About this season
Often forgotten, and rarely punished, the lies of those in power always achieve their goals: THEY CHANGE THE COURSE OF HISTORY Who are the liars? Heads of state, politicians or military leaders, supported by their hierarchies. They have no qualms about lying to the radio, to television, to millions of people, end even, on oath, to the highest authorities and institutions. They use secret services, military strategy or communications agencies to make their lies more credible. The only motto is: «the bigger the lie, the more it will be believed!» In affairs of state, all and every means can be used to certify or conceal an operation. Lies are not just a matter of words, or of silence. They entail practical acts as well as technical support. Whole teams are sometimes necessary to construct believable illusions. In the service of a nation, lying just means reinventing the world.
Episodes (3)
1. 1972: Watergate
Aired 1 January 2018 • 52 min
1972. This is the greatest American lie of the twentieth century. Richard Nixon spared no effort to ensure his re-election on the 7th November: spying on his opponents from the Democratic party, wiretapping, stealing documents, using slush funds. A team of 50 people were recruited from within the White House to bring down the opposite camp and rig the election.Presidential lies, misuse of the government structure… The truth slowly came to light, right up to his resignation in August 1974. The most famous scandal involving corruption at the highest level of the leading world power, the lie that forced an American president to resign.
2. 2003: The War in Irak
12th September 2002, George W. Bush assured the United Nations Security Council that Iraq was in possession of “weapons of mass destruction” and posed a threat to the United States, particularly through its links with Al Qaeda. “We have a first-hand description” of these installations of death, explained Colin Powell, the Secretary of State a the UN. However, it was all untrue. A fabrication thought up by a nobody and taken up by the American government who used this as the principal reason for the invasion of Iraq in 2003. A misleading propaganda with a major geopolitical setback.
3. 1985: The Rainbow Warrior
March 1985, the Rainbow Warrior, the flagship of the Greenpeace fleet, was docked in Auckland, New Zealand. The environmentalists were organizing a large-scale act of protest in order to put a stop to French nuclear testing in Polynesia. On 10th July 1985, a dozen DGSE (French Directorate General of External Security) agents were stationed in New Zealand to launch an operation to sink the Rainbow Warrior at all costs. There was a huge scandal, “an act of state-backed terrorism, an act of war”, declared the New Zealand minister, Geoffrey Palmer. Mitterrand, who had known about the operation from the very beginning, attempted to defuse the crisis. An extensive and pernicious campaign kicked off.