Professor Sut Jhally’s Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear, and the Selling of American Empire, is an interesting and detailed study about the Bush Administration’s ties to the events of September the 11^th. Before the screening, Jhally explained to the audience that “this is a story about the Neo-Conservatives of both Bush administrations implanting a plan before 9/11 to project American power in the world in a strong way. This is not a 9/11 conspiracy film. I like to deal with reality.” The director manages to mostly avoid these steps in his film, one that plays like a less satiric Fahrenheit 9/11. They were both released in 2004 and actually have several of the same George W. Bush speeches on the screen and both with a scene about the Bush administration thinking our country is still in a western era.

            Instead of the Soviet Empire collapse bringing the idea of equality throughout the more powerful nations, these right-wing conservatives used this as an opportunity to increase military American forces. In 1992, Paul Wolfowitz (a radical conservative in the Bush administration), adopted a plan to “prevent the re-emergence of a new rival. This is a dominant consideration underlying the new regional defense strategy and requires that we endeavor to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power. These regions include Western Europe, East Asia, the territory of the former Soviet Union, and Southwest Asia.” Wolfowitz is willing to take military action with or without America’s allies to prevent even more rivals. The film discusses that in order to rebuild American defenses, it would take an event like another Pearl Harbor to let the Bush Administration strategically make their presence in foreign nations. Well, that came true on September 11, 2001.

            After 9/11, Bush explains that the “false comfort” America once felt before this event is something we can’t go back to. The media becomes involved to make sure we are still living in fear of another attack. We see Fox News raising the threat level for a terrorist attack randomly without any concrete reason. We see Bush radically telling the public that the terrorists will strike again with the apparent nuclear weapons they have obtained in the country of Iraq.

            An inside source from the White House tells the news that Bush kept asking him if Iraq was involved. It seemed he wanted an excuse to attack a nation his family has had a grudge against since the Reagan years. What Jhally shows us next is quite fascinating. In several interviews, we learn that the United States supported Sadam’s regime during the time of crimes he committed, but once Hussein’s policies went against the interest of America, he became an enemy. So in March of 2003, America attacked Iraq, with false information from a bad source. What was very peculiar was the way the pipelines full of oil were strategically near our bases in Iraq. Jhally shows that the purpose of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq was to solidify American control on the other side of the world.   

            I think what’s interesting is the way Bush handled the media compared to FDR. After Pearl Harbor, FDR explained to the people that “the only thing you have to fear is fear itself” where Bush seems to be afraid that America will stop living in fear of terrorists, therefore he wouldn’t have been able to pass The Patriot Act as quietly as he did. When it passed, many citizens at the time were willing to give up certain civil liberties to find those against our country. Well, who wouldn’t? The message we were getting from the government was that we were either with their radical ways of running the world, or we were just as bad as those who flew the planes into the towers.

            The film relies heavily on the belief of the viewer. If you still love Bush, don’t bother even reading the title of the film let alone seeing it. The film is very one-sided. It can be borderline preachy with its PBS like footage of several children without limbs and without a life to live. I understand the war has done terrible things and people need to see the reality of war, so the only problem with this is the placement it takes in the series of the film. It jumps too fast from the exploitation of fear in media to the sympathy of human morality. I’m not saying I disagree with the films message because I back its purpose 100%, but it is common sense to a mature viewer to see the effects of war without frantically looking for followers of the films cause. I actually have an easier time re-witnessing footage from 9/11 than war casualties. I don’t know why, but its how I feel.

            I’m not trying to take anything away from Sut Jhally. He is a brilliant storyteller who has the ability to tell us everything we need to know in only 72 minutes. I admire the courage he went through to get this on screen. His message at the end of the picture was to let the people know that if you want your voices as Patriots to be heard, then stand up to a power that has been spiraling this country not only into its next possible recession, but a flashback of history we never want to experience again.