SHOCKING AND AWFUL MARATHON -- PART THREE:
"Empire and Oil" (28 minutes)
In 1948 the U.S. State Department called the oil of the Middle East the "greatest strategic prize in history." Oil is the blood of industrial society. If the main product of the Middle East were tangerines and dates, there is zero likelihood that the configuration of the region or the invasions by European and American empires that have plagued it's modern history would have ever happened. Empire and Oil documents the history of Iraq, the scramble for oil, and reveals the real motivation of the Iraq War: to control the oil of the region, not for American SUV's, but to to secure leverage over it's current and future imperial rivals.
"Channels of War -- The Media is the Military" (28 minutes)
A thoroughgoing analysis of the role of corporate media is leading the people of the United States into war, in this case, the Iraq War. Media analyst Robin Andersen deconstructs the role of embedded reporters, including network anchors Dan Rather and Tom Brokow, who treated the war like a reality show. Steve Rendell of Fair and others reveal the links between the corporations that own the media and the war manufacturers. The program provides a valuable example of critical thinking that exposes the mechanisms of what Noam Chomsky called manufacturing consent. Despotism or Democracy? As one media critic asked: How would the corporate media's coverage of the Iraq war been different if it was state owned?
"Resistance at Home" (29 minutes)
This episode focuses on the millions of Americans who have said, NO! to the invasion and occupation of Iraq and the larger Bush agenda of clampdowns on free speech, increased spying on citizens and the elimination of civil liberties. Segments include, Scenes From An Endless War, The Bloody War in DC, War Pigs, The Bush War Is Coming, Bush To Hitler, Labor Against the War and The Culture of Resistance.
"Baghdad" (26 minutes)
Italian filmmaker Dario Bellini has created a haunting collage of visual images that shows the human face of war: the Iraqi men and women and children who have been the victims of the U.S. invasion and occupation. The absurdly unequal contest inaccurately called a "war", the blind destruction of so much, the sorrow and pain, the tragedy and hope in the eyes of so many people.
"Tax Dollars at War" (4 minutes)
To complete the Media Edge 3-week series to mark the 10th anniversary of the second US invasion of Iraq, we present this excellent animated video, based on a radio interview about US military spending as a proportion of our national budget.
