Corridors of Power: Should America Police the World?

TV Show · Documentary · Special Interest

After the Islamic revolution and the capture of 50 American hostages, Iran became a bitter enemy of the United States. To counterbalance Iranian influence in the region, the White House turned to Saddam Hussein's Iraq. US support for Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war ignored massacres, such as widespread use of chemical weapons against both the Iranians and the Kurdish ethnic minority in Iraq, as Washington maintained its close relationship with Baghdad. But with the end of the Cold War, Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait turned his American ally into an enemy. Would the US now intervene to help the Kurds?

2024 · 57m

EPISODE 1

Iraq – For Every Insect There Is an Insecticide

Exploring the US's complicated relationship with Iraq, first supporting the country during the Iran-Iraq war but then turning against it after Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait.
EPISODE 2

Bosnia – Our Soldiers Are Not Toy Soldiers

As the Balkans deteriorate into a series of bloody wars, President Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright must decide whether to use force to save innocent civilians from genocide.
EPISODE 3

Rwanda – That Was a Local Thing

Why did the world stand by in 1994 as nearly one million people were murdered over one hundred days of terror in Rwanda? American diplomats describe events on the ground.
EPISODE 4

Kosovo – In the Name of Our Future

Muslim separatists in the Kosovo region rekindle old conflicts, leading Clinton’s White House to consider Serbian President Milošević’s regime a threat to their own civilians.
EPISODE 5

Darfur – Carrots for a War Criminal

In 2003, hundreds of thousands of Americans protested about ethnic cleansing in Sudan. Following Obama’s 2008 election success, could some of those people, now in office, make a difference?
EPISODE 6

Libya – If You Break It You Own It

When Gaddafi declared his intention to 'disinfect' Benghazi, Obama faced a dilemma, having previously told the younger Arab generation 'you, more than anyone, have the ability to remake this world'.

Iraq: What Future?
The Oil War
Operation Enduring Freedom
Bin Laden - Dynasty of Terror
Osama Bin Laden - Up Close and Personal
Uyghurs, Prisoners of the Absurd
The War You Don't See
Taliban Takeover
The Interpreters

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