Frontline: Bush's War

Anybody else catch this? I recorded it earlier in the week and just got a chance to watch it last night -- it was a two-part show that traced how the administration moved us from 9/11 to the case for war in Iraq. It's Frontline, so you knew it was going to be exhaustively reported, but I was still really impressed with it.

Even after watching all of this unfold since 9/11, it's still dramatic and stunning to see the chronology laid out in such a systematic fashion. It's almost like you can't really comprehend the historical significance in the moment. Years from now, we're going to look back in sheer amazement at what happened -- what we, as a nation allowed to happen -- out of fear. This documentary tells the story. Truly excellent. A must-watch.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/bushswar/

 

Tremendous work, although I saw most of it when Frontline did the various pieces from which this one is drawn. Still, the arrogance, stupidity, and cowardice on display, and the bloody consequences thereof, are maddening when collected in one place.
Colin Powell does not come out of this well at all.

 

Is this the one that talks a lot about Paul Wolfowitz?

I think I saw this 5 years ago. Maybe it's been updated and re-purposed?

It was very good then...

 

This is a narrative compilation of all the Frontline work done on the war since '03, plus some new reporting and interviews, so the Wolfie parts you saw before are probably folded in there somewhere.

 

Hey 90 years later Serbia is still to make sense of the killing of Ferdanand.

Found this quote interesting given the source:

"I think the vice president felt he kind of looked death in the eye on 9/11," former White House counterterrorism coordinator Richard Clarke says. "Three thousand Americans died. The building that the vice president used to work in blew up, and people died there. This was a cold slap in the face. This is a different world you're living in now. And the enemy's still out there, and the enemy could come after you. That does cause you to think [about] things differently."

 

This country has a $40 trillion dollar debt monster looking us in the eye right now. I wish someone in charge would address it, since these jackasses-in-charge do nothing but feed it.

 

I saw the last hour of the first episode, then TiVo'd it. It's a 4 1/2 hour time commitment, but from what I saw, appears to be worth viewing.

 

yeah, hey, fuck man, reading books to grade school kids is much like looking death in the eye.

those might be the stupidest words ever strung together in the history of man.

 

No TP, these are the stupidest words ever strung together by man.

 

I thought Powell came across as almost sympathetic. It appeared he was constantly being undermined by Cheney and Rummy. Perhaps he should have stood up for himself/state dept. or even resigned.

 

Mmmm ... Brylcreem!

 

You misread it -- it was Cheney, not Bush, that Clarke was talking about. Cheney was in a building that was a suspected target on 9/11 (the White House). I can't blame him for feeling like he was staring death in the face that morning. I can blame him, however, for virtually everything he's done since then.