Bush's War

PBS is running a 4-hour Frontline entitled "Bush's War." Given the lengthy running time, it is the most exhaustive and definitive explanation about why "we are where we are." Of the relatively few people who will actually watch it, some will likely dismiss it as yet another partisan salvo from the left-wing media. They would perhaps be surprised to find how riveting it is to watch current and former senior administration officials candidly describe how Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld pushed for war in Iraq, literally from September 12, 2001 until the invasion. Bush himself comes across more as a rubber stamper who recognized at least some of the political if not human consequences of a war manufactured on a foundation that was shaky at best, but ultimately decided during a December 2002 consultation with then National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice that invasion of Iraq was the right course of action. Once that fateful decision had been made, there was no turning back and all the UN posturing by the sacrificed but compliant Colin Powell was mere window dressing. If ever there was a field guide for the impeachment of Dick Cheney, the details are contained within these primary accounts of the devastation that can be wrought by an imperial presidency.