[Peace-discuss] Bush's War on PBS -- live chat with Michael Kirk on Wednesday

[Karen Medina]

Peace Discuss,

Has anyone else been watching "Bush's War" on PBS produced by Frontline? The first episode was last night. The second is tonight (Tuesday, March 25, 2008; 8pm-10pm).

Part 1 was very good, and covered some of the same information as "Taxi to the Dark Side" about the detentions and the Administration's encouraging the use of torture. You can watch it online if you missed it. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/bushswar/

"Bush's War" is a two-part special exploring how the war on Iraq began, from deep inside the US government. 
 
Online, you can:
* watch the full program, 
* view the timeline with annotations and videos, and 
* see over 400 extended interviews,
More informally, you can:
* join a discussion,
* join a live chat with the producer, Michael Kirk, on Wednesday at 10am our time (11am Eastern Time because it is with the Washington Post). http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/03/16/DI2008031602418.html

Part 1 was last night (Monday, March 24, 2008)
"Part 1 of Bush's War tells the story of this behind-the-scenes battle over whether Iraq would be the next target in the war on terror.[...]On one side, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet squared off against Vice President Dick Cheney and his longtime ally, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The battles were over policy -- whether to attack Iraq; the role of Iraqi exile Ahmad Chalabi; how to treat detainees; whether to seek United Nations resolutions; and the value of intelligence suggesting a connection between Saddam Hussein and the 9/11 attacks -- but the conflict was deeply personal."
View the chapters of part 1: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/bushswar/view/main.html

Part 2 is tonight (Tuesday, March 25, 2008)
"Part 2 of Bush's War examines that war -- beginning with the quick American victory in Iraq, the early mistakes that were made, and then recounting the story of how chaos, looting and violence quickly engulfed the country.

As American forces realized they were unprepared for the looting that followed the invasion, plans for a swift withdrawal of troops were put on hold. With only a few weeks' preparation, American administrator L. Paul Bremer was sent to find a political solution to a rapidly deteriorating situation. Bremer's first moves were to disband the Iraqi military and remove members of Saddam Hussein's party from the government. They were decisions that the original head of reconstruction, Gen. Jay Garner (Ret.), begged Bremer to reconsider at the time. Now they are seen by others as one of the first in a series of missteps that would lead Iraq into a full-blown insurgency."