Bush's War -- Frontline (PBS) (1 Viewer)

[Josh Dial]

Heh, isn't there also a "Cheney's War?"

 

[Citizen87645]

I thought so, but I could only find "Cheney's Law."

 

[Josh Dial]

Ahhh yes, that's what I was thinking of. It's hard to keep them straight - I've seen most of them a few times. "Cheney's Law," actually touches on many of the themes in "Bush's War," especially the extension of Presidential powers. A bit of the footage was used (like the above-mentioned Frontline eps) in this doc. too.

Another point that can't be made enough, is that a lot of the Frontline eps, especially their recent stuff over the last 6 years, is available for free viewing on their website. It's quite refreshing to have open access to these excellent programs free of charge, often with extra stuff on the accompanying mini-site.

 

[Louis C]

I am confused. Wasn't it the U.N's war, when Saddam ignored the U.N. sanctions issued as a condition of surrender after Gulf War I? If there be truth in advertising, shouldn't they have called it "Bush I's War"? Isn't Frontline supposed to put things in historical context? Just curious, because I have not seen this yet.

 

[MacD]

Or, perhaps no "for-profit" news organizations can afford to spend the time and money because they are not unlimitedly funded to do so like Frontline which gets the majority of its funding from .... could it be.... taxpayers. So, like most governemtly funded organizations, just spend away.

And I thought this all started back when Clinton's administration made it a priority..oops...I guess PBS and Frontline didn't spend enough taxpayers' $ and go in-depth enough.

 

[Lew Crippen]

I’m sure that you are not trying to violate HTF’s posting rules and guidelines Dan, so I’m curious as to why you think that this contributes to the discussion.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

You are greatly mistaken if yout think Frontline has unlimited funding, let alone the funding allocated by a "for-profit" news organization like one of the Big Three. PBS at its peak never received the funding of a nationalized broadcaster like the CBC or BBC, and due to budget cutbacks in the last decade or two, the gap in funding has widened. If I had to guess, I'd say that any given broadcast of Frontline is produced for less than one of MSNBC's prison "doc-blocks." To put it into perspective, the president's budget for fiscal year 2008 alloted $350 million in taxpayer dollars to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which divides its financing between both PBS and NPR stations. That's the amount spent in Iraq every 19 and a half hours, according to the New York Times's latest figure. CBS's news division alone, which is not in the business of producing documentaries, had a budget of nearly $300 million this year — likely well over the total investment of taxpayer money in PBS, period.

 

[Marty M]

Remember, keep politics out of this discussion. Actually I'm surprised this thread stayed open this long without someone injecting political views.

 

[Michael Reuben]

A reminder of the narrow limits to the exception contained in HTF Rule 4 (emphasis added):

Several posts above are in violation. Please consider this due warning.

M.

 

[Citizen87645]

Part One did not provide a lot of historical context in respect to the first Gulf War, however the website has a nice video timeline, starting with the terrorist attacks in the 80s, that people should find informative.

 

[Josh Dial]

Also, it has to be said that Will Lyman, the narrator for Frontline, has a damn cool voice

 

[Dan Mc]

I think you guy's missed the boat on the title. I took the title "Bush's War" not to mean the war in Iraq, but the war behind the scenes that Bush had to deal with. CIA vs DOD, State dept vs VP office, etc. That's what this thing is really about.

 

[Holadem]

Sure. But it doesn't change the fact that Bush remains a secondary/supporting character in this narrative, which was my point.

--
H

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

"He is...The Most Interesting Man in the World"

 

[Johnny Angell]

I agree with you Adam. What makes PBS programming special is their unlimited willingness to cover topics in depth that no one else has.

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

PBS consistently broadcasts shows of such high quality that I have no problem contributing to my local affiliate annually. For years Frontline, American Experience and Nova have been a staple of my television viewing and all three appear atop my Tivo's season pass list.