Frontline (PBS): The Dark Side

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

Forgive me if this is old news to most, but I just happened to catch most of this feature last night. I wanted to share just in case anyone else had not seen or heard about it.

From the Website:

After 9/11, Vice President Richard Cheney seized the initiative. He pushed to expand executive power, transform America's intelligence agencies and bring the war on terror to Iraq. But first he had to take on George Tenet's CIA for control over intelligence.


Observations & Analysis

*Vice President Richard B. Cheney
Close observers of Cheney and those who have worked with him offer impressions of his personality, management style, exercise of power and interest in intelligence issues over the years.

*George Tenet
Former CIA officials and others discuss the impact and legacy of one of the nation's longest-serving directors of central intelligence.

*"The Dark Side"
Five days after 9/11, Vice President Cheney appeared on television and talked about fighting terrorism, stating: "…We have to work the dark side, if you will. Spend time in the shadows of the intelligence world. …" Here, intelligence officials and others offer thoughts on Cheney's use of that phrase, as well as the impact of 9/11 on the vice president.

*Office Politics & Anecdotes
Excerpts from the interviews on the ways in which personality and politics shaped policy development and policy-making in the administration during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.

*The CIA: History and Performance
A range of perspectives from CIA officials and other close observers of the agency on its six-decade history, successes and failures, and the challenges it now confronts.

*The War in Afghanistan
CIA officials, operatives and others discuss why the Afghanistan campaign was a mixed success and the tensions that quickly surfaced between the military and CIA.

*The 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE)
It analyzed prewar intelligence on Iraq's WMD programs and its key findings were soon proven wrong. CIA and other intelligence experts talk about the decision-making and politics that surrounded this flawed document.

Link; http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/darkside/

[Up2Late]

1. Yes, those who were here when it first aired did talk about it, but look..

...what's coming up next starting next week!

<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/>

This October, FRONTLINE returns to the most important story of our time with three new films that take a fresh look at the global war on terror:

Return of the Taliban
Oct. 3, 2006 at 9pm
FRONTLINE reports from a secluded front in the war on terror -- Pakistan's lawless tribal areas -- and reveals how the region has fallen under the control of a resurgent Taliban militia, which uses the territory as a launching pad for attacks in Afghanistan. Long suspected of harboring Osama bin Laden and his deputy, the area is now a failed state, and Afghan and U.S. officials accuse Pakistan of not doing enough, or worse, playing a double game. (more »)

The Enemy Within
Oct. 10, 2006 at 9pm
Five years after 9/11 and a massive government reorganization, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Lowell Bergman investigates the domestic counterterrorism effort and asks whether we are better prepared to prevent another catastrophic attack. He reveals continued interagency rivalry, as well as troubling flaws that raise questions about what we actually know about the "enemy," and whether we have heightened our vulnerability to other threats. (more »)

The Lost Year in Iraq
Oct. 17, 2006 at 9pm
In the aftermath of Saddam Hussein's fall, a group of Americans, led by Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III, set off to Baghdad to build a new nation and plant democracy in the Arab Middle East. One year later, they left behind lawlessness, insurgency, economic collapse, death, destruction -- and much of their idealism. FRONTLINE follows the early efforts of this group -- and how along the way they became hardened to the realities of post-war Iraq. (more »)

Looks like a great year for the truth.

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

2. I'll have to mark my calendar!!

I figured the Frontline episode had already aired and it was old news to most people here.
But just in case a few neophytes as myself needed a nudge, I thought I'd do a courtesy. :)

[Up2Late]

5. No biggie, that's was a truly great show and should be required viewing...

...for ALL Americans.

Frontline posts are always welcome here, in fact, if you remember and don't see anything here about it next Tuesday, you might want to post a reminder, a lot of people here will thank you.

[Auntie Bush]

6. Thank God they're showing these shows BEFORE the election.

Not like the NYT not publishing the eavesdropping story till after the election.

[pscot]

3. A surfeit of riches

that I wish we could do without.

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

4. Kick... just so any other folks missed this show...

.. and need to set their alarms for the upcoming shows (in the 2nd message)