I have much to say about the current events of the last two weeks: the global protests, France and Germany declaring their love for each other, G.W. preparing for a war without Congress approval, you know those kinds of events.
But the history major in me says to do a little more research on this one before I shoot my mouth off again. Lord knows there are thousands of war and anit-war blogs out there. I don't intend to add to the hysteria.
Tonight, FRONTLINE, the excellent news program on PBS, will present The War Behind Closed Doors. With all the yammering against or in favor of current US Foreign Policies, I thought it might interest a few of you to watch a little television this evening..
The program description, as read from the press release:
As America teeters on the brink of war with Iraq, FRONTLINE takes viewers inside the key White House policy battles and discussions that have led the Bush administration to pursue the end of Saddam Hussein's regime.In "The War Behind Closed Doors," airing Thursday, February 20, at 9 P.M. on PBS (check local listings), FRONTLINE reveals the internal political machinations and maneuvering that have led the White House to abandon a long-standing policy of "containment" of Iraq in favor of the more aggressive stance of launching preemptive strikes against Iraq--or any nation or group--believed to pose a threat to American security.
Through interviews with key administration officials, policy analysts, and observers, the one-hour documentary also exposes a long-running policy battle between two powerful Washington insiders: Secretary of State Colin Powell and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.
As with all WGBH websites, you can expect to see a lot of extra content on their website as soon as the program ends.
Until then I recommend two of their subsites from past programs:
The Gulf War — "A comprehensive and critical analysis of the 1990-1991 war in which more than one million troops faced off against each other in the deserts of the Gulf states. From the Allied coalition's air war, to the ground assault, to the liberation of Kuwait, and the fallout of Saddam Hussein's retaining power, "The Gulf War" deconstructs what really happened, how it happened and why."
In Search of Al Qaeda — "What happened to the hundreds of Al Qaeda fighters who survived U.S. airstrikes in the mountains of Afghanistan? FRONTLINE follows their trail - from the borderlands of Pakistan, across the Gulf of Oman, to Saudi Arabia and Yeman."
Join the fray by reading through and commenting at the end.
Greg, leave it to you to take the high road; how are you going to win blog awards without mouthing off?
You may have to rename this place fairminded.com
I didn't say I wouldn't mouth off, I just want to sound a little more educated than others, if that can be accomplished.
Thanks for the tip, Greg. I'll sit myself in front of the tube for this one. Does our report have to 250 words and double-spaced? Will you accept it in pencil?
BTW, we all know that is you in the turtleneck, not Shrub.
Leave the uneducated mouthing off to me. But seriously...it seems this war will happen no matter what. No matter the public outcry, no matter Congress' opinion, no matter the global community's opinion. Amazing what one man can do. No...it's not G.W., I honestly can't imagine he's intelligent enough to pull off a one-man stance. I can only imagine how many others are behind G.W. making his mouth and arms move.
Blake, You're correct. It's not one man. For the every 10,000 marching, there are 100,000 reserved souls quietly backing the President and the policy of preserving our way of life. Got it?
You go Rottzi! Thanks for the info, PBS is on our plate tonight.
Sorry to disagree, Rottzi - I'm one of the 100,000 not marching who believes the President and his cronies are working hard to change, not for the better, our way of life. And it scares the hell out of me.
I think that's a key point Rottzi. For every 10 America supporters, there's 1 very loud non-supporter. Using words like "public outcry" makes it sound universal, but it's really rather marginalized, albeit vocal.
(btw, questioning Bush's intelligence is the typical ploy even if it is untrue. Looking at the numbers, Bush is on par with JFK, whom no one labeled "an idiot.")
Oh gosh, "The Silent Majority" bit again? Where have we heard that before? I'm sorry, Rottzi, but "our way of life" (overconsumption, overindulgence, and hubris) needs to be questioned as much as our President's attempt to preserve it. And folks on both sides need to realize that numbers don't equal morality. What needs to be considered here is not how popular our actions are, but how moral they are.
I thought the Frontline special was fair to the Bush Administration (and the previous one) and did not even deal directly with the issue of right or wrong. What I think it really did well was fill in the holes in the argument of both sides. Now we have more information about the motivation behind the call for war. And it is with this information that both sides can make a better argument. With that said, I think Wolfowitz is a maniacal control freak. We've had a few of those in history, haven't we?
I thought it was interesting to hear that Clinton had actually ordered two attacks on Iraq yet I don't recall any global protests. So much for Bush being he sole warhawk or warhead. Admittedly, this is a quick response but regarding a fact that I was very surprised to learn about.
It would be interesting to see the protests shift their focus to Rummie and Wolfowitz. Down with the Hawks!
Greg, that shouldn't surprise you since Clinton was (and is) a media darling.
Beerzie: You're correct. Popularity doesn't equate to morality. Then the bigger debate begins... is morality relative or absolute? The end-game of both is anarchy or God.