Thoughts on 'The Dark Side'

This evening, PBS's Frontline aired its documentary 'The Dark Side', which you can view online here beginning Thursday at 5pm ET.

The piece leads viewers down the twisted path of the manipulation of intelligence in the run up to the Iraq war, specifically detailing the power grabs made by VP Cheney to achieve the ends he'd desired for decades: absolute control and command.

This is more than a refresher course for those who already know the history surrounding the war. The documentary skillfully weaves the story of how power was ultimately coopted by the VP's office and the fallout in the intelligence community - specifically the CIA - because of it.

It's depressing. It wil make you mad. It will make you want to throw something at the TV. But, it has to be examined in order to understand how everything broke down to the will of one man who wouldn't stop until he got what he wanted: a gutted CIA and a war in Iraq.

Frontline's site will include extra footage of interviews with ex-CIA officers and others interviewed for the show. They also have a discussion forum for viewer input which should generate some interesting comments.

After watching this - and it should be required by anyone with even the slightest interest in how the Bush administration got the US and coalition members into Iraq - there is no room left for doubt about the fact that this war was started based of false assumptions and intel that was used to fabricate lies. And there should be no doubt about who's responsible for it all and the lengths they would go to to have their war, regardless of the cost to the troops and the thousands of innocent civilians who have died. That they still try to justify it with their myriad excuses is unconscionable.

Bush has said that he wasn't worried about how history will judge him because 'we'll all be dead'. He doesn't have to wait for that judgment. It's already been made. And those who continue to live in denial about how this all happened have no one to blame for their blind ignorance but themselves.

A great war leaves the country with three armies - an army of cripples, an army of mourners, and an army of thieves. ~German Proverb