Walter Miali / Bullfrog Films – 2005-08-16 00:51:20
http://www.envirosagainstwar.org/edit/index.php?op=edit&itemid=3047
Deadly Mistakes?
A 2-DVD set designed to help students critically analyze some of our foreign
policy interventions since World War II.
Bullfrog Films
405 minutes
Color / Stereo
Grade Level: Grades 10 – 12, College, Adult
US Release Date: 2005
Copyright Date: 2005
ISBN (DVD): 1-59458-166-5
Directed by Walter Miale
Produced by Walter Miale, Democracy Dialogues
“A brilliant and extraordinary work on public policy.”
— Marcus Raskin, co-founder, Institute for Policy Studies
Most students finish high school, and even college, without critically analyzing recent US history. With public discussion of past misadventures also lacking, how can citizens form educated opinions about today’s crises?
In a series of short films, DEADLY MISTAKES? looks at US interventions
abroad during the second half of the 20th century:
* the overthrow of the government of Iran
* intervention and genocide in Guatemala
* the Cuban missile crisis
* the Vietnam War
* Somoza and the Contra War in Nicaragua
* the Cold War.
It also looks at our present situation:
* nuclear weapons on a hair trigger
* preventive war and the invasion of Iraq
* the war in Colombia.
The DVD asks whether any or all of these events and policies are mistakes;
or are they justifiable? Or are they crimes?
There are films on:
* Mistakes or Crimes?
* Why do States Pursue Homicidal Policies?
And the concluding film asks,
How can we apply these lessons to help shapeAmerica’s future? What can we do to prevent future “deadly mistakes”
* It’s Your Future
Among those appearing in these films are
* Daniel Berrigan
* former U.S. Air Force Launch officer Dr. Bruce Blair
* former commander-in-chief US Strategic Command General Lee Butler
* Noam Chomsky
* former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger
* Dr. Jane Goodall
* Rear Admiral Gene LaRocque
* author of Lies My Teacher Told Me James Loewen
* former senior CIA analyst Ray McGovern
* former Secretary of Defense
Robert McNamara
* former Air Force Chief of Staff General Merrill McPeak
* American Enterprise Institute scholar Joshua Muravchik
* Ralph Nader
* former commander of U.S. forces in Bosnia General William Nash
* Grace Paley
* Marcus Raskin
* former Director of the CIA Admiral Stansfield Turner
* president of Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy Peter Weiss
* former ambassador to El Salvador Robert White
* former commander-in-chief US Southern Command General Charles Wilhelm.
“Walter Miale’s Deadly Mistakes is not only instructive but educational in the best sense of leading viewers to thought and feeling on their own. The US foreign policy mistakes, crimes, and disasters of the past half century are detailed with such insight that we cannot fail to detect the line that led from the quagmire in Vietnam to the quicksand in Iraq. The DVD’s and the Viewer Guide should be in every school in the country.”
–Peter Davis, director of Hearts and Minds, the Academy Award winning
documentary on the Vietnam War
“Lucid and powerful, Deadly Mistakes? draws on an extraordinary variety of sources. It is certainly one of the most concise and lively treatments of
American foreign policy I have seen.”
— Howard Zinn
“The Viewer Guide is an excellent resource, which should be of great value to those who hope to explore beyond the surface and to find out more about critical issues in the real world, as they are perceived and interpreted
from varied perspectives. A very impressive contribution.”
— Noam Chomsky
“A very important, very valuable work. The films and book tell Americans things we all need to know, but few do. These dialogues with people who shaped policy or made history help lay the groundwork for the education of the next generation of Americans. They will be extremely useful for teachers in both high school and college who want to offer material to their students
that is relevant to today’s world. DEADLY MISTAKES? will be eye-opening for
anyone who wants a deeper understanding of current events.”
— Grace Paley
“The words and portraits of American senior policy makers and generals are alternately shocking, outrageous, heartbreaking, and enlightening. If enough Americans see and take part in these Democracy Dialogues, it will move the country toward sanity and peace.”
— Mark Achbar, the director of The Corporation
Four Lessons of the Cuban missile crisis:
1. Reckless acts (including missile buildup and assassination and terrorist acts against Cuba) all around led to the crisis.
2. “We must get rid of nuclear weapons.” — Robert McNamara
3. It wasn’t machismo that saved the world; it was conciliation.
4. It wasn’t brilliant management that got us through the crisis. It was luck. Crises
must be averted, not managed
