I know that it's an uncomfortable comparison to make, but many Germans during and following WWII insisted that they did nothing, because there was nothing they could do about the Nazi brutality. Just a thought.

First, a minor correction. The three organisations mentioned are only three of the fourteen international Human Rights organizations who worked on the film. I didn't feel the need to list all of them. (I am not MSM. :-)

And Karen, I would agree with both sentiments. The comparison is uncomfortable and appropriate. Studying the paths societies take to drift into totalitarian systems is something I have been actively pursuing in recent months. Your comparison or perhaps better dark prophecy breaks down at the basic level of how citizens look the country and its institutions. Pre-Nazi Germany in the 1920’s and 1930’s was a country without a direction, neither politically nor morally. After the end of the First World War, the collapse of the monarchy and the (partially perceived) persecution by the Versailles Treaty, there was no central principle all Germans could support. The Communists increasingly drawn into Moscow’s sphere, the Social Democrats weakened by inflation and unemployment and the center/right both looking back to a more authoritarian and traditional monarchist approach. This allowed the Nazis the niche they so artfully exploited.

But going back to Teresa’s point that KNOWING is the strongest weapon in the arsenal of the citizenry. I would subscribe to that opinion.

Indeed it was plane watchers who exposed the CIA movements of prisoners. (Plane watchers are those people who spend hours and days at airports just taking pictures of airplanes and writing down the tail numbers – a strange fetish.) That in combination with the internet allowed Human Rights organisations (and perhaps just a hint of investigative reporting by Dana Priest, one of my journalistic heroines) to piece together a coherent picture pf illicit flights carrying prisoners across the globe. This information greatly aided EU investigations into the issue and basically showed them where to start. It also exposed the entire mess.

I am starting to see the fabric of hyperbole, lies and deception created by the current Bush administration become frayed at the edges and unweave. While the technology necessary to create a completely monitored society is slowly emerging, techniques that would have been a Nazi’s wet dream, I feel the ability to centrally control countries and cultures is diminishing because the world is intellectually shrinking and cultural barriers are starting to fall.

Not only is the knowledge of what the government does important - but the understanding of other peoples and other cultures is critical to keeping a safe and sane world. It is the belief that all humans are equal, regardless of what race, religion or culture they belong to, that is the real hope for mankind.