I've done some searching and can't seem to find any mention of a fantastic documentary called
The Oil Factor: Behind the War on Terror.
Gerard Ungerman and Audrey Brohey, the documentary's producers, describe the film on their web site:
According to O.E.C.D. data, the Middle-East holds 70% of the world oil reserves while North America and Europe will run out of oil in 2010 at their current rate of production. Emerging technologies might provide alternatives to oil used for energy but these innovations will do nothing to remedy the need for oil used in plastics which accounts for about half of oil's uses.
In the wake of Vice-President Dick Cheney's 2001 Energy Task Force, is it a coincidence if George Bush targeted Iraq in its so called "war-on-terror", a country known to possess the second largest oil reserves in the world?
There's more from their web site below the fold...
Is it another coincidence if U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Central Asia are based near Central Asian oil and natural gas?
Was invading Iraq and Afghanistan really meant to reduce terrorist threats against the United States or was it a ploy to guarantee that the average American can continue consuming 4 times more energy than the average European or 32 times more energy than the average African?
After a year and a half of investigation and a three month trip covering Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, THE OIL FACTOR looks at both the human cost and the greater geo-strategic picture of George Bush's "war-on-terror". Along with solid facts & figures, clear, illustrative maps and graphics and original footage shot on location, THE OIL FACTOR features such personalities as Zbigniew Brzezinski, Noam Chomsky, The Project for the New American Century Director Gary Schmitt, best-seller "Taliban" author Ahmed Rashid and the Pentagon's Karen Kwiatkowski.
The producers are showing the film in Colorado right now, but I spoke with them at a screening last night and they said they're going to show it in other states -- just watch the web site to see if it's coming to a big screen near you.
Meanwhile, you can purchase The Oil Factor from the web site and the producers are eagerly encouraging neighborhood screenings. They're working hard at the grassroots level.
This is not Ungerman and Brohey's first film. They have numerous other documentaries to their names:
Hidden Wars of Desert Storm looks at the origins of the Gulf War crisis and challenges the official Western "party-line" view of a spontaneous crusade for "Freedom & Democracy".
Plan Columbia: Cashing In on the Drug War Failure investigates the disasterous effects of America's 20-year "war on drugs" in Columbia and questions the current administration's plans in that South American country. The documentary features an interview done with Senator Paul Wellstone before his death in 2002.
I encourage you to watch and spread the word.
P.S. This is my first diary. I'm trembling inside!