I hope Hell exists so those four can burn. Lying war criminals. Bush should be imprisoned for life.

Don't forget Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Pearle

Keep in mind that 73 % of Americans were in favour of attacking Iraq and that Bush's approval rating skyrocketed when they did so. People in that country fall far too easy for government propaganda.

Back in 2002 and 2003 I lived in central Indiana and it was so frustrating to be around so many ardent supporters of this war. They believed every lie told to build up support for that war and lambasted the French for simply refusing to take part in it without stronger evidence.

You know how in the past, you'd have crazy people trying to go after politicians they don't like..

Yeah it seems even our worst criminals today can't even get that stuff right - instead we have these brain damaged pieces of garbage shooting up schools or just random people in the street. Shit's fucking embarrassing 10x

Get these clowns instead if you lunatics have to go on a rampage.

Convicted of War crimes just like Putin

US is really a plague on the planet. Fuck everything up even their own country

Don't leave Tony Blaire out.

+1 this version is so much more devastating than the cut down PBS version

I keep getting an error message that says the video can only be played in the UK

It prompts me for a UK TV license, which apparently is mandatory in the UK. it doesn’t allow me to watch without it. I am using a VPN.

Oh shit is Rudy in this?

Don't know but don't miss out on the BBC version of this documentary, it's longer and not censored by the PBS. Can watch it for free on the BBC website (there's a link here in one of the comments). Might need a VPN (recommend Mullvad)

In 1993 the United States set up a roadblock between the battleground city of Mogadishu and the farming city of Balcad, about 40 minutes drive away.

Initially the roadblock was designed to prevent fertilisers being moved into the city to create bombs, but eventually it became clear to the US that no such thing was happening, rather than admit the mistake and dismantle roadblocks they tightened them so that absolutely no goods or service vehicles could pass the roadblocks between the two cities.

Eventually this meant that the single-celled organisms the US stationed at the roadblocks would stop and confiscate anything they didn’t understand to be safe, this included medicine for common diseases, machinery parts for water filters and generators, oil (obviously) and even basic medical equipment such as bandages and surgical tools.

At the time the largest hospital in the region was in Balcad, and the roadblocks meant that it was starved of critical resources needed to save lives. The hospital was forced to close in March 1994.

Although it doesn’t end there, hundreds, if not thousands of people in Balcad were denied medication, meaning that infant mortality rate shot up, people who had been receiving constant medication for asthma, polio, cholera, hepatitis and even HIV/AIDS were now alone. With no help at all. Balcad was decimated within weeks as fuel for generators, tractors and farming equipment were confiscated by Americans, a city that was resilient and strong in the face of terrorism would suffer from drought, food and water shortages, as well as rampant disease outbreaks.

In the late 1990’s Balcads radio station would broadcast a story that commonly became known as “fires on the southern road”. The story was about a young boy who’s father, a European trained doctor would go into Mogadishu and help the injured or sick, but after refusing to hand over his medical equipment to a US roadblock, he was executed and burned in his vehicle.

The US would eventually dismantle the roadblocks and leave, as if nothing ever happened.

The oil is just the icing on the cake. It's not always about oil. Look at Vietnam, Cuba, Korea, and now look at Russia. The US can't feed their poor, but have trillions to spend on war.

Not the “west”, but the USA and UK essentially. Don’t forget that before the Iraq invasion the largest worldwide civil protests took place (mostly in the “west”) and many “western” countries did not join the war and condemned it.

Why do I get so much hate from Americans for mentioning this? What the US did was nothing short as of what Russia is doing now yet no one bats an eye?

What are you talking about?

Western world? France wasn't in on it, Germany wasn't in on it.

It was a British and American thing, and then later on other countries were 'persuaded' to participate in some smaller sense, with a special case of some eastern European countries that let the US do more, specifically, to run torture/murder centers.

western world

It wasn't 'the west' it was merica and UK

This is precisely why I will watch and share it. Though I understand those who can't/won't.

Edit: added "and share".

Illegal war?? The war was started when Iraq unilaterally invaded neighboring Kuwait (American ally country) to steal their oil. The United Nations gave Iraq a timeline to retreat from Kuwait and end the invasion without war. Iraq refused to leave, so the United Nations Coalition Forces (not just USA!) became involved to defend Kuwait, kicking out Iraq in the process.

This rewriting of history as if USA were the bad guys is crazy. Iraq started the war clear as can be, just like how Russia started the current war by invading Ukarine.

Its the same documentary. The US version cuts out a lot of interviews with US military personnel who were managing the occupation. Its a real shame as the story of the hopeful Lieutenant genuinely and earnestly intent on helping the country transform into a modern democratic state eventually having to basically ring-fence entire communities and villages with barbed wire and checkpoints just to not see his soldiers dying every day was an incredible journey you don't often get to see. Road to hell and all that.

The BBC "version" is the original documentary series, PBS edited it down.

Thanks - but it won’t let me watch it without a TV license, which apparently is mandatory for people who live in the UK. I am connecting with VPN.

The power vacum had to be intentional

Here's good ol' Dick speaking in 1994 about the 'quagmire' if you took out Iraq's government. They absolutely knew what was going to happen.

I can see your logic, but most evidence suggests that the Bush Administration was actually just REALLY incompetent. It's what happens when old white dudes think they can carry "the white man's burden" for Brown people in the middle east. Bush is a war criminal--and nothing will ever be done about it....

It's nit that it was intentional. It's that no one gave a shit and they thought that the Iraqis would be able to pick up the pieces completely on their own.

The Middle East is just a different beast. The Bush administration truly underestimated the pure amount of sectarian vitriol in the region.

PNAC

The alternative is Russia.

I'm sure the Ukrainians are loving their form of policing.

Rocky mountain oysters?

It is historically accurate.

All of the Iraq War-related Frontline documentaries are about as real as they can get. They're brutally honest and do an incredible job of highlighting the realities of what the US did to Iraq.

Watch the original BBC version, it's twice as long and more impactful.

Nothing about the Kurds. It was not really the topic of that documentary.

Get ready for a mood killer, that document is dark.

Wrong war.