1
00:00:11,198 --> 00:00:12,450
[narrator] Dear tyrant,

2
00:00:12,533 --> 00:00:15,619
now that you've vanquished
your enemies inside the government,

3
00:00:15,703 --> 00:00:18,581
your regime should be
settling in for the long haul.

4
00:00:18,664 --> 00:00:22,376
But there's another group that can pose
a bigger threat to your rule,

5
00:00:22,460 --> 00:00:24,378
and it's much harder to control:

6
00:00:24,462 --> 00:00:26,213
-[glass shattering]
-[blasts echoing]

7
00:00:26,297 --> 00:00:28,049
your adoring countrymen.

8
00:00:29,425 --> 00:00:33,471
So how can you keep the masses
on your side through thick and thin?

9
00:00:34,305 --> 00:00:37,558
The playbook offers
one essential ingredient.

10
00:00:37,641 --> 00:00:40,352
Machiavelli poses the question:

11
00:00:40,436 --> 00:00:44,106
is it better for a ruler
to be feared or loved?

12
00:00:44,190 --> 00:00:46,567
You should rely on fear,

13
00:00:46,650 --> 00:00:50,321
because when people fear you,
you are in control of them.

14
00:00:51,322 --> 00:00:52,615
[narrator] It gets better.

15
00:00:52,698 --> 00:00:55,451
Play your cards right,
and you'll find that terror can have

16
00:00:55,534 --> 00:00:59,371
an unexpected benefit:
winning your people's hearts.

17
00:01:00,664 --> 00:01:03,667
Which brings us to Uganda

18
00:01:03,751 --> 00:01:07,129
to meet legendary tyrant Idi Amin Dada.

19
00:01:07,671 --> 00:01:08,756
[machine gun fires]

20
00:01:09,298 --> 00:01:10,966
Amin's path through the playbook

21
00:01:11,050 --> 00:01:14,887
made violence and terror
the guiding principles of his regime.

22
00:01:14,970 --> 00:01:16,097
Toughness is good,

23
00:01:16,180 --> 00:01:18,390
because the people respect you.

24
00:01:18,474 --> 00:01:22,228
[narrator] Follow his example and learn
how to put your own dark side to work.

25
00:01:24,105 --> 00:01:26,107
[theme music plays]

26
00:01:33,614 --> 00:01:35,699
[narrator]
During Idi Amin's eight-year reign,

27
00:01:35,783 --> 00:01:40,204
as many as 300,000 Ugandans
disappeared or were killed…

28
00:01:40,287 --> 00:01:41,789
[gunshot fires]

29
00:01:41,872 --> 00:01:43,791
…often on his direct orders.

30
00:01:43,874 --> 00:01:48,671
He has turned Africa into
a human slaughterhouse.

31
00:01:50,089 --> 00:01:53,968
[narrator] Before diving into how Amin
ruled over this former British colony,

32
00:01:54,051 --> 00:01:57,972
here's what you need to know about
how he got the job in the first place.

33
00:02:02,434 --> 00:02:07,731
Around 1946, Amin joins
what was called the King's African Rifle,

34
00:02:07,815 --> 00:02:12,194
which was actually used
to suppress insurrection and rebellion

35
00:02:12,278 --> 00:02:14,029
in African countries.

36
00:02:14,113 --> 00:02:17,408
[woman] He had been very involved
in situations of violence,

37
00:02:17,491 --> 00:02:20,744
and instead of being punished
for using excessive force,

38
00:02:20,828 --> 00:02:23,289
Amin was repeatedly promoted.

39
00:02:28,335 --> 00:02:31,922
He was able to recruit
people that were loyal to him

40
00:02:32,006 --> 00:02:33,382
into the army,

41
00:02:33,465 --> 00:02:35,885
and he started recruiting a lot of people

42
00:02:35,968 --> 00:02:39,138
that came from
his own ethnic group, the Kakwa,

43
00:02:39,221 --> 00:02:41,223
from the southwestern part of Uganda.

44
00:02:45,436 --> 00:02:50,149
President Milton Obote was warned
by the departing governor:

45
00:02:50,733 --> 00:02:53,110
Idi Amin was a ticking time bomb.

46
00:02:53,194 --> 00:02:56,614
Obote knew at some point
he would have to deal with Idi Amin.

47
00:02:57,281 --> 00:02:59,783
[Alicia] Not too long later, in 1971,

48
00:02:59,867 --> 00:03:04,622
Amin did seize power from Obote
and ousted him in a military coup.

49
00:03:04,705 --> 00:03:10,586
I will exercise the function
of the head of government,

50
00:03:10,669 --> 00:03:13,631
so help me God.

51
00:03:15,966 --> 00:03:19,053
[narrator]
And so began a new era full of promise.

52
00:03:19,637 --> 00:03:21,597
[Allimadi] The media embraced him.

53
00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:24,767
They coined nicknames like "Big Daddy."

54
00:03:24,850 --> 00:03:27,394
Or he was called the "gentle giant."
[chuckles]

55
00:03:27,478 --> 00:03:29,897
[narrator]
But gaining power in a coup meant

56
00:03:29,980 --> 00:03:33,234
that Amin had to wipe out his enemies
to secure his rule.

57
00:03:33,317 --> 00:03:34,985
How do you do that

58
00:03:35,069 --> 00:03:38,280
without turning off your fans
at home and around the world?

59
00:03:38,364 --> 00:03:41,617
The playbook suggests
a little sleight of hand.

60
00:03:42,159 --> 00:03:45,162
[dramatic music plays]

61
00:03:45,246 --> 00:03:48,624
Setting up a new regime is hard work,
and it's not always pretty.

62
00:03:48,707 --> 00:03:53,170
Too much attention to unsavory details
can really cramp a tyrant's style.

63
00:03:53,754 --> 00:03:56,257
Uganda is very peaceful,

64
00:03:56,340 --> 00:03:59,718
and Uganda does not violate
any human rights.

65
00:03:59,802 --> 00:04:02,137
[narrator] That's why,
thanks to the playbook,

66
00:04:02,221 --> 00:04:05,182
top tyrants know the value
of a good cover-up.

67
00:04:07,226 --> 00:04:10,980
As word of Nazi atrocities
began to spread during World War II,

68
00:04:11,063 --> 00:04:15,276
Hitler invited the Red Cross to tour
the Theresienstadt concentration camp,

69
00:04:15,859 --> 00:04:20,614
which they disguised as a model ghetto
full of only healthy residents,

70
00:04:21,115 --> 00:04:25,077
with its own bank,
Jewish-run businesses, and sports leagues.

71
00:04:25,995 --> 00:04:28,372
When Joseph Stalin's agricultural policies

72
00:04:28,455 --> 00:04:31,417
led to millions of deaths by starvation
in the Ukraine,

73
00:04:31,500 --> 00:04:35,671
he used disinformation,
censorship, and friendly reporters

74
00:04:35,754 --> 00:04:37,881
to keep the truth from emerging.

75
00:04:37,965 --> 00:04:40,968
Pol Pot covered up
evidence of his genocide in Cambodia

76
00:04:41,051 --> 00:04:42,970
that killed up to two million people,

77
00:04:43,053 --> 00:04:46,724
saying he and the Khmer Rouge
were framed by the Vietnamese.

78
00:04:47,766 --> 00:04:48,726
[machine gun fires]

79
00:04:48,809 --> 00:04:50,269
[sinister music plays]

80
00:04:51,103 --> 00:04:55,774
Believe it or not, it wasn't long
before Uganda's "gentle giant"

81
00:04:55,858 --> 00:04:58,235
needed to put this tactic into action.

82
00:04:58,819 --> 00:05:01,488
[Allimadi] Idi Amin had
a very charming personality,

83
00:05:01,572 --> 00:05:04,575
but no denying that this is a killer

84
00:05:05,576 --> 00:05:09,079
who unleashed his killing
the very minute he seized power.

85
00:05:09,163 --> 00:05:12,499
-[crowd cheering]
-[Alicia] Six months into Amin's regime,

86
00:05:12,583 --> 00:05:17,880
there started to be allegations
that there were massacres in the barracks,

87
00:05:19,089 --> 00:05:22,593
particularly soldiers
who were members of the ethnic groups

88
00:05:22,676 --> 00:05:25,596
that were closely linked
to the former president, Milton Obote.

89
00:05:25,679 --> 00:05:30,142
People were killed
out in one of the forests outside Kampala.

90
00:05:30,225 --> 00:05:32,603
They were buried
in one of the forests, or indeed,

91
00:05:32,686 --> 00:05:34,396
sometimes dumped into the Nile River.

92
00:05:37,900 --> 00:05:40,027
[narrator]
Rumors of the massacres begin to spread,

93
00:05:40,110 --> 00:05:43,030
so American reporter Nicholas Stroh
decides to investigate

94
00:05:43,739 --> 00:05:48,118
along with his friend Robert Siedle,
a professor at a local university.

95
00:05:48,202 --> 00:05:50,746
Stroh and Siedle drive
to the alleged crime:

96
00:05:50,829 --> 00:05:54,833
a rural barracks about 170 miles
southwest of the capital, Kampala.

97
00:05:56,335 --> 00:05:59,296
And after two days,
they seemingly disappear.

98
00:06:00,506 --> 00:06:03,175
Weeks pass with no signs of the men.

99
00:06:04,051 --> 00:06:06,220
Amin meets with Stroh's wife
to reassure her

100
00:06:06,303 --> 00:06:09,306
that he'll leave no stone unturned
to discover what happened,

101
00:06:10,182 --> 00:06:13,519
but it takes months for him
to open an investigation.

102
00:06:14,269 --> 00:06:19,691
Then a Ugandan Army lieutenant escapes
to Tanzania with a brutal story to tell.

103
00:06:19,775 --> 00:06:21,151
He informs police there

104
00:06:21,235 --> 00:06:25,989
that the two Americans were attacked
by Amin's officers and hacked to death,

105
00:06:26,073 --> 00:06:29,368
their bodies burned
and dropped into a watery grave.

106
00:06:29,451 --> 00:06:31,829
[engine turns over and revs]

107
00:06:32,955 --> 00:06:33,789
[fire crackling]

108
00:06:33,872 --> 00:06:37,835
The crime allegedly involved
high-ranking officials in the government,

109
00:06:37,918 --> 00:06:41,130
but Amin closes the case
without any charges.

110
00:06:42,506 --> 00:06:44,383
Another playbook success story?

111
00:06:45,134 --> 00:06:46,301
Not exactly.

112
00:06:48,929 --> 00:06:51,557
[guitar music plays]

113
00:06:52,266 --> 00:06:54,935
The scandal turns
the nature of Amin's regime

114
00:06:55,018 --> 00:06:57,938
from rumor into front-page news
around the world.

115
00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:02,192
[Derek] The international reporting shifts
as it becomes more obvious

116
00:07:02,276 --> 00:07:05,779
that Amin's government is
an exceptionally brutal one.

117
00:07:05,863 --> 00:07:08,782
[narrator] But really, who needs
the international community?

118
00:07:08,866 --> 00:07:11,660
What matters is
that your people stay loyal,

119
00:07:11,743 --> 00:07:14,997
and the playbook has
the perfect tactic to keep them in line.

120
00:07:23,589 --> 00:07:26,175
Every good tyrant understands
their nation is made up

121
00:07:26,258 --> 00:07:28,469
of human beings with emotions,

122
00:07:29,136 --> 00:07:31,430
and emotions can be hacked.

123
00:07:32,431 --> 00:07:37,060
Scapegoating is
one of the most effective tactics.

124
00:07:39,062 --> 00:07:43,734
Bullying somebody else for the ills
that the general masses are facing.

125
00:07:43,817 --> 00:07:47,070
And that is how you earn
the trust and the support

126
00:07:47,154 --> 00:07:49,239
and the legitimacy from the masses.

127
00:07:49,323 --> 00:07:51,200
[crowd chanting] Sieg Heil!

128
00:07:51,283 --> 00:07:53,285
There are many examples of this.

129
00:07:54,786 --> 00:07:58,040
[narrator] Joseph Stalin blamed
wealthy farmers called kulaks

130
00:07:58,123 --> 00:08:02,920
for hoarding riches during the 1930s
amid the Soviet Union's lagging economy.

131
00:08:03,795 --> 00:08:07,132
Muammar Gaddafi passed a special law
to confiscate assets

132
00:08:07,216 --> 00:08:11,053
from Libya's ethnic Italians
who once ruled over the country,

133
00:08:11,136 --> 00:08:14,598
and expelled them on
what became known as the Day of Vengeance.

134
00:08:14,681 --> 00:08:16,642
And of course, there's Adolf Hitler,

135
00:08:16,725 --> 00:08:21,563
who built his entire movement from day one
around scapegoating and persecuting Jews.

136
00:08:22,189 --> 00:08:27,069
But when Amin unleashes this tactic,
he has a different purpose in mind.

137
00:08:27,152 --> 00:08:30,072
[Alicia] Things were
economically very difficult,

138
00:08:30,155 --> 00:08:34,493
and Amin was trying to come up
with strategies to appease the nation,

139
00:08:34,576 --> 00:08:39,206
so he could demonstrate that he was
in fact a legitimate and important leader.

140
00:08:39,289 --> 00:08:43,877
And so he needed to find
a new group of individuals to target,

141
00:08:43,961 --> 00:08:45,379
and that was the Asians.

142
00:08:48,298 --> 00:08:51,552
There were about 100,000 Asian Ugandans,

143
00:08:51,635 --> 00:08:54,555
mostly Indians
from the Indian subcontinent.

144
00:08:54,638 --> 00:08:57,891
The British had brought them
during the colonial era,

145
00:08:57,975 --> 00:09:01,478
mostly to build the railroad,
and they never went back.

146
00:09:02,312 --> 00:09:06,191
[reporter] The Asian community:
80,000 out of a population of 10 million.

147
00:09:06,275 --> 00:09:09,486
They own nearly all
the large shops and businesses.

148
00:09:09,570 --> 00:09:13,407
[Alicia] A lot of the Ugandans
felt resentment toward the Asians.

149
00:09:13,490 --> 00:09:16,326
They looked around
and saw Asian businessmen,

150
00:09:16,410 --> 00:09:18,579
and they thought, "This is our country."

151
00:09:18,662 --> 00:09:20,831
"There should be Africans
running these shops."

152
00:09:20,914 --> 00:09:23,625
[man] You know, from experience,
we have discovered

153
00:09:23,709 --> 00:09:25,752
that Asians are very, very shrewd.

154
00:09:25,836 --> 00:09:29,715
And they have been exploiting
this country for a very long time.

155
00:09:30,591 --> 00:09:32,342
[man 2] When Amin came into power,

156
00:09:32,426 --> 00:09:36,597
there was great jubilation
amongst the Indian population of Uganda.

157
00:09:36,680 --> 00:09:38,181
And Amin used to say himself

158
00:09:38,265 --> 00:09:42,352
that he had liberated these Indians
which the British had disenfranchised.

159
00:09:42,436 --> 00:09:45,022
[narrator]
But student of the playbook that he is,

160
00:09:45,105 --> 00:09:47,274
Amin decides to change his tune.

161
00:09:48,567 --> 00:09:49,943
[machine gun fires]

162
00:09:50,027 --> 00:09:51,570
[Derek] Toward the end of 1971,

163
00:09:51,653 --> 00:09:54,406
Amin holds a press conference
in which he describes

164
00:09:54,489 --> 00:09:57,868
how the Asian community
was against Black Ugandans,

165
00:09:57,951 --> 00:10:00,579
regarding them as being
less civilized than them.

166
00:10:01,455 --> 00:10:05,542
[narrator] But then the kinder,
gentler Amin seemingly re-emerges.

167
00:10:07,377 --> 00:10:10,297
Amin invites
Asian community leaders to a meeting

168
00:10:10,380 --> 00:10:13,925
to help clear up any misunderstandings.

169
00:10:14,718 --> 00:10:17,804
A who's who of Ugandan VIPs
attend the conference

170
00:10:17,888 --> 00:10:20,015
along with international media.

171
00:10:20,599 --> 00:10:21,808
The mood is hopeful…

172
00:10:22,768 --> 00:10:28,065
until His Excellency the President arrives
along with his top military brass.

173
00:10:28,148 --> 00:10:30,067
[ominous music plays]

174
00:10:30,692 --> 00:10:33,862
Amin launches into an attack
on the Asian community,

175
00:10:33,945 --> 00:10:37,658
accuses them of tax evasion,
funneling money out of the country,

176
00:10:37,741 --> 00:10:41,244
and discriminating
against Black Ugandans in business.

177
00:10:41,328 --> 00:10:44,373
In other words,
economic and cultural treason.

178
00:10:45,374 --> 00:10:49,461
Amin's speech fuels
a wave of anti-Asian propaganda,

179
00:10:49,544 --> 00:10:51,296
hate speech, and violence.

180
00:10:53,548 --> 00:10:54,883
[Mariam] By creating divisions,

181
00:10:54,966 --> 00:10:59,638
not only is Amin as the tyrant responsible
for breaking the bonds of trust

182
00:10:59,721 --> 00:11:01,556
within the larger society,

183
00:11:01,640 --> 00:11:05,102
he's also unifying his support base,

184
00:11:05,185 --> 00:11:08,188
which is predominantly
the Black Ugandan population.

185
00:11:09,022 --> 00:11:11,692
[narrator] Now you've got
your scapegoats off-balance,

186
00:11:11,775 --> 00:11:14,486
you might think you can do with them
whatever you choose,

187
00:11:14,569 --> 00:11:18,073
but it's not always so simple.
At least, not yet.

188
00:11:18,740 --> 00:11:22,703
Even tyrannical societies have guardrails,
otherwise known as laws.

189
00:11:23,412 --> 00:11:24,913
You need to knock them down.

190
00:11:29,418 --> 00:11:32,212
One of the pleasures
of becoming absolute ruler:

191
00:11:32,838 --> 00:11:34,673
you rarely hear the word "no."

192
00:11:35,298 --> 00:11:39,094
But destroying all obstacles
to your tyrannical whims takes work.

193
00:11:39,594 --> 00:11:43,014
Existing legal institutions
can be a barrier to political leaders.

194
00:11:43,098 --> 00:11:45,142
What do they do? They dismantle them.

195
00:11:45,225 --> 00:11:50,522
The idea is to weaken
all of the institutions and the guardrails

196
00:11:50,605 --> 00:11:53,442
that serve as a check on your power.

197
00:11:54,067 --> 00:11:56,319
[narrator]
And once those guardrails are down,

198
00:11:56,403 --> 00:11:59,030
you're free to turn the law
against your scapegoat.

199
00:11:59,823 --> 00:12:02,325
That's something
any tyrant can get behind.

200
00:12:05,495 --> 00:12:10,625
[woman] Idi Amin was able to control
the government, the administration,

201
00:12:10,709 --> 00:12:12,753
and the economic structure.

202
00:12:13,420 --> 00:12:15,547
The tactics I'm using is sport.

203
00:12:15,630 --> 00:12:18,425
By knocking out people,
I'm using politics also.

204
00:12:18,508 --> 00:12:19,843
[laughing]

205
00:12:19,926 --> 00:12:23,638
The only institution Idi Amin failed
to penetrate was the judiciary,

206
00:12:24,639 --> 00:12:27,267
so he suspended part of the Constitution.

207
00:12:27,350 --> 00:12:32,814
He gave himself power to pass decrees
to accomplish what he wanted.

208
00:12:33,690 --> 00:12:38,069
[narrator] Sideline those pesky judges,
and your playing field opens wide.

209
00:12:38,695 --> 00:12:42,616
For Amin, it triggers the next phase
of his scapegoating operation.

210
00:12:44,034 --> 00:12:45,202
[machine gun fires]

211
00:12:46,703 --> 00:12:50,457
One morning while visiting
the town of Soroti in Eastern Uganda,

212
00:12:50,540 --> 00:12:52,125
Amin rises before dawn

213
00:12:52,209 --> 00:12:55,045
and drives himself
to the local radio station.

214
00:12:55,128 --> 00:12:57,214
There, he addresses the nation.

215
00:12:57,297 --> 00:12:59,633
[Alicia] He said,
"Last night, I had a dream

216
00:12:59,716 --> 00:13:02,969
that the Asians were milking the cow,

217
00:13:03,053 --> 00:13:04,763
but they were not feeding it,

218
00:13:04,846 --> 00:13:09,810
and therefore I think
that we should get rid of the Asians."

219
00:13:10,811 --> 00:13:15,607
I want to see the whole Kampala street
is not full of Indians.

220
00:13:15,690 --> 00:13:18,193
Would you like
to get all Asians out, really, sir?

221
00:13:18,276 --> 00:13:20,612
Yes. They must go to their country.

222
00:13:20,695 --> 00:13:25,325
Uganda's Asian community were given
three months to pack up their businesses,

223
00:13:25,408 --> 00:13:26,535
leave the country.

224
00:13:26,618 --> 00:13:30,664
And therefore,
they must sell everything they have

225
00:13:30,747 --> 00:13:32,958
between now
and the ninth day from Monday.

226
00:13:33,041 --> 00:13:34,042
[crowd cheering]

227
00:13:35,877 --> 00:13:39,548
I was there in Uganda and I was
a teaching assistant at the university.

228
00:13:39,631 --> 00:13:44,553
And the general feeling amongst those
I knew in the Asian community was

229
00:13:44,636 --> 00:13:46,304
that this was a bombast.

230
00:13:47,764 --> 00:13:50,934
[narrator] Asian leaders appeal
to Uganda's courts for protection,

231
00:13:51,017 --> 00:13:52,394
but it's no use.

232
00:13:53,603 --> 00:13:56,690
Many of the Asians
who'd been in Uganda were born there.

233
00:13:56,773 --> 00:14:01,111
Their families had been in Uganda
for generations. They had nowhere to go.

234
00:14:01,987 --> 00:14:07,033
People left their car at the airport,
left the keys in the car.

235
00:14:08,410 --> 00:14:10,704
Nobody could figure out
what was happening to them.

236
00:14:10,787 --> 00:14:11,705
[chuckling] I mean…

237
00:14:11,788 --> 00:14:12,956
You just…

238
00:14:13,039 --> 00:14:17,127
Imagine in a country where you had made
your whole life, and you…

239
00:14:17,210 --> 00:14:18,879
Several generations.

240
00:14:18,962 --> 00:14:23,425
You're leaving, and there was not
a single person to say goodbye.

241
00:14:25,594 --> 00:14:28,263
[narrator]
Well, it wasn't a disaster for everyone.

242
00:14:28,346 --> 00:14:29,431
[upbeat music plays]

243
00:14:29,514 --> 00:14:32,475
Once you've cast off
your chosen scapegoats,

244
00:14:32,559 --> 00:14:34,978
it's time to reap the rewards.

245
00:14:36,229 --> 00:14:39,983
When the entire Asian population
was kicked out…

246
00:14:40,066 --> 00:14:41,026
[crowd cheering]

247
00:14:41,109 --> 00:14:44,362
…there was some celebration
in the population in Uganda.

248
00:14:46,990 --> 00:14:52,495
Idi Amin was able to take those businesses
that had been owned by the Asians,

249
00:14:52,579 --> 00:14:55,332
and awarding it to Africans.

250
00:14:56,291 --> 00:14:58,335
It's good for them to go.

251
00:14:58,418 --> 00:14:59,419
[reporter] Why?

252
00:15:00,170 --> 00:15:02,172
They have sucked us enough.

253
00:15:04,299 --> 00:15:05,967
[Mahmood] It was a popular move.

254
00:15:06,509 --> 00:15:10,013
It in some ways resonated very deeply

255
00:15:10,096 --> 00:15:13,642
with the demands
of the vast majority of people,

256
00:15:14,809 --> 00:15:15,894
so it was popular.

257
00:15:15,977 --> 00:15:18,438
Whether it was successful,
that's a different question.

258
00:15:19,064 --> 00:15:23,735
After the Asian expulsion,
there was a massive economic crisis.

259
00:15:23,818 --> 00:15:28,657
The people who had received the shops
that were Asian property

260
00:15:28,740 --> 00:15:30,116
didn't have the skills.

261
00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:33,870
They didn't know
how to manage economic enterprises.

262
00:15:35,038 --> 00:15:38,166
[Allimadi] The shortage
of all sorts of commodities

263
00:15:38,249 --> 00:15:41,211
resulted in mass inflation,

264
00:15:41,920 --> 00:15:46,299
and many parts of the economy collapsed.

265
00:15:47,926 --> 00:15:51,513
[narrator] So maybe terrorizing one
small group won't solve all your problems.

266
00:15:51,596 --> 00:15:54,391
As you can see,
it can actually create more headaches.

267
00:15:54,474 --> 00:15:57,978
But don't blame the playbook.
It's the people who've let you down.

268
00:15:58,061 --> 00:15:59,938
Before they start complaining about you,

269
00:16:00,021 --> 00:16:03,066
give them a good reason
to keep their mouths shut.

270
00:16:08,279 --> 00:16:09,197
Torture.

271
00:16:09,781 --> 00:16:13,410
Torture is a very good way
to deter people from opposing you.

272
00:16:13,493 --> 00:16:17,080
[man] It's better than killing,
because the person's kept alive.

273
00:16:17,163 --> 00:16:20,417
You can trap them,
imprison them, pin them down,

274
00:16:20,500 --> 00:16:23,169
and exert raw violence against them.

275
00:16:23,253 --> 00:16:24,421
Tyrants love this.

276
00:16:24,504 --> 00:16:25,839
[narrator] They certainly do.

277
00:16:26,673 --> 00:16:30,385
In Cambodia, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge
used a wide array of torture techniques,

278
00:16:30,468 --> 00:16:32,971
including waterboarding, electric shock,

279
00:16:33,596 --> 00:16:37,017
and even covering people in scorpions,
to force confessions.

280
00:16:37,892 --> 00:16:41,646
North Korea's Ministry of State Security
uses sleep deprivation and the Pigeon,

281
00:16:42,272 --> 00:16:44,315
a stress position, which over time,

282
00:16:44,399 --> 00:16:47,193
forces the victim's backbone
out of the body.

283
00:16:47,694 --> 00:16:52,866
While Joseph Stalin's NKVD favored
the classic Russian strappado technique,

284
00:16:52,949 --> 00:16:55,869
which involves tying the victims' hands
behind their back,

285
00:16:55,952 --> 00:16:57,746
then suspending them in air.

286
00:16:59,289 --> 00:17:00,540
[machine gun fires]

287
00:17:01,082 --> 00:17:03,168
[Alicia]
As a result of the Asian expulsion,

288
00:17:03,251 --> 00:17:07,964
it was a time of increased smuggling,
it was a time of economic chaos.

289
00:17:08,048 --> 00:17:09,007
[funk music plays]

290
00:17:09,090 --> 00:17:12,802
[narrator] Nothing like a bad economy
to stir up opposition to your rule.

291
00:17:12,886 --> 00:17:17,515
So to keep the chaos in check,
Amin relied on his main torture squad:

292
00:17:17,599 --> 00:17:19,809
the State Research Bureau,

293
00:17:19,893 --> 00:17:21,561
whose agents were infamous

294
00:17:21,644 --> 00:17:24,689
for their viciousness
and their fashion sense.

295
00:17:24,773 --> 00:17:28,151
Everybody who saw these agents
knew who they were,

296
00:17:29,402 --> 00:17:34,616
'cause they'd wear bell-bottom trousers,
dark glasses, flowered shirts.

297
00:17:34,699 --> 00:17:37,285
You know,
they kind of had this 1970s vibe.

298
00:17:38,328 --> 00:17:40,205
[narrator] But despite their cool threads,

299
00:17:40,288 --> 00:17:43,917
these are probably not guys
you'd want to party with.

300
00:17:44,626 --> 00:17:47,796
Some would be literally
whisked off of the street.

301
00:17:47,879 --> 00:17:50,256
They'd be pulled from a restaurant
they'd be sitting at,

302
00:17:50,340 --> 00:17:53,676
bundled into the trunk of a car,
and driven away.

303
00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:55,053
[tires screeching]

304
00:17:55,136 --> 00:17:57,013
Never to be seen again.

305
00:17:58,973 --> 00:18:01,184
[narrator]
But everyone knew where they'd gone.

306
00:18:02,227 --> 00:18:06,356
Amin had a large number
of torture chambers.

307
00:18:07,273 --> 00:18:08,817
One of the most infamous

308
00:18:08,900 --> 00:18:10,860
was the headquarters
of the State Research Center,

309
00:18:10,944 --> 00:18:14,030
which was located
right in the middle of Kampala.

310
00:18:14,948 --> 00:18:17,742
The French Embassy was
actually right next door,

311
00:18:17,826 --> 00:18:23,331
and people working in the embassy
would recount being able to hear screams.

312
00:18:24,124 --> 00:18:26,209
[Derek] The SRB building was famous

313
00:18:26,292 --> 00:18:28,628
for the terrible things
that happened within its walls.

314
00:18:29,212 --> 00:18:32,173
Ordinary, innocent people
were tortured and killed.

315
00:18:32,924 --> 00:18:34,134
[ominous music plays]

316
00:18:34,217 --> 00:18:36,928
[Alicia] But Amin and his henchmen
always made sure

317
00:18:37,011 --> 00:18:39,848
that they let a couple people escape

318
00:18:39,931 --> 00:18:42,350
so that they could tell the story.

319
00:18:42,433 --> 00:18:47,689
I also visited a place
where they smash heads… with a hammer.

320
00:18:48,481 --> 00:18:51,901
[Alicia] Amin was very careful
about cultivating rumors

321
00:18:52,402 --> 00:18:55,280
in a way that would keep people afraid.

322
00:18:55,363 --> 00:19:00,451
So the result is that ordinary citizens
never knew who they could trust,

323
00:19:00,535 --> 00:19:03,538
and so they weren't able to mount
opposition against the state.

324
00:19:04,622 --> 00:19:06,666
[narrator]
You'd think ruling through terror

325
00:19:06,749 --> 00:19:08,251
would push your people away,

326
00:19:08,334 --> 00:19:11,754
but as all tyrants know,
that's not how this works.

327
00:19:11,838 --> 00:19:16,176
We're not great at distinguishing fear

328
00:19:16,259 --> 00:19:19,721
from a more generalized feeling
of arousal.

329
00:19:20,805 --> 00:19:25,101
And in a dictatorship, that could
actually be channeled into thinking

330
00:19:25,185 --> 00:19:26,769
that heightened sense of emotion

331
00:19:26,853 --> 00:19:29,355
is a feeling you're feeling
for the dictator themselves.

332
00:19:29,439 --> 00:19:30,773
[crowd chanting]

333
00:19:30,857 --> 00:19:35,778
[narrator] And that feeling
can seem a lot like love.

334
00:19:35,862 --> 00:19:40,491
It's not unlike an abusive relationship
such as in a family,

335
00:19:40,575 --> 00:19:42,744
or in a gang,

336
00:19:42,827 --> 00:19:44,204
or in a cult.

337
00:19:44,871 --> 00:19:49,500
They actually come to align themselves
psychologically with the oppressor.

338
00:19:50,668 --> 00:19:53,087
[narrator]
But there are always going to be holdouts

339
00:19:53,171 --> 00:19:55,423
who resist your terrible charms.

340
00:19:58,259 --> 00:19:59,594
[machine gun fires]

341
00:20:00,386 --> 00:20:01,346
Like this man:

342
00:20:01,429 --> 00:20:07,227
Janani Luwum, Anglican Archbishop
of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Zaire,

343
00:20:07,310 --> 00:20:11,064
and one of the most powerful Christians
in East Africa.

344
00:20:11,147 --> 00:20:13,816
Luwum was well-regarded
by almost everyone.

345
00:20:14,609 --> 00:20:16,945
Over the course of his archbishopric,

346
00:20:17,028 --> 00:20:21,241
he was increasingly obliged
to speak against the violence of his time.

347
00:20:21,324 --> 00:20:24,202
He had written a letter
decrying the violence.

348
00:20:24,285 --> 00:20:29,415
It was enough for President Amin
to see the archbishop as a threat.

349
00:20:32,502 --> 00:20:35,546
[narrator] So Amin points his finger
back at the archbishop.

350
00:20:36,047 --> 00:20:39,842
Amin accused him,
along with two cabinet ministers,

351
00:20:39,926 --> 00:20:43,429
of plotting to overthrow the government.

352
00:20:44,222 --> 00:20:47,141
It was said the archbishop
was stockpiling weapons

353
00:20:47,225 --> 00:20:50,311
in anticipation of an Anglican uprising.

354
00:20:50,395 --> 00:20:53,231
The next day, the two cabinet ministers
and the archbishop

355
00:20:53,314 --> 00:20:55,233
are found in a wrecked car.

356
00:20:55,316 --> 00:20:58,736
Ostensibly, they lost their lives
in an auto accident.

357
00:20:58,820 --> 00:21:02,240
[narrator] But witnesses tell
a different story of what happened.

358
00:21:03,324 --> 00:21:07,161
Apparently Luwum and his wife were
attending a gathering at Amin's residence

359
00:21:08,288 --> 00:21:11,207
when the president requested
a private meeting.

360
00:21:11,291 --> 00:21:13,293
[ominous music plays]

361
00:21:14,711 --> 00:21:19,048
Amin accused Luwum of treason
and demanded he sign a fake confession.

362
00:21:20,591 --> 00:21:23,261
Luwum refused and was taken into custody.

363
00:21:23,845 --> 00:21:25,805
Inside the State Research Bureau,

364
00:21:25,888 --> 00:21:29,100
Luwum was brutally beaten
and threatened with worse

365
00:21:29,183 --> 00:21:31,686
if he didn't confess
his crimes against the regime.

366
00:21:32,478 --> 00:21:34,480
But Luwum did not bend.

367
00:21:35,481 --> 00:21:38,234
That night, Luwum received a visitor.

368
00:21:38,818 --> 00:21:41,237
Amin encouraged
the archbishop to reconsider,

369
00:21:41,821 --> 00:21:45,742
but Luwum simply prayed
for God's mercy on Uganda and its leaders.

370
00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:50,413
But mercy was not on Idi Amin's agenda.

371
00:21:50,872 --> 00:21:52,332
[gun blasts]

372
00:21:54,625 --> 00:21:56,919
[Derek] His body was buried
the next morning.

373
00:21:57,003 --> 00:22:00,089
It was never subject
to an official examination report,

374
00:22:00,173 --> 00:22:03,593
but it's plain that he was shot,
his bones were broken,

375
00:22:03,676 --> 00:22:05,386
and other injuries were done to him.

376
00:22:06,220 --> 00:22:09,015
[narrator] Maybe there is such a thing
as going too far.

377
00:22:09,807 --> 00:22:13,061
[Derek] The archbishop's murder
kind of solidifies sentiment

378
00:22:13,144 --> 00:22:15,480
that Amin's government needed to go.

379
00:22:15,563 --> 00:22:17,732
[narrator]
But when your back is against the wall

380
00:22:17,815 --> 00:22:19,525
and all hope seems lost,

381
00:22:19,609 --> 00:22:23,571
the playbook has an ace in the hole
that can still turn your fortunes around.

382
00:22:23,654 --> 00:22:24,906
[man yelps]

383
00:22:28,534 --> 00:22:30,453
[electronic music plays]

384
00:22:31,037 --> 00:22:32,121
[narrator] War.

385
00:22:32,789 --> 00:22:33,998
What is it good for?

386
00:22:34,082 --> 00:22:35,541
[machine gun firing]

387
00:22:36,459 --> 00:22:37,877
As a tyrant, quite a bit,

388
00:22:38,711 --> 00:22:43,674
especially when you're in a jam
like Idi Amin was in 1978.

389
00:22:44,342 --> 00:22:48,763
Tyrants always go to war,
and the reason is there's always a point

390
00:22:48,846 --> 00:22:51,766
when their domestic support
seems to be a little fragile.

391
00:22:51,849 --> 00:22:54,727
And so what they do then
is find a foreign enemy

392
00:22:54,811 --> 00:22:56,896
to marshal the country against.

393
00:22:58,523 --> 00:23:02,693
[Derek] Amin absolutely used the threat
of foreign invasion and foreign opposition

394
00:23:02,777 --> 00:23:04,445
as a kind of provocation

395
00:23:04,529 --> 00:23:07,949
that could inspire
Ugandans' loyalty and self-sacrifice.

396
00:23:08,699 --> 00:23:09,617
[machine gun fires]

397
00:23:09,700 --> 00:23:11,661
[narrator] Let's see how that worked out.

398
00:23:13,496 --> 00:23:19,794
In 1978, units of the Uganda Army
crossed the border in the south of Uganda

399
00:23:19,877 --> 00:23:21,295
and invaded Tanzania.

400
00:23:22,797 --> 00:23:27,135
He had no legitimate reason
to invade Tanzania,

401
00:23:27,218 --> 00:23:29,011
except as a diversion.

402
00:23:29,762 --> 00:23:32,348
[narrator] And to settle some old scores.

403
00:23:32,432 --> 00:23:33,850
[Allimadi] Tanzania had maintained

404
00:23:33,933 --> 00:23:36,519
a close relationship
with Milton Obote all these years.

405
00:23:36,602 --> 00:23:42,316
Now is the time for Ugandans
to overthrow the regime of death.

406
00:23:43,109 --> 00:23:45,862
[Allimadi]
And Amin obviously did not like that.

407
00:23:45,945 --> 00:23:49,198
[narrator] Needless to say,
if you're going to make this tactic work,

408
00:23:49,282 --> 00:23:51,659
you need an army that's up to the task.

409
00:23:51,742 --> 00:23:55,288
[Allimadi] All these years,
Amin's army had sophisticated weapons,

410
00:23:55,371 --> 00:23:57,081
but in reality,

411
00:23:57,915 --> 00:24:03,087
his soldiers had never
fought against armed opposition.

412
00:24:04,046 --> 00:24:09,510
All they had done was met brutality
against unarmed Ugandans.

413
00:24:09,594 --> 00:24:14,557
Field Marshal Amin started it
with a territorial claim on my country.

414
00:24:15,391 --> 00:24:22,356
So he had now had the legitimate excuse
to actually invade Uganda.

415
00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:26,819
[narrator] That was probably not what Amin
had in mind when he started all this.

416
00:24:27,528 --> 00:24:30,198
[Alicia] By this point,
Amin's army, the Uganda Army,

417
00:24:30,281 --> 00:24:32,575
was completely out of control.

418
00:24:32,658 --> 00:24:37,330
The Tanzanian People's Army
was much more organized.

419
00:24:38,122 --> 00:24:41,125
Amin's army collapsed very quickly.

420
00:24:41,209 --> 00:24:42,793
[crowd cheering]

421
00:24:42,877 --> 00:24:44,795
[funk music plays]

422
00:24:47,131 --> 00:24:49,383
Amin is in Arua. And we're going there.

423
00:24:49,467 --> 00:24:51,260
-[reporter] You're going there?
-Yeah!

424
00:24:51,344 --> 00:24:53,054
[reporter] When will you be in Arua?

425
00:24:53,137 --> 00:24:55,389
I don't know. Because we're walking.

426
00:24:55,473 --> 00:24:57,225
[crowd cheering]

427
00:24:58,601 --> 00:25:02,271
[Allimadi] Idi Amin was still
in the country with a mobile radio

428
00:25:02,355 --> 00:25:07,193
and still communicating
and claiming that he was still in power

429
00:25:07,276 --> 00:25:09,946
and urging the population,

430
00:25:10,029 --> 00:25:12,031
which he had brutalized for nine years,

431
00:25:12,114 --> 00:25:13,533
to actually stand up…

432
00:25:13,616 --> 00:25:16,953
[chuckles] …and fight on his behalf.

433
00:25:17,036 --> 00:25:19,330
Which was utter nonsense, of course.

434
00:25:19,997 --> 00:25:23,960
[narrator] Nothing less intimidating
than a loser on the run.

435
00:25:25,086 --> 00:25:25,962
So take note:

436
00:25:26,045 --> 00:25:30,383
when you decide to go to war,
make sure you pick a fight you can win.

437
00:25:30,466 --> 00:25:36,305
And then eventually, he flies himself
out of the country to Saudi Arabia,

438
00:25:36,389 --> 00:25:39,267
where he lives in exile
for the rest of his life.

439
00:25:40,226 --> 00:25:43,854
[narrator] The demise of Idi Amin's regime
holds an important lesson.

440
00:25:43,938 --> 00:25:46,315
Just because you have
a playbook to work from,

441
00:25:46,399 --> 00:25:48,609
doesn't mean your success is guaranteed.

442
00:25:48,693 --> 00:25:50,736
To make sure your rule endures,

443
00:25:50,820 --> 00:25:54,949
you need an even grander vision
and the discipline to see it through.

444
00:25:55,866 --> 00:25:57,535
Take a page from a man

445
00:25:57,618 --> 00:26:01,289
who dominated all aspects
of his nation's day-to-day life,

446
00:26:01,372 --> 00:26:03,958
including the most basic concept of all:

447
00:26:05,042 --> 00:26:06,252
the truth.

448
00:26:06,335 --> 00:26:07,962
[in Russian] Who alone do we owe this to?

449
00:26:08,045 --> 00:26:10,506
[theme music plays]