Frontline: Chasing Saddams Weapons
Another great episode of Frontline on PBS tonight.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/wmd/
Rebroadcast scheduled on KCTS and WTVS Jan 23-26 check local listings.
Frontline traditionally posts a web version within a week of air,
(and they've just parked 30 great episodes online from the Frontline home page)
so it should soon be viewable by our overseas AI members as well.
The full transcripts of interviews with Hans Blix and David Kay are online,
as well as a Chat scheduled with the BBC Reporter this Fri evening.
Good documentaries are hard to find, Frontline usually does them right.
For those who'd prefer a lighter take on things,
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart had this brilliant take on the SOTU.
WMD about 2 minutes in.
RealPlayer Direct Link to Video (3:58 )
Anybody else see and appreciate these shows ?
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/wmd/
Rebroadcast scheduled on KCTS and WTVS Jan 23-26 check local listings.
Frontline traditionally posts a web version within a week of air,
(and they've just parked 30 great episodes online from the Frontline home page)
so it should soon be viewable by our overseas AI members as well.
The full transcripts of interviews with Hans Blix and David Kay are online,
as well as a Chat scheduled with the BBC Reporter this Fri evening.
Good documentaries are hard to find, Frontline usually does them right.
For those who'd prefer a lighter take on things,
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart had this brilliant take on the SOTU.
WMD about 2 minutes in.
RealPlayer Direct Link to Video (3:58 )
Anybody else see and appreciate these shows ?
Comments
Frontline has always been a platform for anyone that has wanted to promote a war with Iraq, putting anyone on the air that's willing to say anything negative. These instances include long interviews with crooks like perle and discredited (by the DIA, no less) INC defectors. One of the two major Iraq shows was done by two journalists that had written strongly anti-Iraq books, one of which was the American Enterprise Institute theory that saddam was behind the 1993 WTC bombing.
That said, I really like frontline. It's a good show if you already know the background of the story and the people involved.
The thing that makes me question this show can be summed up in the following line:
David Kay, knowing the full weapons story will help us better understand how to adjust the intelligence services for the new demands posed by countries like Iraq
It's interesting how quickly people have forgotten Kay's history. He is one of the people responsible for the failure of the first inspection process because he used his position at the IAEA to spy for the CIA, which he later freely admitted to. Saddam was outraged at the spying (everyone said he was making it up at the time) and limited their work, prompting the Clinton admin to recall them and bomb. Kay was by no means the only one working for the CIA on the inspection teams and left in 92.
Note, too, that Kay currently works under the CIA in his position as the head of the ISG.
The first ISG report claimed that samples common unweaponizable diseases were part of an Iraqi biological program. It made further false claims about the botulinum type b.
Furthermore, this is the same kay who claimed the buried centrifuge diagrams were unknown to the IAEA, even though blix had indeed noted the existence of missing diagrams in his 1997 report and explained that they would not change the assessment of Iraq's nuclear program.
THe point? Frontline's portrayal of kay as a bearer of truth is false, and the reforms needed in the intel community are reforms to the intelligence practices of the rogue group to which he belongs, as is currently openly discussed everywhere by members of all levels of the intel community.
Fellows
Originally posted by drewprops
Yeah, that's how I interpreted the 15 minutes I saw as well. What up Giant?
What do you mean 'what up?' Reread what I wrote. I haven't seen the show, but the statement about kay makes me weary. Is that a crime? I hope this isn't an indicaztion of your stance on critical digestion of information, as it appears.
I don't know much about Corbin except that she's a famous BBC reporter, has written a book on al-qaeda (though I know nothing about that book) and at one time was the subject of criticism at home for something regarding the word 'liberators.'
But given the past history of frontline on Iraq, it is good to be cautious (as it is when digesting any information of this kind). Of the two big frontline shows on Iraq, one was frighteningly hawkish and dramatically biased, and the other was a show primarily featuring ritter criticizing the Iraqis for holding back info and criticizing the clinton admin for standing in the way of inspections and eventually pulling them out as well as criticizing the CIA, under clinton, for spying (with the subtext of the show being that saddam gets to keep the weapons). On the other hand, there was some extremely good info in that show, so long as you recognize what's not said and that ritter was frustrated at the time.
And if you are trying to criticize me for not running with the pack, note the statement in the middle of my post. Thanks.