It’s been five years since the Iraq war, and a lot has been written about the subject. But if you want a comprehensive one-stop overview, beginning from when Iraq first appeared on the Bush agenda - believe it or not, the neoconservatives in Bush's circle brought it up in the days after 9/11 despite there being no reason to do so – to the back room dealings among the President’s closest advisers; from the facts that were manufactured to fit war policy, to the embarrassing lack of planning in Iraq after the invasion; for all this and lots more look no further than this superb, 4-hour documentary by Frontline called Bush’s War, recently aired on American Public Television. You’ll get to see interviews from many of the major players; you’ll learn of the intense tug of war between the two sparring camps: Colin Powell and the State Department people on one side; Cheney, Rumsfeld Wolfowitz, the neoconservatives, on the other. You’ll also get to know how flimsy the Iraq war planning effort was, how it was bungled badly.Yes, the story is known, has been told before, but not on such an epic scale and not in such an accessible form. The entire show is available free online. Go watch and find out how those with power pull strings and deftly conduct their politics – it’s a fascinating look at the decision-makers of the Bush government.
2 comments:
Hari,
Happy to see that theres at least one more soul watching the documentary while the whole world is obsessed with American Idol. Saw both the episodes and loved them. But I still find it ironical that its called Bush's war while the machinations are credited mainly to Cheney, Rumsfeld and to some extent Addington. There was a precursor to this documentary on Frontline, titled 'Cheney's Law' - dont know whether you had seen it. It was awesome too. And again, there wasnt a whimper of response to this documentary in any media outlet I have seen so far.
Yes, Raghu, I thought about why it was called Bush's war - probably it referred more to his presidency than anything else. Haven't seen Cheney's Law, but will check it out. Actually, a while ago, I believe there was something called Rumsfeld's war too!
I find it surprising too that these documentaries don't get that much attention. It would be understandable if they are boring, but Frontline has always made its stuff riveting - using great pictures, archival footage and music.
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