After watching the Frontline documentary I realized how muddled the situation seemed to the public at the time and how controversial the issue actually was. At the time this was all happening, I had no idea that there were two sides arguing for vastly different strategies, I saw them all as a unified front against Iraq. Now I learned that it was Powell and Rice against Wolfawitz and Rumsfeld. I feel like Powell should have been given closer attention and that when the key moment occurred with Wolfawitz bringing his case to the president, Powell was unfortunately stuck in a plane coming back from South America ( I think thats where it said he was). I think if maybe Powell had been at that meeting, things would have ended up slightly different.
It was also interesting to see that on the original strategy urging the president to go to war, Francis Fukyuama’s signature was on it. I had no idea he was actively involved in the decision to go to war, and I wonder if he still has a hand in it now. I dont know if it was just an accident that Frontline showed his signature of if it was done on purpose, but its definitely real interesting since it questions his earlier work of The End of History?
After watching this documentary, I still dont understand how exactly Iraq and Bin Ladin are connected. I know that a lot of figures that were involved with the Taliban and Bin Ladin resided in Iraq, but I dont understand clearly why after going to Afghanistan and not finishing the mission there why they decided to jump on Iraq as if it was a greater threat. I think the decision to go to war in Iraq at that time was still a little premature and if a little more time was spent in Afghanistan looking for Bin Ladin, the UN might have been given enough time to deliberate and grant us the international support we needed to then go to Iraq. The documentary was definitely very helpful in presenting a time line of the events pre-war and the discussions behind the speeches that went on which clearly illustrate how the president came to the decision that he made.
July 14, 2008 at 1:08 pm |
I agree that if Powell was there and not stuck on an airplane maybe things would have ended up differently. I also was confused about Fukyuama signiture on the document, his last essay was arguing a completley different angle. I found the documentary to be helpful in fully understanding the actions taken by the President following 9/11.