*Ø* Blogmanac | If you watch no other TV this year ... watch this

"A compelling documentary, almost haunting at times, which takes one of the biggest political bones on the current global landscape (broadly, the war on terrorism and, specifically, its impact on Afghanistan) and chews it to pieces.

"While the public relations machinery of Western governments recycles positive imagery as a way of allaying fears about the conflicts which have engulfed the world, journalist John Pilger reports from the front line of what appears to be a new and frightening cultural and political conflict.

"Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, is a city reduced to rubble. Much of the damage, reports Pilger, has been done not by the Taliban but by the US-backed warlords who now run the country. The government functions on less than $US300 million and there is no budget for reconstruction.

"Of the millions in aid which poured into the country, only a fraction of it has been spent rebuilding the country and - astonishingly - Pilger claims a large slice of it has been spent on military rebuilding.

"Deposing the Taliban may have brought music, education and some freedom for women back to Afghanistan, but you have to wonder if there has been any real victory in a country which, in parts, still subjects women, caught outdoors with an unrelated man, to a 'chastity' check.

"Coupled with the re-establishment of the opium industry and the fact that Afghanistan's US-backed president never leaves his office without his 42 US Special Forces bodyguards, you have to ask just who is running the country?

"From there, the program broadens into an examination of the 'truth and lies' in the war against terrorism, including the training of terrorists and the funding of terrorism.

"The program is astonishing. The information it presents is as disturbing as it is compelling and, undoubtedly, some of its claims will sound long and loud after this hour ends."
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You won't want to miss John Pilger's interviews with some top American State Department and military officials who seem to have no idea of what's happening in the world. Then there is a former top CIA official, a friend of George Bush Sr, who has fascinating insights to what he said were always called "The Crazies" ... people such as Perl and Wolfowitz. When Pilger asks him if he agrees with Norman Mailer that the USA has entered a pre-fascist era, he says "I hope so". Because he thinks America is already in a fascist era. It's chilling, as is the whole documentary by Australia's best-known doco journalist.

You can watch it here for free online with Real Media, thanks to the good folks at Informationclearinghouse.info Please view it and spread the word.