The main sources for my film were government documents recently released, as well as the two excellent books "The Trial of Henry Kissinger" by Christopher Hitchens, and "School of Assassins" by Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer.
In the Hitchens book, the case is made that one of our own, Henry Kissinger, should be tried as a war criminal. This idea, with it’s simplicity and clarity, was quite startling. Why?
Because with the continued exposure of corruption in our government and with all the contrived “investigations” that our leaders display, as Americans, we’ve all now huddled into a corner with our sadness and anger which have blossomed into apathy and malaise. Hitchens points out that no system of justice exists to deal with our own, subsequently, innocents abroad lack recourse if they are harmed.
And during the dark times when we’ve learned of atrocities, we are mute, we lack the grammar and vocabulary to give voice to our feelings, we’re silenced by the yet existing structure/path/agency/coda which could lead to our collective relief, and lead to justice for those wronged.
In his desire to hold a trial for Kissinger, Hitchens, at least, offers both a remedy to deal with the sickness caused by our knowledge of morally debased U.S. leaders, while at the same time he attempts to provide relief for those victimized.
The Nelson-Pallmeyer book investigates and explains why our government
would operate The School of the Americas, which, among other things,
trains foreign soldiers to terrorize their own civilian populations.
Sadness and mourning mark these pages, as mountains
of details and lakes of information are used to paint a portrait of
America, her face disfigured and bruised, barely recognizable.
Both of these books used as their sources public government documents that you and I can now review via the Internet. And I studied these documents (many of which are included in the PROOF section of our website). I cannot exaggerate the melancholy brought on by the simple reading of these documents, and the stunning realizations that obliterated much of my smug pride in America. In time though, that pride was replaced by reflection, then later, the cold analysis of justice vs. injustice, responsibility vs. irresponsibility, until finally emerging, was a salve, a mechanism through which justice can be better served (and with it, the kinder nature of humankind advanced, and made more real and everlasting). Part of this mechanism includes the need for a U.S. Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and my ideas for this came directly from the analysis of the wisdom, courage, and foresight displayed by South Africa in setting up the first Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
From there, the writings of Angelika Schlunck and Rodolfo Mattarollo helped teach me more about TRC’s, and the specific ways that they need to be implemented in order to guarantee the best results. Lastly, I visited many websites to gather more info. One website article would lead to the next. I am very grateful for all the hard work, concern and devotion that these organizations provide, for free, to all of us, in the form of ideas, and information.
These organizations include:
CNN
The National Security Archive
The Council for a Livable World
BBC News
Citizen Soldier
Center for International Policy
Corp Watch
The News Hour
The Guardian
Common Dreams
CATO Institute
Human Rights Watch
Peace Action
Latin America Working Group
Mother Jones
Soros
Covert Action Quarterly
Amnesty International
International Federation for East Timor
Lakota.Clara.Net
The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission
School of the Americas Watch
Federation of American Scientists