It's fine to be wary. It's dumb, naive, or reckless not to do the work and analyze whether or not the fear is warranted in a specific case. Adam Curtis did the work in a specific case and found the fear unwarranted for that specific case. Parading that example has no fucking relevance for this specific case except to say that someone always has an incentive to lie about something.

The people abiding by the principle "strive for peace, prepare for war" are not "scary scared people" despite being very afraid of war on some level.

I keep coming back to The Century of the Self. I didn't know about The Power of Nightmares - must check it out.

I'd say the masterpiece of the Wolfowitz doctrine was Ukraine. The best mental picture I can paint is seeing the longing, looking-for-acceptance look on the face of the little old hippie lady that sold me my Patagonia marching in a pro-Ukraine rally. Watching the Democrats and liberal media press themselves into mobilization for Neocon theory was truly like appreciating a work of art. Big, bad, scary Russia. Nuland and her husband, right there, the high court of Neoconservatism!

Ah, the downvoting begins. Feel the power of the dark side. Let it flow through you. Memory-hole that cognitive dissonance. The empire grows stronger! :D