PBS's Frontline: Too Timid, Too Little, Too Late on Iraq

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/80611/

Frontline’s “Bush’s War” on PBS Monday and Tuesday evening was a nicely put-together rehash of the top players’ trickery that led to the attack on Iraq, together with the power-grabbing, back-stabbing, and limitless incompetence of the occupation.

Except for an inside-the-beltway tidbit here and there -- for example, about how the pitiable secretary of state Colin Powell had to suffer so many indignities at the hands of other type-A hard chargers, Frontline added little to the discussion. Notably missing was any allusion to the unconscionable role the Fourth Estate adopted as indiscriminate cheerleader for the home team; nor was there any mention that the invasion was a serious violation of international law. But those omissions, I suppose, should have come as no surprise.

Nor was it a surprise that any viewer hoping for insight into why Cheney and Bush were so eager to attack Iraq was left with very thin gruel. It was more infotainment, bereft of substantive discussion of the whys and wherefores of what in my view is the most disastrous foreign policy move in our nation’s history.

Despite recent acknowledgements from the likes of Alan Greenspan, Gen. John Abizaid, and others that oil and permanent (or, if you prefer, “enduring”) military bases were among the main objectives, Frontline avoided any real discussion of such delicate factors. Someone not already aware of how our media has become a tool of the Bush administration might have been shocked at how Frontline could have missed one of President George W. Bush’s most telling “signing statements.” Underneath the recent Defense Authorization Act, he wrote that he did not feel bound by the law’s explicit prohibition against using the funding:

“(1) To establish any military installation or base for the purpose of providing for the permanent stationing of United States Armed Forces in Iraq,” or

“(2) To exercise United States control of the oil resources of Iraq.”

So the Frontline show was largely pap.



Guess I wasn't the only one who noticed.

Don

[mike_c]

1. I haven't seen it yet, but I'm real disappointed to hear your review....

I agree with your underlying sentiment-- MUCH more dirty laundry needs to be aired before the Bush nest of snakes will be cleared out.

[screembloodymurder]

3. It was a remarkable program and a must watch, but ...

you are right. It did not attempt to answer the question of why we went into Iraq. The MSM's participation was covered in a previous program.

[ColbertWatcher]

2. And this is why justice takes a while...

...justice demands fairness and facts.

And facts don't just come out and say, "Here I am!"