AMosely

Did anyone tune in to last night's installment of this PBS series on post 9/11 America? It's pretty amazing, I highly recommend it. The website is here: http://www.pbs.org/weta/crossroads/about/index.html. It is airing all this week on PBS stations.

The new Frontline, 'The Gangs of Iraq,' was incredible, and pretty much brings you up to date on the latest developments on the ground in Iraq. I was amazed at the access that Frontline got - to everyone from American generals to Iraqi politicians - old and new. This is an hour of programming that every American should see.

This was followed by something that I felt as though I'd been searching for for years - a coherent and intelligent explanation of the Bush administration's case for war as told by Richard Perle, the former assistant Secretary of Defense. I was quite impressed, and although I disagree with some of his opinions, I admire his efforts in not only explaining his views, but openly debating them with anti-war activists and other political figures. This is something that I thought all of the members of Bush's 'team' simply refused to do. He's very well spoken and presents some compelling philosophical arguments. Again, all Americans should be hearing/seeing/reading this.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the series, and urge anyone interested in American foreign policy to watch it.

Lucky Shot

I understand that there is some controversy over this series and really over one of the videos that was dropped. I haven't followed it, but had heard that much.

Lucky Shot

Faultline

Got it recorded and plan to watch it over the weekend. Will try to remember and post a follow-up.

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Beatnik

Tivo got upset and forgot to record Frontline this week. : / Thank the gods for the bittorrents.

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Braidedheadman

Frontline is one of the best current events programs there is, IMHO. They bring truly informative broadcasts to the TV set without all the sensationalist crap that we get on the 6 o'clock news. The MJ trials, for instance. Went on for weeks with the same "pundits" and "experts" jibbajabbaring the same, tired diatribe night after night. The world had more to think about than MJ's personal life. It makes me sick to think about all the attention the media pays to such trivial things when there are global issues to consider. MJ's actions affected only a handfull out of 6 billion. The goings on elsewhere (Korea, the Middle East, etc.) affects us all.

The controversy was probably over Richard Perle's segment, "A Case for War." Lots of people don't want to hear what this guy has to say, is my guess. On the one hand, he brings up some good points. But on the other hand people are dying. He walks a fine line, methinks.

/shrug

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Grunt 70

Good call out Mose...I watched the first installment of this series and decided to tivo the rest. Ive got frontline on my timer schedule so lets see if it worked.

Good stuff...

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|TG-22nd|Grunt



"When force is necessary, it must be applied boldly, decisively, and completely. But one must know the limitations of force; one must know when to blend force with maneuver" - Leon Trotsky

AMosely

I guess this won't be of much help because the series is coming to a close, but on my DVR (Time Warner) the program comes up as "America at a Crossroads" and not Frontline. I think this is because it's actually not a Frontline program - it contains Frontline programs, but other documentaries as well. So if you have your Tivo set, you might want to double-check the listing.

Having watched all of them so far, I found the ones I mentioned right off - "Gangs of Iraq" and "The Case for War" to be the most interesting and provocative to me. Some of the others, namely "Europe's 9/11" and "Writing at Wartime" I think I'd seen before. I actually missed "Warriors" but definitely want to see it.

Tonight's documentaries - "Security vs. Liberty" and "The Brotherhood" look really good.

USN_Squid

Actually, it looks like it was a piece done on the struggle between what the film makers called "Islam and Islamism". They are complaining that their film was cut because they feel one of the members of the review board that approves the films is an "Islamist" herself with ties to the Nation of Islam. I haven't read more than that on it, and don't have an opinion in regards to what they say. But an article written by one of the subjects of the documentary is pretty interesting:

As one of the subjects of the documentary, I was able to experience first-hand the professionalism and in-depth journalistic standards of veteran filmmaker, Martyn Burke, and his first-class team of consummate professionals. It was refreshing to have a documentary set out objectively to look into the deep-seated internal struggles of anti-Islamist Muslims like myself. Our work at the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) here in Phoenix has been riddled with continual blowback and resistance in many forms from the power structure of the activist Muslim community in the Phoenix Valley. The Valley Council of Imams, the local Muslim Voice newspaper, and organizations like CAIR-AZ have provided a laboratory of typical Islamist responses to an American organization of Muslims, like AIFD, who are trying to rescue spiritual Islam from the death grip of Islamists—Islam vs. Islamists. I do this out of love for my faith and its spiritual path to the God of Abraham in order to free it from the corruption of the political imam which has become so ubiquitous.

I have previously discussed the harm of our government’s enabling of Islamists (like CAIR, MPAC, MAS, MSA, or ISNA) in the United States and how the governmental endorsement of Islamists publicly empowers them and allows them to dodge their responsibility of countering Islamism as an ideology. This order of magnitude is greater in impact when it concerns the media’s inability to wage the debate of the “struggle for the soul of Islam”. Stories about Islam and Muslims have been more and more ubiquitous since 9-11 and now are actually commonplace. Yet, the actual debate within the Muslim community has barely begun. Where’s the disconnect? Look no further than the Islamist enablers in the media.

When so many ask across the nation, “where are the moderate voices of Islam?”, one cannot help lately but exclaim that they are being suffocated by misguided political correctness and by Islamist influence within mainstream media and government. The PBS censorship of the documentary, Islam vs. Islamists, highlights one of the best examples to date of the symbiosis of both government complicity and media complicity with the Islamist ideology.

(I'm not trying to stir a debate here, just clarifying what the controversey was about and what one side thinks of it. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the series. It is very well done.)

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AMosely

Thanks for that post, Squid.

LuckyStrike

it was

"Islam vs. Islamists: Voices from the Muslim Center" by Martyn Burke

PBS Silences Filmmaker on Radical Islam
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org....php?id=901544

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Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

-Benjamin Franklin

Braidedheadman

I stand corrected.

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Coridon

I watched Thursday nights but that was the only one I caught. Very good; hope PBS reruns this in the near future.

section-8

Watched the one with the female muslim...and then I watched the one about Indonesia (as I am currently studying Indonesian, this was of great interest to me).

Very interesting stuff....admittedly I had the first one on during CS...so I caught bits and pieces during my dead time... The indonesian one was far more facinating.

When I talk with my native Indonesian teachers about Bali...etc, They seem to think it was either 1)the govt of Indonesia, 2)the govt of Australia(in the interest of TOURISM...wtf) or 3)the US. Indonesians are clearly incapable of such an act because they 'dont even have guns...how could they make a bomb?' Really pretty bizarre beliefs too...but it really put the spot light on how close to a theocracy, Indonesia is...or is becoming. Good stuff, I thought.

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Faultline

Finally sat down and viewed Gangs of Iraq followed by The Case for War. Both of them very good pieces. Perle's piece (Case for War) was very well done and he puts forth a very thoughtful and persuasive argument for our struggles in Iraq and abroad. I hope everyone can get a chance to see both.

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TheFatKidDeath

Richard Perle has zero credibility on Iraq. This is the same man who in '02 wrote a op-ed in the NYT times entitled " "The U.S. Must Strike at Saddam Hussein" and was a major influence on the Bush Administrations decision to invade Iraq.

Now, after perhaps one of the greatest military blunders in American history he's trying to cover his ass with the old "mistakes were made" excuse. It's a pathetic attempt to white wash his involvement.

I still see this hack making the rounds of the cable news shows. Yes, he's articulate but he didn't seem to have the brains to know the consequences of invading Iraq.

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|TG-9th| TheFatKidDeath
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