PBS' Frontline Offers OnLine Viewing of Cheney in "The Dark Side"

[babylonsister]

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/23479

PBS' Frontline Offers OnLine Viewing of Cheney in "The Dark Side"
Submitted by Chip on Sat, 2007-06-09 07:16. Impeachment

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.

Amid revelations about faulty prewar intelligence and a scandal surrounding the indictment of the vice president's chief of staff and presidential adviser, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, FRONTLINE goes behind the headlines to investigate the internal war that was waged between the intelligence community and Richard Bruce Cheney, the most powerful vice president in the nation's history.

"A lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly, without any discussion, using sources and methods that are available to our intelligence agencies," Cheney told Americans just after 9/11. He warned the public that the government would have to operate on the "dark side."

In "The Dark Side," FRONTLINE tells the story of the vice president's role as the chief architect of the war on terror, and his battle with Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet for control of the "dark side." Drawing on more than 40 interviews and thousands of documents, the film provides a step-by-step examination of what happened inside the councils of war.

Early in the Bush administration, Cheney placed a group of allies throughout the government who advocated a robust and pre-emptive foreign policy, especially regarding Iraq. But a potential obstacle was Tenet, a holdover from the Clinton administration who had survived the transition by bypassing Cheney and creating a personal bond with the president.

After the attacks on 9/11, Cheney seized the initiative and pushed for expanding presidential power, transforming America's intelligence agencies and bringing the war on terror to Iraq. Cheney's primary ally in this effort was Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

"You have this wiring diagram that we all know of about national security, but now there's a new line on it. There's a line from the vice president directly to the secretary of defense, and it's as though there's a private line, private communication between those two," former National Security Council staffer Richard Clarke tells FRONTLINE.

Watch the program, discuss, view charts and more at: PBS' Frontline, here:

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

[Sal Minella]

1. Got the DVD from Netflix and this is well worth watching -- interviews with people telling the truth

[tammywammy]

2. I'll also recommed it

I've seen it and it's very interesting.

[MissWaverly]

3. I hope they have this at Blockbuster

I saw it twice, it's a stunning documentary.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

4. As an aside... kudos to PBS for a very well designed website.

Formatting and layout are exceptional. The designer/programmer deserves a bonus.