Breaking the Silence: Truth and Lies in the War on Terror

Breaking the Silence: Truth and Lies in the War on Terror investigates the facts and falsehoods behind the ‘War on Terror’, contrasting discrepancies between the justifications for war offered by the United States and Britain with the humanitarian failings witnessed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Filmmaker John Pilger asserts that the US and UK have a history of backing fundamentalist groups in the Middle East, including the Afghan mujahideen and Afghan Arabs who later formed the Taliban and the terrorist group Al-Qaeda. He points out that US President Jimmy Carter established a US$500 million programme to arm and train the Afghan mujahideen six months before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Furthermore, in 1996, the administration of President Bill Clinton forged friendly relations with the Taliban in order to secure backing for a pipeline project through Central Asia, with Taliban officials invited to the United States and afforded hospitable treatment.

The documentary goes on to frame the United States’ ongoing War on Terror as a smokescreen of rhetoric designed to distract the public from attempts to gain control over the world’s resource-rich regions. Pilger interviews several members of the US administration, as well as Afghans who have witnessed the devastation first-hand.