The Men Who Stare at Goats. Based on a true story.

Some thirty years ago, on the big screen, we watched Darth Vader kill with sheer force of will. It was pure science fiction. Or was it?

"The Men Who Stare At Goats" is a soon-to-be-released major motion picture starring George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, and Ewan McGregor. It is a lighthearted look at how the U.S. Army explored paranormal powers, parapsychology, and psychic functioning in the late 1970s and early 80s. The film portrays all of this in a whimsical and comical tone, but there is a real story behind this humorous tale, and that story is deadly serious.

Three years in the making, Jon Ronson's Crazy Rulers of the World explores the apparent madness at the heart of U.S. Military, Intelligence, and Government communities.  With first-hand access to the leading players in the story, Jon Ronson examines the extraordinary -- and plain bizarre -- national secrets at the core of George W Bush's war on terror.

   Interviewee: "We had a master sergeant that could stop the heart of a goat."

   Jon Ronson: "What? Just by looking at it?"

   Interviewee: "Just by wantin' the goat's heart to stop...

This is the first of a 3 part documentary series; Ronson uses his superficially nerdy journalist demeanor to elicit candid responses from interviewees.
The topic here is the acceptance of outrageous ideas, such as mysticism, by the U.S. Military after failing to win in Vietnam. At times the documentary seems like a parody. Still, despite being about a lunatic fringe which believes that soldiers can be trained to do such things as communicate psychically with animals, it shows a severe point.  Each one of the actual people interviewed represents a uniquely American cultural stereotype, Texan cowboy, West Coast hippie, Pro Wrestler style martial arts fan.  For the first time ever, high-level members of the U.S. power elite reveal extraordinary - and very nutty - national secrets.  It began In 1979 as a secret unit established by the most gifted minds within the U.S. Army. Defying all known, accepted military practice - and indeed, the laws of physics - they believed that a soldier could adopt the cloak of invisibility, pass cleanly through walls and, perhaps most chillingly, kill goats just by staring at them. Entrusted with defending America from all known adversaries, they were the First Earth Battalion and took their task very seriously.

What's more, they're back and helping to fight the War on Terror. THE CRAZY RULERS OF THE WORLD is a hilarious and eye-opening exploration of American Military and Intelligence paranoia. The series looks at the irrationality at the center of George W Bush's America. With first-hand access to the leading players in the story, Ronson traces the evolution of these bizarre activities over the past three decades and sees how it is alive today within U.S. Homeland Security and post-war Iraq. Why are they blasting Iraqi prisoners-of-war with the theme tune to Barney the Purple Dinosaur? Why have 100 de-bleated goats been secretly placed inside the Special Forces command center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina? How was the U.S. Military associated with the mysterious mass suicide of a strange cult from San Diego? THE CRAZY RULERS OF THE WORLD answer these and many more questions. Jon Ronson has written a book, THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS, to accompany the series, which will be published by Picador in November.

If this is a real, albeit extreme reflection of the reality of the military's ability to be influenced by irrational ideas that seem culturally acceptable, then ideas that are more widespread in the U.S. but not in the rest of the world, such as extremist Christianity could also damage its efficacy.

When one of the most significant military forces in the world cannot create armies capable of winning a relatively small war in Iraq or Afghanistan, and when our leader's sanity is not questioned based on their leadership, we should all fear for our freedom and safety.

This is just a short clip of the documentary; please visit my YouTube Channel at;

"http://www.youtube.com/user/sibelmj"

to view the complete series

Episode 1: The Men Who Stare at Goats

"The men who stare at goats" charts the history of a secret U.S. Army unit founded in 1979, the First Earth Battalion. The program uncovers the truth about this unit's involvement with paranormal activities that defy accepted military practice, including mind reading and out-of-body experiences.

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Episode 2: Funny Torture We learn how the New Age movement of the 1980s influenced interrogation at Guantanamo Bay and in post-war Iraq.

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 Episode 3: Psychic Foot-Soldiers

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