shock and Awe study are juxtaposed with war casualty photos. In its "Sorrows of Empire" section, the documentary masterfully outlines the true fiscal cost of the new imperial project. As Chalmers Johnson says, (paraphrasing), "The first and sixth amendments of the Constitution are dead letters, habeas corpus has been suspended, etc. but these are political problems. They don't spell the end of the United States. Financial bankruptcy does." An incredible pivot.

I would criticize this movie for not linking the neocons more closely with Israel, particularly since in their interviews, Goff, Ellsberg, and Kwiatkowski all articulate information about ties to the Israeli right, and Kwiatkowski's digestion of the Clean Break is probably the best I've seen on video. Too bad it wasn't in the final documentary. Dicey territory that Moore bailed from altogether.

This documentary articulates the connections that remain sadly unaddressed in Fahrenheit 9/11. If you see Moore's flick, this documentary and Control Room, that visual triangle should be enough to put anyone on a firmly informed, critical footing. Everyone who's seen this has really enjoyed it, and I strongly recommend that y'all check it out.

I found this film a very cathartic visual explanation of the many accumulated facts and horrors that I've read about for so long, and finally the video appearance of central people like Kwiatkowski makes a huge impact. Thank you Media Education Foundation!!!

Posted by HongPong at July 26, 2004 06:51 PM
Listed under Iraq , Military-Industrial Complex , Movies .