Bush’s War: What Do You Think?
Monday, August 4th, 2008
Thirteen re-aired Bush’s War Sunday night, Aug. 3; it’s a 4.5-hour epic that’s challenging, controversial, enlightening. It’s the most-watched online program from PBS ever.
You watch it online here, or wait for the rebroadcast on September 6, but we’d like to know:
What did you think about the program Bush’s War?
What is to be gained from staying in Iraq? What would be lost by leaving too soon?
The 2008 election candidates have their positions on the war:
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McCain’s Statements on the future of the Iraq War
Obama’s Statements on the future of the Iraq War
When it becomes McCain’s War or Obama’s War, what different problems will they face?
Answer these, pose your own questions, or react to the program, below.
52 Responses to “Bush’s War: What Do You Think?”
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Interesting timing. Sounds like a pro Obama move!!!!
Mr. Bush made a real mess of things for the whole world.
Since this program was a rehash of reporting on the Iraq war rather than a look at history and over 75% of the reporters in America vote liberal democratic it appears as a political work rather than historical. Nice for the Democratic party but consider the implications of a 501(c)(3) organization “lobbying”. What would happen to all the excellent programs 13 offers which would be lost if 13 lost its tax-exempt status.
Once in a while I would like to see an objective point of view on any political subject. While you have interesting artistic and variety programs, I never watch any political programming such as Moyers for example.
Havn’t seen the program yet but after this Sunday I will make my informed comment. It appears from the first few commentors that the right wing is standing vigil over their failed leader, ready to put their spin or make their threats in order to smoke up the truth. I say just give them their cup of cool-aide and let them blindly follow Bush/Chaney to hell.
It is important that the media and the public keep aware of, and repeat again and again, the truth re. the Iraq war. Otherwise the neo-conservatives will revise history with their Orwellian spins.
Thirteen/WNET should stay out of politics. The reporting is always biased. If you can’t stay neutral and report just the facts, then just focus on your other excellent programming.
Frontline produces the only political commentary that I trust from the media.The programs are thoroughly researched and usually excellent. Thank God for Frontline!
I have not yet read/heard any mention of Pres.Bush’s motivation/need to go to war to establish himself as a de facto war leader (country to country rather a self-proclaimed leader against against a phantom very small group of suicidal Muslim fanatics) in order to get re-elected to the presidency..This fits in with the urgency with which the confabulated WMD,intimidated everyone involved,in both parties and demonstrated his Machievelian method of making and enforcing his policy to serve his and his political/financial support base..
The Left has been trying to take down this great
President since the beginning. He has done his
best to keep this country safe and hold on to the
values we hold dear. God bless him.
America’s War. Your war, my war. A war against a dictator and his system that diverted rivers to starve 50,000 innocent people. Against a system that gassed thousands of innocent people. A case of a brave, strong nation, able to say to the World, “Enough is enough. You may not continue to do what you are doing. We will not allow the bullies to run rampant in the schoolyard. We will not tolerate the inhumanity.” Bush, Congress, big business, liberal, conservative… Please, everyone – it does not matter. Be proud of our nation, and any other nation, that will not let those horrors, those cancers grow in the skin of our World. Condem those who look away, not those who stand up and act. Remenber the seeds of evil not torn from the Earth in 1938. Bless the fallen, soothe their families and friends. Honor rests on those who will do what needs to be done. Perhaps, someday, the cost of freeing others will pay us back. Perhaps not. But, no one will be able say that we turned away.
I just finished reading the Fall of The House of Bush. It tells the entire story of Bushes, Chaneys and all their cohorts who planned the Iraq War. This was their adgenda even before Bush stole the election. He won with the help of James Baker and the supreme court. He is the worst President in my lifetime and I am 80years old. He has killed over Four Thousand of our men and Women and sent home over tewnty nine thousand severly wounded Men and Women. Several soldiers have been Electrocuted in showers by faulty work by Kellog,Brown,and Root. I have witten to Senator Jim Webb about this. They are now having hearing on this . One of the mothers who lost her son this way testifed this week. What more can i say. We must get out of Iraq and let their leaders take over.The Taliban in Afghanistan Destroyed the Twin Towers and killed over three thousand American and others. This is who we should go after and destroy them.
I read many noble words and ideas here that do not fit this worst President in the history of this country..Lied us into war,ignored the victoms of Katrina to keep Louisiana Republican,gave away our huge surplus to the wealthy/rich ( i am not poor trust me),tried to cut entitlements for the neediest while cutting taxes on the most entitled(me)..Fought against extended health insurance,real aid to education and unblinkingly has dumped a trillion dollars into Iraq’s civil war with so many Americans killed and wounded and uncounted Iraqis.Sure Hussein was a psycho dictator so why not attack N.Korea,Iran,Lybia,Saudi Arabia,et al..Look at the facts and not the spin, listen to the words ,then check the deeds and if there is a hell for evil-doers, Bush and Cheney deserve a special place…and if you find the cost of everything going up, and the dollar in the toilet and an obscene debt,from a surplus,that may cause the worst depression ever seen when the rest of the world stops supporting Bush’s radical spending perhaps you will figure who and why it was caused..We have had many great,heroic Presidents in our history who served this country and not themselves…I am waiting for enough voters to start examining the facts and not the images and spin of patriotic phrases to cover up so many crimes while in office that there will be an outcry to try and convict those responsible..Notice what party all the representatives who are caught doing immoral and civil crimes these years while self-righteously spouting morality patriotism…You don’t have to agree with me, but find out and demonstrate some knowledge of the facts all around us..
I agree with Jeanne who points to the guaranteed bias of your reporting when it comes to this endeavor and this president. As an encore performance, I know there is no way that you would be able to have the latest July statistics as well as the info showing the growing success of the war. Also, today the Iraqi govt. requested (using it’s own funds!) to purchase $10.8 BILLION in tanks and other personnel carriers. NO war is perfectly executed – as no president is w/o flaws. Nevertheless, the ‘agenda’ here is blatantly biased against the entire war and this White House. Our country is noble and we did not turn away!
I am offended by the title Bush’s War. It should be entitled Our War. I am offended enough to cancel my contribution to PBS for this year! PBS has become much too opinionated when it comes to politics. That is not the purpose of a national public television network!
Of course this is Bush’s war. What I find so interesting is that those that criticize Public Television as being biased, do so without pointing to any facts that support their argument They simply say things like ” PBS has become much too opinionated when it comes to politics” or “the ‘agenda’ here is blatantly biased against the entire war and this White House.” Whereas those who support Public Television’s reporting provide a litany of facts in favor of their position. I think what we must learn from this war is a lesson that history has tried to teach us generation after generation. That is how, given the right environment, the will of the few can usurp the majority. We cannot afford to let this happen again.
just the name of the production shows that you are a political entity on the left. sadly, it’s almost impossible to find objectivity in the media these days. in this case, you have allocated a large amount of money to make your political viewpoint public. when you go begging for money you are really looking for political donations for your cause.
I’ve viewed this program already, with interest. However, the choice to re-run this politically slanted program now I find interesting and somewhat questionable. This is not what I was looking for from PBS on a Sunday evening. I experience the war daily in a very personal way and hope, occasionally, to find Mystery, Foyle’s War or Masterpiece as a weekly escape. I’ll have to do something else tonight. Save Frontline for the weeknights.
Is it any wonder why we are in the mess we are in this Country when viewers comment about the slanting of this documentary on the Iraq War. Can it be anyone else’s but Bush’s War, and it matters little about the name but the content. I think PBS has done a very commendable job in pulling together an honest, objective report on the reality of what happened in the buildup to the Iraq War, and what followed. This is not fiction. It has been corroborated over and over again by those within the Administration as well as in the media. There are those who’d rather choose their own rendering of the truth, because the real truth flies in the face of all they believe their leaders to be. Bravo to PBS for doing what they are supposed to, and doing it well.
I will be actively campaigning to end any public financing of public tv. I will not be sending a check this year or for a long time.
Bush is our president and the war did start under his watch, of course this is his war. I have given up watching the news anywhere else on tv since celebrities and their divorces or failures are more newsworthy than details on the war or the truth about the campaign. Thank you PBS, I trust you, please don’t change.
If we can take anything out of the great documentary is (I hope most of you do) that after all the horrible errors that Rumsfeld and the administration have done in the post invasion of Iraq, and during the badly planned occupation/reconstruction phase of the Iraq adventure, after all the fighting by Condaleza Rice and others like Senator McCain to make the administration finally change from their failed “stay the course” strategy which was loosing this war to the detriment of the American and Iraqi people, and after specially ALL that blood and sacrifice of my fellow comrades in arms in the Armed Forces we do NOT win this war and loose all that has been accomplished by making ANOTHER horrible mistake of withdrawing too soon like some on the Left want to do before Iraq is stable, with a solid government able to take care of itself and the violence controlled long term, then all that sacrifice, money, sweat, blood and tears has been for nothing! Lets not compound the terrible mistakes this administration has done with ANOTHER terrible mistake…the mistake of leaving before the job is truly done.
Your documentary has missed many very important points in relation to Bush’s War which seems to put most of the blame for the failures of it upon Rumsfeld and others. The main failure was starting the war in the first place. Why no mention of the costs of the war? Why no mention of the use of DU weapons and their effects upon our troops and civilians in Iraq? Why no mention of cluster bomb usage? Why no mention of the Bush plans to invade Iraq by his conversations and meetings even before 911? Why no mention of the Bush family and Chaney connection to large oil interests and the evidence for the decision to go into Iraq to control Iraq and the Mid East for strategic reasons…OIL..? Why no interviews of common soldiers who have served in Iraq with their experiances while they were there and their experiences upon their return home? They surely have something to say about the invasion and occupation. Why no mention of the many large bases built and being built there including the largest embassy ever built and the plans to build a massive Disneyland style amusement park next to the Green Zone.? What does that say about how long we plan to occupy Iraq? Why not mention all of the organizations and groups who have very valid claims that the Iraq war was illegal, it”s occupation is illegal and the death of our soldiers and Iraqui civilians are war crimes by our laws and international treaties of the Hague? These are also crimes against humanity that require prosecution in our US courts and international courts in which for such crimes of murder thr death penalty could be prescribed. We the American people have a right to know the whole story not just some white washed self serving explanations by politicians, generals and experts who give some factual information and ignore the basic problems which could be helpful in solving problems of missguided leadership by so many.
In hindsight of course the costs of this war if applied to clean alternative energy would have been the best decision our leaders could have made. Starting way back in the early 1970″s when we had the first warnings of oil shortages due to foreign supply dependence the economy of this country could have been guided to a manufacturing and service economy based on the technological innovations of clean alternative energy systems of production and distribution for transportation, housing and employment. The opportunity was lost due to those wanting the easy sure profits of oil and then expanding their profits to include supporting war for profit. Please….Sun, Wind, Water, Tides, Hydrogen from water and for a time natural gas but NOT Nuclear Energy (radiation waste storage problem and used to make nuclear weapons), Bio Fuels (needed for farming of food) or Coal (dirty). Is it now even too late to make the right decisions? The Iraq war decision may have and is still destroying the ability to recover and those responsible for the crime of this war and all those complicit in the continuation must be held accountable by trials by jury so that the evidence of all the crimes and all thos responsable can be questioned and their guilt or innocense be determined and sentencing be done.
I have written a lengthy comment earlier but even if it seemed a criticism of things that I believe that you should have put in I still believe it was very factual and an unbiased explanation of many things I have already been aware of. It was good that it was shown in one viewing but I had to force myself to sit through waiting for the next section. Sorrowfully I believe that most people do not have the ability to go beyond watching a 30 second commercial much less a 5 minute news clip without becomming bored. This is true for most unless it is related to unrelenting violence for some or long laughable comedy routines or of many non thinking couch potatoe type of entertainment. Even I fall into the entertainment trap when it involves sports, detective stories or some science fiction based on plausability. I hope that those that have seen this do not dismiss this as not factual because I have spent much of my retirement for the last couple years researching many things that have happened before and after 911 and know that what you have documented is very factual to the smallest detail concerning the Iraq war. Of course there is much more behind what you have shown which concerns theories based on facts and conspiracy theories that are suspect untill thoroughly investigated and even then cannot be believed because of lack of evidence.
Now I have a recommendation of a documentary many in the military or veterans would be interested in especially since I was in the Navy at the time and was a CT that met four of the sailors that survived. If you could produce an historical look into the
attack on the USS Liberty and bring into perspective what occured to that ship on June 8th 1967 and what the survivors that are still alive today have to say. Include all the of the past evidence up till that which has recently become available and making the connectins of the politics and international problems of the Mid East today with then. That could clear up this countries mistakes from then till now in the Mid East. Of course because of the influence of some of your sponsors and supporters there could be a problem with your finances if you did this. In any event keep up the good work that you are capable of even with the objections of those who have been fundamentally brainwashed by other media sources. You are the last best outlet for truth we have.
The topic has been reported to death by the other networks; CBS,NBC,ABC, FOX….and nothing ever is agreed upon. Bush;s war will soon become either McCain’s war or Obamba;s war and one way or another it will be finished with. There will be plenty of time for Historians to place blame on the politicans later.
After watching I still say that calling it Bush’s War
is unfair. It is evident that this is no usual war.
The enemy wears no uniform, there are no rules, and we have done our very best to help the Iraqi people
live in freedom. Pres. Clinton saw Saddam as a
grave threat to us as did so many others who now
place the”blame” for the war on Pres. Bush. He is
a courageous President who has put our safety first.
this is one of the best reasons to be a member of 13.
thank you.
One of the best with supurb insight; a reason I am a 13 member. You missed , however, some of the military issues re: Afghanistan. My understanding is there was a war plan calling for many more troops and blocking the the Hindu Kush that Rumsfeld tec. overturned. Flutter boxes did not appear in the weeks between 9/11 and their use. You did not mention them and there is good news footage on the people scrambling for them. Allying with the war lords was a huge mistake. And, regarding Iraq Tommy Franks had better ideas such as Somalia and and The Sudan. However, there was one other factor in the intelligence vacance. Those of us who recall know that the US always underestimated when a foreign nation would develope a nuclear weapon. Also in the time between talking about attacking Iraq and doing it any technology could have been removed. There are rumors that the nuclear technology was renegade from Russia and ahd to be taken away. Makes some sense.
It is truly sad that the Constitution and rule of law in the country is being subverted and the majority of Ameicans are either unaware or neither care. A very sad commentary to the lack of integrity in our highest elected officials.
The program was amazing and very disturbing. Please keep telling the truth. Keep telling us how it us no matter who is upset with it. I couldn’t sleep last night thinking of how American & Iraqi lives are considered so disposable by leaders making decisions based on their own egos and agendas. None of the experts-either intelligence, military, logistics and others with insight had their ideas discussed and considered.
Even a documentary as long as this one, much has had to be left out. But there is enough to condemn the Bush administration and the group of so-called neocons for criminally misleading this nation. The blood and treasure that have been lost can never be recovered. How can the evil that was done be atoned for? My hat is off to PBS for this documentary, and I am sending another donation.
I believe we should re-name WW2 to ‘Franklin’s war’. How about WW1 to ‘Woodrow’s war’?
Do we ever spend time thinking about the reasons for WW1? That killed a lot more GIs than Iraq. I’m really sick of people who’s foreign policy expertise consists of eating Chinese food commenting on the Iraq war.
Typical.
If it wasn’t Bush’s War, then it could only be Bush and Cheney’s War (and their sycophants). Every other country as well as the UN OPPOSED this war or had its arm twisted to become one of the so-called “willing.”
WW1 and 2 were WORLD wars, remember? And the U.S. was very late in getting involved.
I only caught part of the program but enough to create that combination of profound disappointment and anger I usually feel when confronted with any Bush activity. I am always amazed that we have such incompetents running the country and that we got outselves into this mess. I can only pray we all have the sense to get rid of them this November. Obama, I hope, is that light at the end of the tunnel. Thank God for a free press and Chanel 13.
I missed the encore. When is it coming on again???
God Bless America – isn’t that what we heard daily – hourly – after 9/11? How quickly we forget. Thank you President Bush for having the ba**s to stand up like a man and protect us. If only you had Rudy Giuliani as a VP – there would have been coordination as well. Are you listening McCain?
Read Stephen P Coyle (1st & 2nd)on 8.04, Sy Schleimer on 8.01….
Between the two commentaries, they say enough. I support the Frontline P.O.V., as well as the reporting and as such, sent my contribution to 13 to underline same.
We two grandparents of eight have never been disappointed in Thirteen’s on-the-money coverage of current and past events and history in the making or made. Our financial contributions will continue and we hope your Channel’s brave, lone, voice in the media wilderness of spin, hype, idiot brevity sound bites, and loudmouthed commentators will continue forever. Thank you and G-d Bless. You are among the patriots that the Founders of our Republic envisioned over 200 years ago to preserve Amercans’ Freedom of Speech and thought. Could Jefferson, Adams, Washington, etc. ever imagined that a person who can’t even speak as articulately as our 6 year old granddaughter would be President of our wonderful nation for 2 terms?!
I was so astonished by the intrusion of a fund-raising break, I immediately turned the program off. What are the words they use? Without commercial interruption?
Bush’s War was an excellent presentation. But reading some of the comments presented here is most discouraging. How sny intelligent American can defend this president and his cohorts is beyond me. It will take this country 50 years to recover from the blunders he has made.I’m 76 years old and I am very pessimistic about the future of the United States and its people. Terrible leadership has destroyed our standing in the world and led to a myriad of problems here at home.
The program turned out to be exactly what I expected,biased anti-Bush and just a continuation of your usual left-wing opinions. I was hoping for a more balanced report but ZI guess that was too much to hope for.I have been debating stopping my support because I like your theatrical and musical presentations but this put me over the edge. I intend to withdraw ny support. I agree with herman unanski’s last comment (8/1/08:7;41pm
It is sad to hear the criticisms of “Bush’s War” It comes from those who have eyes, but will not see, ears, but do not hear, brains, but do not use them. They cannot be helped because they are closed to to their and other’s humanity.
[...] you liked or didn’t like Frontline’s Bush’s War program, join us in conversation over at http://www.thirteen.org/newsandpublicaffairs/bushs-war-what-do-you-think? Because it’s getting a little heated and you should add your two, three or four cents worth in. [...]
I think that the documentary is insightful and as balanced as it could be, considering the fact that this debacle that has ensued for too long already with horrific, damning results. Those with a conservative slant will no doubt think that your presentation is biased with a more liberal (and I’m unashamed of that term) viewpoint. But after all of this time after the Iraq War (“occupation”, really) has begun, I found myself sitting and wondering, “Is there really nothing more that American citizens can do other than sit quietly and accept all of this? Is it really too late to effect a positive change with a collective voice?” Silence and helpless, convenient indifference may prove to be the largest tragedy of all because it would indicate the loss of a vital part of our national soul, and together, we shall reap that which we have collectively sown, regardless of our leadership.
As the program ran through the first hour I kept asking again and again, Why are those neo-cons not on trial for mass murder? In the second hour, Why has Bush not been impeached? My pity and sorrow for Colin Powel is enormous. What a great man and he did try to save us and the rest of the eventually involved world. There were STATESMEN in government in the past but none are present now.How sad it is. Thank you for a concise summary of the greatest political blunder that the US has ever made.
My only comment on this documentary is how they left out the overwhelming evidence of an inside job to get into this War in the first place. Obviously NORAD was ordered to stand down on 911 and the building were destroyed by controlled demolition. It would be impossible for those building to collapse in freefall speed without the use of explosives. If anyone is skeptical just google Steven Jones BYU professor on the evidence that thermate was used from samples of the steel he analyzed. Do your own research and I think you will find answers.
I have to echo Melissa Pilchard’s comments regarding impeachment. How can an illegal war be initiated, carried out, perpetuated and funded almost entirely with money borrowed from China, and the president who called the country to arms elude impeachment? We wasted 10s of millions of dollars impeaching Bill Clinton for a marital infidelity yet Bush has cost the country billions, set the deficit at all time high, cost the lives of over 4,000 American military personnel and untold Afghani and Iraqi citizens and no one in the House or Senate raises a finger. It matters not when we walk away from Iraq; the outcome will be the same. An unimaginable blood bath ending in a Shia led government that will support the Iranian and the Saudi regimes and a unification of the Middle East the likes of which we have never seen. The only people making out on this war are Bush’s oil cronies, the military contractors and the banks collecting the interest on the loans. The people who have/will suffer the most are the people of Iraq and the American families who have lost loved ones fighting a war that General Petraeus has stated is “militarily unwinnable”.
Now we know what had happen, Then WHAT We are Going To Do About ( IT )???!!!!
To undertake to cover so much ground, even in 4.5 hours, deserves a lot of credit in itself. While there were some important people who must have declined the opportunity to appear (e.g. the entire cabinet at the time that war was being discussed and decided upon) it was a riveting and interesting documentary. As to the debate over the handling of the interludes between the sections, they might have been shorter but at least gave everyone a chance to wash the dishes or make a phone call before the next segment began. Thank you for doing this. It was a public service.
If we let these madmen get away with this atrocity, how can we ever criticize other nations for acts of aggression or crimes against humanity? We must stand up for justice and our Constitution. What will stop future administrations from starting wars to grab even more power for the executive branch (and whatever branch of government Cheney is creating for himself)?
This Frontline documentary is one of the most thoroughly researched on the Bush Administration’s assault on Iraq that I have seen. Brilliant. Thank you so very much.