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♪ ♪

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♪ ♪

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Two decades after 9/11...
in Afghanistan,

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America's devastating defeat.

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The Taliban have taken
control of the nation...

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And at home,
distrust and division...

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You traitors!

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Four presidents... the
decisions, the mistakes,

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the consequences.

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Now drawing on years of
"Frontline's" reporting:

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"America After 9/11."

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♪ ♪

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If you're just joining us,
you probably already know

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the World Trade Center towers,
the Twin Towers,

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the New York landmarks, have
collapsed and are gone.

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NARRATOR: 9/11.

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This is huge, this is huge.

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NARRATOR: America attacked.

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Claire, let me interrupt you
for a second,

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we now have fire confirmed at
the Pentagon.

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NARRATOR: In Washington,
D.C., fear.

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The State Department has now
been evacuated,

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the White House has been
evacuated,

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the Capitol has been
evacuated...

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This is just not the place to
be.

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NARRATOR: The U.S. Capitol a
target.

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The American public was
really not prepared

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for the idea of an attack on
American soil.

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It is surrealistic, but at
the same time,

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it is one of the darkest days
in America.

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When 9/11 happened, I think
it was very easy for people

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to understand,
even at that moment,

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that we were embarking upon a
new era in American history.

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♪ ...beside her
and guide her ♪

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♪ Through the night with the
light from above ♪

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NARRATOR: By evening, the
nation's leaders began to react.

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♪ To the oceans white with
foam ♪

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♪ God Bless America,
my home... ♪

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It is almost impossible to
imagine

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that sort of scene occurring
today.

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With members from both sides of
the aisle coming together

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in song, putting country over
party, at a moment of crisis.

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♪ God bless America ♪

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There are prominent Republicans

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and prominent Democrats,
and it was a real gesture

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of the sense that, that we were
going to find something

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within ourselves that would rise
above it

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and would pull us together.

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After September 11, we all
are willing to go to war

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as one against this
yet-to-be-seen enemy

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that is so far away from us.

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We had a great sense of
mission at the time.

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The American people had a great
sense of patriotism.

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We experienced domestic unity

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like we never experienced
before.

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NARRATOR: But in America's
response to 9/11,

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through three presidencies,

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a chain of of unintended
consequences:

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growing anger, mistrust,
division.

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And ultimately, the Capitol
again a target.

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(people shouting)

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(chanting): Trump won!
Trump won!

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The January 6 insurrection at
the Capitol

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was the logical endpoint
of the 9/11 era.

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(shouting, glass shattering)

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When you have people who can't
trust institutions anymore,

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who are angry that the wars that
they were promised

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great victories in didn't turn
out well,

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they start to look
for people to blame.

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(bleep) the G.O.P.!

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A lot of people felt they had
been lied to.

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It's no wonder that you would
have so much anger,

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a sense of betrayal, a sense of
frustration.

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Particularly among those who
served in the military

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during this period of, of
endless wars...

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It would have to be there.

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(chanting): Hang Mike Pence!
Hang Mike Pence!

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Stand down, mother(bleep)!

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We went over to Iraq and
Afghanistan to change

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those societies, to make them
more like us.

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We had great faith in democracy.

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Get the (bleep) out!

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And yet, 20 years later, when
you look at where America is

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today, it's almost as if America
has become more like them.

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(people shouting)

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Who are we?

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And what do we want to do
as a nation?

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We answered that question too
simply on 9/11...

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We're the good guys.

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(alarm beeping)

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And 20 years later, we found out
that we are the enemy.

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That the biggest national
security threat

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facing the United States is
internal.

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And it has grown partly as a
result of American leadership

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failures over the last 20 years
since 9/11.

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(sirens, helicopters)

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NARRATOR: September 11.

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It was a tragedy that changed
everything.

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(chanting): U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

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NARRATOR: In the aftermath,
American presidents

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were called to action.

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(gunfire)

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Leading the country through
decades of conflict.

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(child crying)

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That left a legacy few foresaw.

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Values compromised.

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(dog barking)

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Truth trampled.

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(sirens)

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Trust eroded.

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Solidarity broken.

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And wars abroad...

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(chanting): Trump won!

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NARRATOR: and at home.

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Trump won! Trump won!

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(chanting fades)

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(helicopter whirring)

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NARRATOR: By the evening of
9/11, President George W. Bush

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finally arrived
at the White House.

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President Bush is back at the
White House, he's about...

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He was flown by Marine One,
the Marine helicopter,

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to the South Lawn...

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NARRATOR: He'd been on the
move since he'd been told

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about the attack that morning.

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There he is, the president,
coming back from a trip

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that has taken him first to
Florida today...

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I whispered into his right ear,

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"A second plane hit the second
tower.

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America is under attack."

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NARRATOR: The Secret Service
took over.

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Where is the president
of the United States?

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Pretty soon the country needs
to know where he is.

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NARRATOR: The president kept
out of Washington for hours.

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They are still quite worried
about his own security.

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The president was in parts
very much in a bubble.

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He was evacuated from Florida,
he was on Air Force One,

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flying around the country.

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President Bush was flown
secretly today from Florida,

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first to Louisiana...

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When the country saw the
president,

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a couple of times that day,
he seemed unready.

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He looked like he was the
hunted, not the hunter.

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(static hissing)

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♪ ♪

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NARRATOR: Nearly 3,000 people
were dead.

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In the days ahead, Bush would be
haunted by the question

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of what he could have done to
prevent it.

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Remember, it was the worst
terrorist attack ever

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on the United States, and it
happened on his watch.

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As president, you do feel a
certain responsibility

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when something as serious as
that happens

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while you're the
commander-in-chief.

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The president now, just
a few moments away

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from addressing the nation from
the Oval Office.

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George W. Bush, live in the
White House,

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about to make his comments.

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NARRATOR: That night, the
nation waited to hear from him.

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Well, it's a critical time
for him.

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The nation is being tested.

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The new president is being
tested, as well.

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(slams)

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NARRATOR: He would lay out a
stark vision

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of the new world after 9/11.

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Now we go to the Oval Office
and President Bush.

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America was targeted for attack

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because we're the brightest
beacon for freedom

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and opportunity in the world.

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And no one will keep that light
from shining.

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Today, our nation saw evil, the
very worst of human nature.

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George Bush, in his mind, I
think, did understand

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that something very evil had
happened...

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And it had happened.

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It was an evil act, 9/11.

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It killed thousands of
civilians.

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Tonight, I ask for your
prayers for all those who grieve

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and I pray they will be
comforted by a power greater

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than any of us, spoken through
the ages in Psalm 23:

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"Even though I walk through the
valley

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of the shadow of death,

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I fear no evil,
for You are with me."

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But, once you define yourself
as good

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and the other side as bad,
it's a slippery slope,

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because you start thinking
anything you do for your cause

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is good, and we wound up doing
some very evil things

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in the name of goodness.

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All right.

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Sad day.

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("Star-Spangled Banner" playing)

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NARRATOR: In those early
days, around the world,

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the lines between good and evil
seemed clear.

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(bell tolling)

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The world rallied around
America.

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NATO invoked Article 5 for the
first time in its history,

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"An attack on one is an attack
on all."

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(group singing)

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Well, it's good to know that
at times like this,

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America is not without friends.

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And even in parts of the
Muslim world,

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a real outward expression of,
of pain and sympathy

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for the United States.

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God bless you, God bless you,
God bless you.

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In Tehran this week,
demonstrators held a candlelight

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vigil for victims of the
attacks...

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There was a great outpouring
of, actually, of love

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for America, of support and of
solidarity.

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(man chanting)

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And outside the American
Embassy in Moscow,

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where people bowed their heads
and wept.

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The Americans had been attacked.

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There was no excuse,
no explanation possible,

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and the world, in a sense,
was on revenge mode.

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We had to kill the murderers.

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NARRATOR: The C.I.A. knew the
culprit.

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They told the president it was
Saudi extremist Osama bin Laden,

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the founder of the Islamic
militant group Al-Qaeda.

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(gun fires)

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We had been projecting a
spectacular attack by Al-Qaeda.

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Here it was.

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We had the names of some of the
people involved

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that we recognized.

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They were Al-Qaeda.

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NARRATOR: Bin Laden was
operating out of Afghanistan.

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The C.I.A. said they could use
their fast attack forces

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to take him out.

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We'd spent years working on
this stuff.

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Where everybody else is looking
for their maps on Afghanistan,

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we're ready to rock,
ready to roll.

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NARRATOR: The president liked
the sound of it.

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The C.I.A.'s director of
counterterrorism, Cofer Black,

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would take the lead and set the
tone for what was to come.

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There was a before 9/11,
and there was an after 9/11.

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After 9/11, the gloves come off.

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My last meeting with Cofer,
he basically said to me,

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"Your job is to find bin Laden,
kill him,

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and bring his head back
on ice."

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(laughs): And I said, "Well,
that's about the clearest,

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direct, most direct order I've
ever received

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as a C.I.A. officer."

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And I said, "I'll do my best.

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We'll, we'll try
to get the job done."

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♪ ♪

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NARRATOR: Two weeks after
the 9/11 attack,

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the small C.I.A. strike force
arrived in Afghanistan.

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They needed to deal with the
extremists in charge

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of the country and harboring
bin Laden... the Taliban.

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My team, seven officers,
including myself

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and three air crew, flew in on
the 26th of September.

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When I began to distribute
money, $200,000 here,

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$250,000 for this,
I think it was,

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they were convinced that we, we
were sincere.

251
00:13:58,270 --> 00:14:00,846
NARRATOR: The American
dollars bought the cooperation

252
00:14:00,870 --> 00:14:06,306
of the Taliban's enemies,
rival militias and warlords.

253
00:14:06,330 --> 00:14:09,576
I remember immediately
realizing the horrific choice

254
00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:10,577
that was being made.

255
00:14:10,601 --> 00:14:12,276
(shouting)

256
00:14:12,300 --> 00:14:15,946
We got into business right
away with the warlords

257
00:14:15,970 --> 00:14:19,906
who had been running and ruining
Afghanistan for many years.

258
00:14:19,930 --> 00:14:22,606
These were brutal killers,
and they were up against

259
00:14:22,630 --> 00:14:27,146
the Taliban, which were also
brutal killers.

260
00:14:27,170 --> 00:14:29,346
NARRATOR: Devastating
American air bombardments

261
00:14:29,370 --> 00:14:32,806
did their part to weaken
the Taliban.

262
00:14:32,830 --> 00:14:36,446
We dropped these massive
bombs called daisy cutters

263
00:14:36,470 --> 00:14:38,846
on Taliban troop positions

264
00:14:38,870 --> 00:14:40,576
in the northern part
of the country.

265
00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:41,876
(explosions)

266
00:14:41,900 --> 00:14:44,576
Essentially let Afghan forces
to rise up

267
00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:47,306
in different parts
of the country

268
00:14:47,330 --> 00:14:51,776
and, and push out
the Taliban regime.

269
00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:53,876
NARRATOR: Within weeks, the
Taliban had been driven

270
00:14:53,900 --> 00:14:57,446
from the capital city, Kabul.

271
00:14:57,470 --> 00:15:00,376
There is jubilation in the
cities that we have liberated.

272
00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:02,776
(gunshots)

273
00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:05,476
And the sooner Al-Qaeda is
bought to justice,

274
00:15:05,500 --> 00:15:09,276
the sooner Afghanistan will
return to normal.

275
00:15:09,300 --> 00:15:11,376
NARRATOR: But for all the
celebrating,

276
00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:15,146
the truth was that the C.I.A.'s
primary target,

277
00:15:15,170 --> 00:15:18,830
Osama bin Laden, had vanished.

278
00:15:21,070 --> 00:15:24,006
The mastermind of 9/11 was
believed to be hiding

279
00:15:24,030 --> 00:15:28,246
in the mountain stronghold of
Tora Bora.

280
00:15:28,270 --> 00:15:30,806
A small contingent of American
forces

281
00:15:30,830 --> 00:15:33,946
joined Afghan fighters there.

282
00:15:33,970 --> 00:15:36,246
Those of us on the ground,
you know, a few dozen

283
00:15:36,270 --> 00:15:40,506
international reporters, we far
outnumbered the number

284
00:15:40,530 --> 00:15:45,076
of American Special Forces and,
and C.I.A.

285
00:15:45,100 --> 00:15:46,546
who were on the ground there.

286
00:15:46,570 --> 00:15:48,706
There was a bigger journalistic
contingent

287
00:15:48,730 --> 00:15:53,200
at Tora Bora than there was
American fighting force.

288
00:15:55,600 --> 00:15:59,246
(explosions)

289
00:15:59,270 --> 00:16:03,446
NARRATOR: U.S. and allied
forces bombed Tora Bora,

290
00:16:03,470 --> 00:16:04,676
but couldn't get bin Laden.

291
00:16:04,700 --> 00:16:07,776
(explosions)

292
00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:09,446
The C.I.A. team leader wanted
hundreds

293
00:16:09,470 --> 00:16:12,506
of U.S. Special Forces on the
ground.

294
00:16:12,530 --> 00:16:16,176
I asked for, you know,
ground support.

295
00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:18,946
And I knew that we needed U.S.
Rangers... the longer we waited,

296
00:16:18,970 --> 00:16:21,876
the further he fell back
to the border.

297
00:16:21,900 --> 00:16:25,806
NARRATOR: The military did
not send in the reinforcements.

298
00:16:25,830 --> 00:16:28,246
It was a catastrophic mistake.

299
00:16:28,270 --> 00:16:31,976
Because of miscommunication,
some bureaucratic infighting,

300
00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:35,346
the most elite of U.S. troops
weren't dispatched there.

301
00:16:35,370 --> 00:16:40,106
We didn't send in the Navy Seals
or the Army's Delta Force.

302
00:16:40,130 --> 00:16:42,646
NARRATOR: Bin Laden and his
besieged Al-Qaeda forces

303
00:16:42,670 --> 00:16:46,206
slipped over the border to
Pakistan,

304
00:16:46,230 --> 00:16:50,300
an early and ominous sign that
the war would not be so easy.

305
00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:56,806
The fact that he was allowed
to survive...

306
00:16:56,830 --> 00:16:59,946
The fact that he could then
claim to have escaped

307
00:16:59,970 --> 00:17:02,606
the most technologically
advanced military

308
00:17:02,630 --> 00:17:06,446
in the history of mankind, fed
into a defeated organization's

309
00:17:06,470 --> 00:17:09,906
narrative that served to breathe
new life into them

310
00:17:09,930 --> 00:17:11,206
and enabled them to survive
Operation Enduring Freedom,

311
00:17:11,230 --> 00:17:15,200
the defeat of the Taliban, and
the routing of Al-Qaeda.

312
00:17:18,700 --> 00:17:23,076
NARRATOR: With bin Laden
still on the run

313
00:17:23,100 --> 00:17:29,200
and Afghanistan in tatters,
a new reality set in.

314
00:17:31,570 --> 00:17:35,676
America was now embroiled in a
country ravaged

315
00:17:35,700 --> 00:17:38,976
by years of war.

316
00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:41,746
♪ ♪

317
00:17:41,770 --> 00:17:45,276
Afghanistan is
a devastated country.

318
00:17:45,300 --> 00:17:47,046
Many of the buildings in the
capital, Kabul,

319
00:17:47,070 --> 00:17:50,046
have been destroyed.

320
00:17:50,070 --> 00:17:51,606
♪ ♪

321
00:17:51,630 --> 00:17:53,876
The women and men of
Afghanistan,

322
00:17:53,900 --> 00:17:56,876
all of them are suffering right
now.

323
00:17:56,900 --> 00:17:58,506
Their faces
out of a Dickens novel,

324
00:17:58,530 --> 00:18:04,346
many without shoes and socks.

325
00:18:04,370 --> 00:18:07,706
Terrorist car bomb left a
square in downtown Kabul

326
00:18:07,730 --> 00:18:12,106
a bloody shambles,
at least 15 dead.

327
00:18:12,130 --> 00:18:14,206
♪ ♪

328
00:18:14,230 --> 00:18:16,546
Fears remain that the Afghan
people's suffering

329
00:18:16,570 --> 00:18:19,976
is far from over.

330
00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:24,606
NARRATOR: President Bush and
the presidents that followed

331
00:18:24,630 --> 00:18:27,476
would struggle to come to terms
with America's role

332
00:18:27,500 --> 00:18:30,476
in Afghanistan.

333
00:18:30,500 --> 00:18:34,576
There was never the political
will and therefore the ability

334
00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:39,576
to invest the amount of money
and boots on the ground

335
00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:42,976
and attention that it would have
taken to have

336
00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:48,376
a more definitive resolution
of that conflict.

337
00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:50,476
NARRATOR: It would become
the longest war

338
00:18:50,500 --> 00:18:51,870
in American history.

339
00:18:59,700 --> 00:19:01,746
(videotape loading)

340
00:19:01,770 --> 00:19:04,446
NARRATOR: Over the border, in
Pakistan,

341
00:19:04,470 --> 00:19:06,676
bin Laden seized the moment.

342
00:19:06,700 --> 00:19:10,076
Distributing videos.

343
00:19:10,100 --> 00:19:13,346
Taunting the Americans.

344
00:19:13,370 --> 00:19:16,646
When Osama bin Laden talked
about 9/11,

345
00:19:16,670 --> 00:19:20,106
he sometimes said that the
purpose of it was a strategy

346
00:19:20,130 --> 00:19:22,546
that he called "death
by a thousand cuts."

347
00:19:22,570 --> 00:19:27,170
(speaking Arabic):

348
00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:34,876
By which he meant it was not
just the symbolic power

349
00:19:34,900 --> 00:19:38,176
of taking down the World Trade
Center.

350
00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:40,876
It was also the beginning of a
process,

351
00:19:40,900 --> 00:19:43,906
of a cascade of events that
would ultimately lead

352
00:19:43,930 --> 00:19:47,846
the United States, on its own,
through its own decisions,

353
00:19:47,870 --> 00:19:51,776
to do a series of things that
would, in the end,

354
00:19:51,800 --> 00:19:54,206
weaken the United States rather
than strong,

355
00:19:54,230 --> 00:19:57,730
rather than strengthen it...
That was Bin Laden's idea.

356
00:19:59,330 --> 00:20:01,646
It is a somber time for this
country.

357
00:20:01,670 --> 00:20:03,506
The U.S. government has
received intelligence

358
00:20:03,530 --> 00:20:07,046
that more attacks against
Americans may be imminent.

359
00:20:07,070 --> 00:20:09,176
The possibility that Osama
bin Laden

360
00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:10,876
may be trying to get nuclear
weapons.

361
00:20:10,900 --> 00:20:13,706
Osama bin Laden may be closer
to building a crude

362
00:20:13,730 --> 00:20:16,246
radiological bomb than anyone
realized.

363
00:20:16,270 --> 00:20:18,576
Disturbing news from Boca
Raton, Florida...

364
00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:20,876
Another anthrax case,
this one in New York.

365
00:20:20,900 --> 00:20:25,206
NARRATOR: In the weeks after
9/11, fear gripped America.

366
00:20:25,230 --> 00:20:27,576
Anthrax anxiety has become a
plague of its own.

367
00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:30,706
Fears over anthrax spread to
Washington...

368
00:20:30,730 --> 00:20:34,006
People forget,
but within a month after 9/11,

369
00:20:34,030 --> 00:20:36,346
we were worried about
anthrax attacks.

370
00:20:36,370 --> 00:20:39,276
They will not take this
country down!

371
00:20:39,300 --> 00:20:42,306
And we feared then that the
terrorist groups have tried

372
00:20:42,330 --> 00:20:45,076
to get not just biological and
chemical weapons,

373
00:20:45,100 --> 00:20:47,006
but even nuclear weapons.

374
00:20:47,030 --> 00:20:48,776
We don't understand what
might happen

375
00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:52,776
and we certainly don't know what
to do about it.

376
00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:55,446
NARRATOR: During President
Bush's daily briefing,

377
00:20:55,470 --> 00:20:58,006
the head of the C.I.A.,
George Tenet,

378
00:20:58,030 --> 00:21:00,676
delivered the incoming threats.

379
00:21:00,700 --> 00:21:04,606
Every single morning, the
president and the top leadership

380
00:21:04,630 --> 00:21:08,846
are waking up to a drumbeat
of new possible threats,

381
00:21:08,870 --> 00:21:11,676
day in and day out,
week in and week out,

382
00:21:11,700 --> 00:21:13,730
month in and month out.

383
00:21:15,570 --> 00:21:17,476
NARRATOR: The vice president,
Dick Cheney,

384
00:21:17,500 --> 00:21:21,206
watched over an encrypted video
link, often hidden

385
00:21:21,230 --> 00:21:25,030
in what was called a secure,
undisclosed location.

386
00:21:26,900 --> 00:21:31,206
This was Cheney's nightmare
come true.

387
00:21:31,230 --> 00:21:33,646
He'd been getting ready for
doomsday for years,

388
00:21:33,670 --> 00:21:36,346
and thought a lot about it.

389
00:21:36,370 --> 00:21:41,146
And then, on 9/11, it seemed
like it was almost coming true.

390
00:21:41,170 --> 00:21:43,846
He felt sort of death was
stalking him.

391
00:21:43,870 --> 00:21:48,530
He kept a gas mask and a hazmat
suit in a bag in the backseat.

392
00:21:50,170 --> 00:21:52,576
NARRATOR: Cheney obsessed
over the threats.

393
00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:54,206
The danger.

394
00:21:54,230 --> 00:21:56,176
And the need to act.

395
00:21:56,200 --> 00:22:00,446
What 9/11 did was really
replace the ideals

396
00:22:00,470 --> 00:22:04,606
that we professed,
in terms of democracy

397
00:22:04,630 --> 00:22:09,706
and in terms of moderation and
restraint,

398
00:22:09,730 --> 00:22:14,176
with a single impulse...
Survival.

399
00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:17,746
And everything else that was
done that was contrary to that

400
00:22:17,770 --> 00:22:22,506
was thought to be a kind of
effete, liberal, wishy-washy,

401
00:22:22,530 --> 00:22:26,346
romantic sentiment.

402
00:22:26,370 --> 00:22:28,046
NARRATOR: The president had
said the war on terror

403
00:22:28,070 --> 00:22:31,046
was a struggle between good
and evil.

404
00:22:31,070 --> 00:22:35,306
It's hard for Americans to
imagine how evil the people are

405
00:22:35,330 --> 00:22:36,576
who are doing this.

406
00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:38,706
NARRATOR: And he assured the
country

407
00:22:38,730 --> 00:22:40,746
of its moral high ground.

408
00:22:40,770 --> 00:22:45,776
We're a nation of strong
values and we value life.

409
00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:47,406
NARRATOR: But the vice
president

410
00:22:47,430 --> 00:22:49,476
had a different approach.

411
00:22:49,500 --> 00:22:51,546
We also have to work the sort
of, the dark side,

412
00:22:51,570 --> 00:22:54,076
if you will... we got to spend
time in the shadows,

413
00:22:54,100 --> 00:22:56,306
in the intelligence world.

414
00:22:56,330 --> 00:22:59,346
A lot of what needs to be done
here will have to be done

415
00:22:59,370 --> 00:23:02,576
quietly, without any discussion,
using sources and methods

416
00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:05,546
that are available to our
intelligence agencies

417
00:23:05,570 --> 00:23:08,306
if we're going to be successful.

418
00:23:08,330 --> 00:23:12,146
You have these clashing
impulses of, how do we hold

419
00:23:12,170 --> 00:23:14,476
the moral high ground and
leverage

420
00:23:14,500 --> 00:23:18,006
that in this global struggle,
versus the people who,

421
00:23:18,030 --> 00:23:20,546
at the price of being tough
against the enemy,

422
00:23:20,570 --> 00:23:23,246
such a terrible enemy,

423
00:23:23,270 --> 00:23:25,676
were willing to do things that
could end up sacrificing

424
00:23:25,700 --> 00:23:28,646
that moral high ground, and
fatefully compromise

425
00:23:28,670 --> 00:23:33,006
America's position in the world.

426
00:23:33,030 --> 00:23:35,246
NARRATOR: Cheney's dark side
approach would be put

427
00:23:35,270 --> 00:23:39,406
into action in Afghanistan,
where the U.S. and its allies

428
00:23:39,430 --> 00:23:41,676
captured thousands of prisoners.

429
00:23:41,700 --> 00:23:45,746
I think the response was just
part of this whole attempt

430
00:23:45,770 --> 00:23:48,276
to demonize everyone,
and all Muslims

431
00:23:48,300 --> 00:23:50,846
who were caught in the war zone.

432
00:23:50,870 --> 00:23:54,876
So there was a lot of false
jailing, and capture

433
00:23:54,900 --> 00:23:59,676
and jailing, of, of people who
may be sympathetic

434
00:23:59,700 --> 00:24:03,746
to Al-Qaeda, but have nothing to
do with Al-Qaeda.

435
00:24:03,770 --> 00:24:05,376
(indistinct chatter)

436
00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:08,776
NARRATOR: Cheney wanted to
get tough with the detainees,

437
00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:11,646
and didn't want
international law

438
00:24:11,670 --> 00:24:15,876
or the United States
Constitution to get in the way.

439
00:24:15,900 --> 00:24:18,976
They don't deserve to be
treated as a prisoner of war.

440
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:22,876
They don't deserve the same
guarantees and safeguards

441
00:24:22,900 --> 00:24:26,806
that would be used for an
American citizen.

442
00:24:26,830 --> 00:24:29,976
Because of this mindset of
constant fear,

443
00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:33,846
they looked at law not as
something strengthening them,

444
00:24:33,870 --> 00:24:37,106
but as something that was
constraining them,

445
00:24:37,130 --> 00:24:39,776
and they looked for ways to get
out of the constraints

446
00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:41,606
of the law.

447
00:24:41,630 --> 00:24:43,870
Law became an impediment
to get around.

448
00:24:48,030 --> 00:24:49,776
♪ ♪

449
00:24:49,800 --> 00:24:51,976
NARRATOR: They took the
prisoners 8,000 miles

450
00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:55,576
from Afghanistan to the American
Naval base

451
00:24:55,600 --> 00:25:00,976
on an isolated corner of Cuba,
Guantánamo Bay.

452
00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:03,606
The Bush administration
argued that Guantánamo

453
00:25:03,630 --> 00:25:06,570
was beyond the jurisdiction of
the United States.

454
00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:12,306
It chose Guantánamo to hold
detainees captured in the war

455
00:25:12,330 --> 00:25:15,646
on terror because it insisted
that they were beyond

456
00:25:15,670 --> 00:25:19,576
the reach of the U.S.
Constitution.

457
00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:21,576
There was this classic
picture, you remember,

458
00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:24,246
of all these detainees sitting
in a plane,

459
00:25:24,270 --> 00:25:29,146
being conveyed to Guantánamo,
a 24-hour flight.

460
00:25:29,170 --> 00:25:34,670
Our eyes covered, our ears
covered, our mouth covered.

461
00:25:36,100 --> 00:25:40,676
And you sit, sit like this, I
mean, for, you, just...

462
00:25:40,700 --> 00:25:45,946
I just... I don't know, like...
I cried.

463
00:25:45,970 --> 00:25:47,376
It was, it was hard, it...

464
00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:50,176
Was young, and very, very hard.

465
00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:52,406
NARRATOR: The detainees were
taken from the plane

466
00:25:52,430 --> 00:25:55,106
to a place known as Camp X-ray.

467
00:25:55,130 --> 00:25:57,406
Open-air cages.

468
00:25:57,430 --> 00:25:58,806
No toilets.

469
00:25:58,830 --> 00:26:01,046
No running water.

470
00:26:01,070 --> 00:26:03,446
Concrete slabs.

471
00:26:03,470 --> 00:26:08,470
Guantánamo Bay's climate is
different than Afghanistan.

472
00:26:09,970 --> 00:26:15,776
To be in a eight-by-eight cell
in beautiful, sunny

473
00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:23,800
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, is not a,
a, uh, inhumane treatment.

474
00:26:24,570 --> 00:26:29,046
I mean, we were like animals
in cages.

475
00:26:29,070 --> 00:26:30,276
Literally.

476
00:26:30,300 --> 00:26:32,546
Just animals who can behave like
humans.

477
00:26:32,570 --> 00:26:34,400
That way we were treated.

478
00:26:35,870 --> 00:26:40,006
NARRATOR: To the world, the
photos and the accounts

479
00:26:40,030 --> 00:26:43,906
from inside were shocking.

480
00:26:43,930 --> 00:26:48,276
Images, as they started to
come out from Guantánamo,

481
00:26:48,300 --> 00:26:50,706
really captured global
attention.

482
00:26:50,730 --> 00:26:55,676
It brought what many believed
to be American values,

483
00:26:55,700 --> 00:26:58,876
or what America claimed as its
values,

484
00:26:58,900 --> 00:27:03,906
in conflict with the images that
people were seeing.

485
00:27:03,930 --> 00:27:06,546
NARRATOR: They called
Guantánamo "Gitmo."

486
00:27:06,570 --> 00:27:09,846
It became a symbol of America's
willingness to use

487
00:27:09,870 --> 00:27:14,946
any means necessary to right
the wrongs of 9/11.

488
00:27:14,970 --> 00:27:17,546
To the rest of the world, the
people in orange jumpsuits

489
00:27:17,570 --> 00:27:21,376
were a symbol that the most
powerful force in the world,

490
00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:23,876
the United States government,
was willing to use

491
00:27:23,900 --> 00:27:27,506
the full extent of that power
to just brutalize people,

492
00:27:27,530 --> 00:27:30,446
including innocent people.

493
00:27:30,470 --> 00:27:33,206
And I think it, it
permanently damaged our capacity

494
00:27:33,230 --> 00:27:35,376
to speak about things
like human rights,

495
00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:40,106
to speak about things like
democracy and the rule of law.

496
00:27:40,130 --> 00:27:42,376
NARRATOR: And Gitmo had begun
to change

497
00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:45,646
how America saw itself.

498
00:27:45,670 --> 00:27:47,676
It starts raising a series of
questions,

499
00:27:47,700 --> 00:27:52,776
in our allies and
among our own people.

500
00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:55,946
"Wait a minute, why are we doing
these things?

501
00:27:55,970 --> 00:27:58,406
Why are we fighting this war?

502
00:27:58,430 --> 00:28:03,746
If we're the good people, why
are we behaving in this way?"

503
00:28:03,770 --> 00:28:05,176
(chanting): Ho-ho!

504
00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:07,976
Guantánamo has got to go!

505
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:09,846
Complaints over the treatment
of the detainees

506
00:28:09,870 --> 00:28:12,646
is growing overseas
and here at home.

507
00:28:12,670 --> 00:28:15,146
What they don't have is
prisoner-of-war status,

508
00:28:15,170 --> 00:28:18,176
which continues to draw fire
from human rights advocates.

509
00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:20,906
Living in open cages
apparently outside

510
00:28:20,930 --> 00:28:23,746
American law.

511
00:28:23,770 --> 00:28:26,576
NARRATOR: Even as the outrage
was growing,

512
00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:31,006
Vice President Cheney pushed the
president to go even further.

513
00:28:31,030 --> 00:28:33,976
This time, it would be carried
out in secret...

514
00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:38,746
The torture of detainees
to get intelligence.

515
00:28:38,770 --> 00:28:41,406
Cheney believes the only way
you can fight these people is

516
00:28:41,430 --> 00:28:45,846
with accurate intelligence
and take some fairly

517
00:28:45,870 --> 00:28:52,546
what he calls robust measures to
break their will to resist.

518
00:28:52,570 --> 00:28:54,606
So where do you do that?

519
00:28:54,630 --> 00:28:56,476
And how do you do it?

520
00:28:56,500 --> 00:28:58,606
You keep it secret from the
Justice Department.

521
00:28:58,630 --> 00:29:00,846
You keep it overseas in
countries

522
00:29:00,870 --> 00:29:03,076
that agree to keep it secret.

523
00:29:03,100 --> 00:29:06,006
You build these things
with C.I.A. money,

524
00:29:06,030 --> 00:29:09,176
so that nobody knows
this is going on,

525
00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:13,906
except vaguely the president
and, of course,

526
00:29:13,930 --> 00:29:16,976
the people in the C.I.A.

527
00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:19,576
NARRATOR: They would test the
secret program on Abu Zubaydah,

528
00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:23,546
suspected of running a terrorist
training camp.

529
00:29:23,570 --> 00:29:26,306
His story was revealed when the
United States Senate issued

530
00:29:26,330 --> 00:29:30,906
what was known as "the torture
report" in 2014.

531
00:29:30,930 --> 00:29:35,076
At approximately 6:20 p.m.,
Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded

532
00:29:35,100 --> 00:29:37,106
for the first time.

533
00:29:37,130 --> 00:29:40,476
NARRATOR: Zubaydah's personal
drawings illustrate his story.

534
00:29:40,500 --> 00:29:43,976
Over a two-and-a-half-hour
period, Abu Zubaydah coughed,

535
00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:47,706
vomited, and had involuntary
spasms of the torso

536
00:29:47,730 --> 00:29:50,076
and extremities.

537
00:29:50,100 --> 00:29:51,746
He describes it to the Red
Cross,

538
00:29:51,770 --> 00:29:56,206
and he can't breathe
and he's beginning to drown,

539
00:29:56,230 --> 00:30:00,100
and the, the feeling of drowning
is terrifying.

540
00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:04,106
NARRATOR: It went on for more
than two weeks.

541
00:30:04,130 --> 00:30:05,806
Waterboarding.

542
00:30:05,830 --> 00:30:08,176
Beatings.

543
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:11,506
Confinement in small spaces.

544
00:30:11,530 --> 00:30:15,006
Sleep deprivation.

545
00:30:15,030 --> 00:30:19,646
Freezing.

546
00:30:19,670 --> 00:30:22,606
Some who knew the program's
secrets said it didn't work

547
00:30:22,630 --> 00:30:26,546
and wasn't worth it.

548
00:30:26,570 --> 00:30:30,946
We devolved and became the
person that we were going after.

549
00:30:30,970 --> 00:30:32,546
That's what it meant.

550
00:30:32,570 --> 00:30:34,946
That was the consequence.

551
00:30:34,970 --> 00:30:38,476
That we lost our moral authority
around the globe.

552
00:30:38,500 --> 00:30:42,646
Remember, even in countries
that hated us,

553
00:30:42,670 --> 00:30:46,346
they were crying over what
happened to America.

554
00:30:46,370 --> 00:30:49,706
And we squandered it.

555
00:30:49,730 --> 00:30:54,706
What a waste.
What a waste.

556
00:30:54,730 --> 00:30:56,570
What a waste.

557
00:31:00,670 --> 00:31:01,706
♪ ♪

558
00:31:01,730 --> 00:31:04,246
(applause)

559
00:31:04,270 --> 00:31:08,976
Mr. Speaker, the president
of the United States.

560
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:10,546
NARRATOR: Just four months
after 9/11,

561
00:31:10,570 --> 00:31:14,976
in his first State of the Union
address,

562
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:20,346
the president decided to
dramatically widen the war.

563
00:31:20,370 --> 00:31:23,446
North Korea is a regime
arming with missiles and weapons

564
00:31:23,470 --> 00:31:25,346
of mass destruction.

565
00:31:25,370 --> 00:31:29,246
Iran aggressively pursues these
weapons and exports terror.

566
00:31:29,270 --> 00:31:32,046
Iraq continues to flaunt its
hostility toward America

567
00:31:32,070 --> 00:31:34,006
and to support terror.

568
00:31:34,030 --> 00:31:35,476
When you do hear that,
you perk up,

569
00:31:35,500 --> 00:31:37,376
and it's kind of surprising.

570
00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:41,306
Because here you had the
president of the United States

571
00:31:41,330 --> 00:31:46,806
addressing Congress, and then
naming these countries

572
00:31:46,830 --> 00:31:52,306
and putting them, lumping them
together as this "axis of evil."

573
00:31:52,330 --> 00:31:56,306
States like these, and their
terrorist allies,

574
00:31:56,330 --> 00:31:58,706
constitute an axis of evil,

575
00:31:58,730 --> 00:32:02,206
arming to threaten the peace
of the world.

576
00:32:02,230 --> 00:32:04,976
For a Frenchman, the speech
about the axis of evil

577
00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:08,746
is simply impossible to
understand.

578
00:32:08,770 --> 00:32:11,876
You know, it's really coming
from another world for us.

579
00:32:11,900 --> 00:32:13,576
We said, "Axis of evil?

580
00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:15,946
What does it mean," you know?

581
00:32:15,970 --> 00:32:18,906
I will not wait on events
while dangers gather.

582
00:32:18,930 --> 00:32:22,976
I will not stand by as peril
draws closer and closer.

583
00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:25,406
The United States of America
will not permit

584
00:32:25,430 --> 00:32:28,806
the world's most dangerous
regimes to threaten us

585
00:32:28,830 --> 00:32:31,676
with the world's most
destructive weapons.

586
00:32:31,700 --> 00:32:37,600
(cheers and applause)

587
00:32:40,900 --> 00:32:43,376
What had begun with this
attack in New York

588
00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:48,206
and Washington had now grown
into this much larger

589
00:32:48,230 --> 00:32:55,476
and graver attack on America in
the political language.

590
00:32:55,500 --> 00:33:01,276
Our war on terror has well
begun, but it has only begun.

591
00:33:01,300 --> 00:33:04,406
The idea that we weren't at
risk just of terrorism,

592
00:33:04,430 --> 00:33:07,976
but in fact, we were at risk of
a nuclear attack, a WMD.

593
00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:14,706
And that was an entirely new
realm of conceivable combat.

594
00:33:14,730 --> 00:33:16,976
President Bush announced to
the world that America's war

595
00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:19,146
on terrorism will expand.

596
00:33:19,170 --> 00:33:21,776
Iran and Iraq, who, along
with North Korea,

597
00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:24,346
were described as
a axis of evil.

598
00:33:24,370 --> 00:33:26,976
What was really ominous about
the speech

599
00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:30,446
was this so-called axis of evil.

600
00:33:30,470 --> 00:33:34,776
NARRATOR: Bush had already
decided on the first target...

601
00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:40,476
Iraq, and its longstanding
dictator, Saddam Hussein.

602
00:33:40,500 --> 00:33:44,746
You can only understand the
decision to attack Iraq

603
00:33:44,770 --> 00:33:49,076
in the context of 9/11.

604
00:33:49,100 --> 00:33:53,846
I think after the first attack,
President Bush was terrified

605
00:33:53,870 --> 00:33:56,106
that there could be further
attacks.

606
00:33:56,130 --> 00:33:58,676
He had failed to prevent the
first.

607
00:33:58,700 --> 00:34:01,276
So he was looking around, you
know, who were enemies

608
00:34:01,300 --> 00:34:05,706
of America who might want to do
America harm?

609
00:34:05,730 --> 00:34:07,176
We know that Saddam Hussein
has a long history

610
00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:08,906
with terrorism.

611
00:34:08,930 --> 00:34:11,146
Saddam Hussein is harboring
terrorists.

612
00:34:11,170 --> 00:34:13,346
NARRATOR: Bush and his inner
circle made the case.

613
00:34:13,370 --> 00:34:17,506
Saddam Hussein is a homicidal
dictator who is addicted

614
00:34:17,530 --> 00:34:20,546
to weapons of mass destruction.

615
00:34:20,570 --> 00:34:22,646
NARRATOR: Often word for
word.

616
00:34:22,670 --> 00:34:25,606
Simply stated...
BOTH: There is no doubt...

617
00:34:25,630 --> 00:34:27,306
That Saddam Hussein now has
weapons of mass destruction.

618
00:34:27,330 --> 00:34:28,506
Has produced weapons of
mass destruction.

619
00:34:28,530 --> 00:34:30,276
There is no doubt that he has
used them.

620
00:34:30,300 --> 00:34:33,646
The United States knows that
Iraq has...

621
00:34:33,670 --> 00:34:35,376
ALL: Weapons of mass
destruction.

622
00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:36,706
Absolutely.

623
00:34:36,730 --> 00:34:38,306
We cannot wait for the final
proof...

624
00:34:38,330 --> 00:34:40,306
But we don't want...
BOTH: the smoking gun...

625
00:34:40,330 --> 00:34:41,976
to be a mushroom cloud.

626
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:44,546
That could come in the
form of a mushroom cloud.

627
00:34:44,570 --> 00:34:47,306
NARRATOR: Intelligence
reports, leaked to the press,

628
00:34:47,330 --> 00:34:51,006
splashed on the front page.

629
00:34:51,030 --> 00:34:53,446
Some of the most credible,
most respected American

630
00:34:53,470 --> 00:34:55,706
news organizations,
like "The New York Times,"

631
00:34:55,730 --> 00:34:59,046
had written very detailed, and,
in its own way,

632
00:34:59,070 --> 00:35:03,006
supportive coverage of the
evidence.

633
00:35:03,030 --> 00:35:05,776
Then there was an amen chorus
in Washington

634
00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:10,176
that was sort of willing to go
along with the administration

635
00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:13,676
on the chance that it was right.

636
00:35:13,700 --> 00:35:15,706
Our editorial page
at "The Washington Post"

637
00:35:15,730 --> 00:35:19,176
was supportive of the invasion.

638
00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:21,506
Those lies, in effect, were
translated

639
00:35:21,530 --> 00:35:24,206
through the credibility of news
organizations

640
00:35:24,230 --> 00:35:29,276
right there into the field of
view of Americans.

641
00:35:29,300 --> 00:35:31,376
(sirens wailing)

642
00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:32,770
(gavel banging)

643
00:35:34,100 --> 00:35:36,046
NARRATOR: In Congress,
prominent Democrats

644
00:35:36,070 --> 00:35:41,046
also lined up behind Bush,
echoing the threat of WMD.

645
00:35:41,070 --> 00:35:43,906
Saddam Hussein has worked to
rebuild his chemical

646
00:35:43,930 --> 00:35:48,306
and biological weapons stock,
his missile delivery capability,

647
00:35:48,330 --> 00:35:50,746
and his nuclear program.

648
00:35:50,770 --> 00:35:55,046
People who knew better voted
for it because they were afraid

649
00:35:55,070 --> 00:35:57,776
of, of being called weak.

650
00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:01,206
Weapons of mass destruction
in the hands of Saddam Hussein

651
00:36:01,230 --> 00:36:05,546
pose a real and grave threat
to our security.

652
00:36:05,570 --> 00:36:08,146
You have Democratic, as well
as Republican,

653
00:36:08,170 --> 00:36:10,846
members of Congress voting
for a war that,

654
00:36:10,870 --> 00:36:13,406
does anybody really believe
that, if they were president,

655
00:36:13,430 --> 00:36:15,246
they would have chosen to do
that?

656
00:36:15,270 --> 00:36:17,246
Saddam is dangerous.

657
00:36:17,270 --> 00:36:19,846
The world would be a better
place without him.

658
00:36:19,870 --> 00:36:22,346
But the reason he poses
a growing danger

659
00:36:22,370 --> 00:36:25,846
to the United States and its
allies is that he possesses

660
00:36:25,870 --> 00:36:27,846
chemical and biological weapons

661
00:36:27,870 --> 00:36:31,006
and he is seeking nuclear
weapons.

662
00:36:31,030 --> 00:36:32,506
That undermined, I think,
confidence

663
00:36:32,530 --> 00:36:34,476
in the American public in their
leaders.

664
00:36:34,500 --> 00:36:36,546
"Who can I trust anymore?

665
00:36:36,570 --> 00:36:38,846
The Democrats voted for this
war, too... how can I...

666
00:36:38,870 --> 00:36:41,376
Why should I trust them any more
than I trust the Republicans?"

667
00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:43,946
You know?

668
00:36:43,970 --> 00:36:46,906
On the other side of the
debate is continental Europe,

669
00:36:46,930 --> 00:36:50,006
where there is widespread
opposition to war.

670
00:36:50,030 --> 00:36:53,676
NARRATOR: But the world was
skeptical.

671
00:36:53,700 --> 00:37:00,046
When we come to Iraq, Europe
was deeply, deeply divided.

672
00:37:00,070 --> 00:37:02,606
Overseas, protesters took to
the streets in Paris,

673
00:37:02,630 --> 00:37:05,006
Tokyo, and Cairo.

674
00:37:05,030 --> 00:37:07,706
The British are trying to
influence the Americans

675
00:37:07,730 --> 00:37:11,706
while the French are taking the
lead of the resistance.

676
00:37:11,730 --> 00:37:14,246
(shouting in French)

677
00:37:14,270 --> 00:37:16,306
No blood for oil!

678
00:37:16,330 --> 00:37:19,406
NARRATOR: American protests
also began to grow.

679
00:37:19,430 --> 00:37:22,306
The largest protest was in
Washington on Saturday.

680
00:37:22,330 --> 00:37:24,346
Demonstrations in San
Francisco also drew

681
00:37:24,370 --> 00:37:26,306
large crowds.

682
00:37:26,330 --> 00:37:29,076
We flooded the streets.

683
00:37:29,100 --> 00:37:32,306
You know, we were part of a
global anti-war movement.

684
00:37:32,330 --> 00:37:34,746
I was one of the students
leading the anti-war protests

685
00:37:34,770 --> 00:37:36,446
in the Bay Area.

686
00:37:36,470 --> 00:37:39,406
And we didn't stop; we continued
to stage civil disobedience,

687
00:37:39,430 --> 00:37:42,976
hoping, praying that our actions
would matter.

688
00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:44,376
The demonstrations have not
softened

689
00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:46,206
the administration's resolve,

690
00:37:46,230 --> 00:37:48,206
for now the U.S. is preparing
to strike

691
00:37:48,230 --> 00:37:51,346
with limited international
support.

692
00:37:51,370 --> 00:37:54,106
The president, of course, is
driving toward a confrontation

693
00:37:54,130 --> 00:37:56,346
with Saddam Hussein.

694
00:37:56,370 --> 00:37:59,076
He knows that people have
discounted a lot of the things

695
00:37:59,100 --> 00:38:03,906
that he has said, so he turns to
the one person in his team

696
00:38:03,930 --> 00:38:05,776
that he thinks has credibility.

697
00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:08,406
And that would be Colin Powell.

698
00:38:08,430 --> 00:38:11,206
NARRATOR: Colin Powell,
a former general;

699
00:38:11,230 --> 00:38:13,606
chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff;

700
00:38:13,630 --> 00:38:18,506
under Bush, the first Black
secretary of State.

701
00:38:18,530 --> 00:38:22,206
He had ratings
like Mother Teresa.

702
00:38:22,230 --> 00:38:24,376
We used to talk about that, "Who
is going to be top tomorrow,

703
00:38:24,400 --> 00:38:25,706
Mother Teresa or you?"

704
00:38:25,730 --> 00:38:27,076
You know? And he'd laugh.

705
00:38:27,100 --> 00:38:28,246
But he did.

706
00:38:28,270 --> 00:38:30,946
The American people trusted him.

707
00:38:30,970 --> 00:38:33,576
NARRATOR: The president,
relying on Powell's formidable

708
00:38:33,600 --> 00:38:38,446
reputation, wanted him to make
the case for war.

709
00:38:38,470 --> 00:38:40,346
And he made the decision in
the middle of January

710
00:38:40,370 --> 00:38:43,146
that it was going to require
military action.

711
00:38:43,170 --> 00:38:47,246
And he asked me to take the case
up to the United Nations.

712
00:38:47,270 --> 00:38:50,706
So that speech, why you?
Why do...

713
00:38:50,730 --> 00:38:52,076
I'm the secretary of state.

714
00:38:52,100 --> 00:38:54,776
Who else would you send?

715
00:38:54,800 --> 00:38:58,376
You can't send
the secretary of defense

716
00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:00,206
to the U.N.

717
00:39:00,230 --> 00:39:04,146
The U.N. ambassador, this is a
little above that pay grade.

718
00:39:04,170 --> 00:39:07,276
And so, he selected me, and I
think he thought I had

719
00:39:07,300 --> 00:39:13,806
credibility to deliver a speech
and it would be believable.

720
00:39:13,830 --> 00:39:14,976
NARRATOR: Just over a week
later,

721
00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:18,076
he arrived at the United
Nations.

722
00:39:18,100 --> 00:39:22,076
The world was watching.

723
00:39:22,100 --> 00:39:25,946
It was a major, major moment.

724
00:39:25,970 --> 00:39:28,706
Powell was really showing
the world,

725
00:39:28,730 --> 00:39:36,146
you know, trying to convince us
that there were WMD in Iraq.

726
00:39:36,170 --> 00:39:38,746
(camera shutter clicking)

727
00:39:38,770 --> 00:39:42,246
He had remarkable credibility
around the world.

728
00:39:42,270 --> 00:39:43,846
I think many people in the
business knew that

729
00:39:43,870 --> 00:39:46,706
he had doubts about this.

730
00:39:46,730 --> 00:39:48,906
And so if he was saying it, then
people would be much more likely

731
00:39:48,930 --> 00:39:51,076
to believe that, than had it
been some other spokesman

732
00:39:51,100 --> 00:39:53,606
who had less credibility.

733
00:39:53,630 --> 00:39:56,506
Saddam Hussein already
possesses two of the three

734
00:39:56,530 --> 00:40:01,046
key components needed to build
a nuclear bomb.

735
00:40:01,070 --> 00:40:06,046
Saddam Hussein is determined to
get his hands on a nuclear bomb.

736
00:40:06,070 --> 00:40:09,976
I was a salesman that day to
present a product.

737
00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:11,706
But the product was something
that came out

738
00:40:11,730 --> 00:40:14,406
of the intelligence community.

739
00:40:14,430 --> 00:40:17,046
The most damaging piece of
material

740
00:40:17,070 --> 00:40:19,246
in this entire presentation

741
00:40:19,270 --> 00:40:21,346
with respect to the American
people

742
00:40:21,370 --> 00:40:25,976
was the connection between
Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda,

743
00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:28,476
and thus 9/11.

744
00:40:28,500 --> 00:40:32,246
I can trace the story of a
senior terrorist operative

745
00:40:32,270 --> 00:40:35,146
telling how Iraq provided
training in these weapons

746
00:40:35,170 --> 00:40:37,376
to al-Qaeda.

747
00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:40,076
Fortunately, this operative is
now detained

748
00:40:40,100 --> 00:40:42,576
and he has told his story.

749
00:40:42,600 --> 00:40:46,176
I later found out
the al-Qaeda operative

750
00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:49,846
was Shaykh al-Libi, that he was
tortured by the Egyptians

751
00:40:49,870 --> 00:40:52,376
well before this time,

752
00:40:52,400 --> 00:40:55,646
that the information he had
revealed he himself had recanted

753
00:40:55,670 --> 00:40:58,276
within a week.

754
00:40:58,300 --> 00:41:01,646
And so this most powerful moment
in his presentation,

755
00:41:01,670 --> 00:41:03,976
probably the most influential
moment

756
00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:08,876
with the American people, was a
complete fabrication, really.

757
00:41:08,900 --> 00:41:10,546
Leaving Saddam Hussein in
possession of weapons

758
00:41:10,570 --> 00:41:12,206
of mass destruction...

759
00:41:12,230 --> 00:41:14,506
NARRATOR: Even after Powell's
performance,

760
00:41:14,530 --> 00:41:17,806
the U.N. was unconvinced.

761
00:41:17,830 --> 00:41:21,476
Bush would put together his own
war coalition.

762
00:41:21,500 --> 00:41:24,476
At this hour, American and
coalition forces

763
00:41:24,500 --> 00:41:26,976
are in the early stages of
military operations

764
00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:31,646
to disarm Iraq,
to free its people,

765
00:41:31,670 --> 00:41:34,706
and to defend the world
from grave danger.

766
00:41:34,730 --> 00:41:37,706
(explosions roar)

767
00:41:37,730 --> 00:41:45,276
NARRATOR: After the invasion,
the first mission: find the WMD.

768
00:41:45,300 --> 00:41:48,506
The troops spread out.

769
00:41:48,530 --> 00:41:50,706
There weren't any.

770
00:41:50,730 --> 00:41:52,446
When it was revealed there
were no weapons

771
00:41:52,470 --> 00:41:54,476
of mass destruction, we looked
like idiots;

772
00:41:54,500 --> 00:41:57,076
we had claimed absolutely there
would be

773
00:41:57,100 --> 00:42:00,146
weapons of mass destruction.

774
00:42:00,170 --> 00:42:03,476
So it was a, it was a real
extraordinary revelation.

775
00:42:03,500 --> 00:42:06,106
And, really, very difficult for
us to understand.

776
00:42:06,130 --> 00:42:09,576
It's the final word... Saddam
Hussein had no weapons

777
00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:11,346
of mass destruction.

778
00:42:11,370 --> 00:42:14,306
As the U.S. has come up
empty in its hunt for weapons.

779
00:42:14,330 --> 00:42:16,106
The lack of hard evidence
calls into question

780
00:42:16,130 --> 00:42:18,846
one of the basic reasons
for the war.

781
00:42:18,870 --> 00:42:21,576
When it turned out that the
evidence had been manipulated

782
00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:24,446
and falsely represented, it
didn't just undermine

783
00:42:24,470 --> 00:42:25,876
the credibility of the
administration,

784
00:42:25,900 --> 00:42:28,506
it undermined the credibility of
the American media,

785
00:42:28,530 --> 00:42:31,246
who had been so instrumental in
getting that message

786
00:42:31,270 --> 00:42:33,006
out to the public.

787
00:42:33,030 --> 00:42:34,546
Containing biological...

788
00:42:34,570 --> 00:42:37,106
Secretary of State Colin
Powell told the U.N. in February

789
00:42:37,130 --> 00:42:39,946
that Saddam Hussein was
harboring up to 500 tons

790
00:42:39,970 --> 00:42:42,346
of biological and chemical
weapons.

791
00:42:42,370 --> 00:42:46,646
So far, coalition troops have
not found one ounce.

792
00:42:46,670 --> 00:42:49,206
NARRATOR: The
administration's most trusted

793
00:42:49,230 --> 00:42:50,976
figure had been wrong.

794
00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:53,376
Suddenly, the C.I.A. started
to let us know

795
00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:55,276
that the case was falling
apart...

796
00:42:55,300 --> 00:42:58,206
Parts of the case
were falling apart.

797
00:42:58,230 --> 00:43:01,106
And it was deeply disturbing to
me and to the president...

798
00:43:01,130 --> 00:43:04,606
To all of us.

799
00:43:04,630 --> 00:43:07,546
NARRATOR: It was devastating.

800
00:43:07,570 --> 00:43:13,730
Trust shattered: in Powell,
the president, the government.

801
00:43:16,770 --> 00:43:19,576
If the intelligence was
shaded or manipulated,

802
00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:20,906
it could be a significant
scandal

803
00:43:20,930 --> 00:43:22,476
for the Bush White House.

804
00:43:22,500 --> 00:43:24,746
My government's lied
to me so often,

805
00:43:24,770 --> 00:43:26,876
they've lost their credibility
with me.

806
00:43:26,900 --> 00:43:29,106
And it's very, very bad that
people don't trust and believe

807
00:43:29,130 --> 00:43:32,376
what's coming
from the White House.

808
00:43:32,400 --> 00:43:36,046
The long-term effect was a
beginning of a certain level

809
00:43:36,070 --> 00:43:39,906
of distrust of the government,
that the government lied

810
00:43:39,930 --> 00:43:44,146
to them and that we went into
Iraq under a false pretense.

811
00:43:44,170 --> 00:43:50,746
And so, we had all of this
lost lives, money spent,

812
00:43:50,770 --> 00:43:54,406
blood and treasure, that was
just kind of wasted.

813
00:43:54,430 --> 00:43:57,246
No blood for oil!

814
00:43:57,270 --> 00:43:59,146
You could see the beginning
of some

815
00:43:59,170 --> 00:44:02,076
of the conspiracy theories that
have sort of infected

816
00:44:02,100 --> 00:44:04,976
the American mindset.

817
00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:08,006
People began to come up with,
"Well, if it wasn't for WMD,

818
00:44:08,030 --> 00:44:11,606
is our government lying to us?
And why?"

819
00:44:11,630 --> 00:44:14,276
People began to sort of distrust
their own government

820
00:44:14,300 --> 00:44:16,446
in a big way.

821
00:44:16,470 --> 00:44:19,200
(crowd jeering)

822
00:44:27,270 --> 00:44:29,606
NARRATOR: In Iraq,
at the very beginning,

823
00:44:29,630 --> 00:44:31,406
it looked a lot like victory.

824
00:44:31,430 --> 00:44:33,406
A feeling of satisfaction,
I guess.

825
00:44:33,430 --> 00:44:37,846
It's almost over,
so I can go home soon.

826
00:44:37,870 --> 00:44:41,676
The United States believed we
would be welcomed as liberators.

827
00:44:41,700 --> 00:44:44,646
That firstly, it would be a
cakewalk to go into Iraq,

828
00:44:44,670 --> 00:44:46,746
and, secondly, within a matter
of weeks,

829
00:44:46,770 --> 00:44:51,046
the country would be stabilized.

830
00:44:51,070 --> 00:44:52,546
NARRATOR: But like
Afghanistan,

831
00:44:52,570 --> 00:44:54,870
Iraq quickly became a quagmire.

832
00:44:57,730 --> 00:45:00,206
We watched as the statue fell
on April 9.

833
00:45:00,230 --> 00:45:02,706
By April 10, we woke up in the
morning and the university

834
00:45:02,730 --> 00:45:03,976
was being looted.

835
00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:07,446
Saddam's palaces,
all open, all looted.

836
00:45:07,470 --> 00:45:10,006
Baghdad very quickly moves
from a state of joy

837
00:45:10,030 --> 00:45:11,406
and euphoria...

838
00:45:11,430 --> 00:45:13,106
No Saddam, he is squashed!
No Saddam!

839
00:45:13,130 --> 00:45:15,406
To one of almost utter bedlam.

840
00:45:15,430 --> 00:45:18,776
Looters set upon government
buildings, upon businesses,

841
00:45:18,800 --> 00:45:21,346
fires break out.

842
00:45:21,370 --> 00:45:24,706
And there are thousands of U.S.
troops in the city

843
00:45:24,730 --> 00:45:29,906
at that point, but they don't
have orders to stop it.

844
00:45:29,930 --> 00:45:33,446
The goodwill in Iraq lasted
only a few days,

845
00:45:33,470 --> 00:45:38,076
because the U.S. attacked Iraq
without any plan B at all.

846
00:45:38,100 --> 00:45:41,106
I mean, there was nobody even to
keep law and order in Baghdad,

847
00:45:41,130 --> 00:45:44,706
leave alone the,
the other cities.

848
00:45:44,730 --> 00:45:46,276
I picked up a newspaper today,

849
00:45:46,300 --> 00:45:49,076
and I couldn't believe it.

850
00:45:49,100 --> 00:45:53,106
I read eight headlines that
talked about "Chaos!"

851
00:45:53,130 --> 00:45:55,746
"Violence!" "Unrest!"

852
00:45:55,770 --> 00:45:58,576
And it just was, "Henny-Penny,
the sky is falling."

853
00:45:58,600 --> 00:46:00,876
I've never seen anything
like it.

854
00:46:00,900 --> 00:46:03,206
It's just unbelievable how
people can,

855
00:46:03,230 --> 00:46:07,276
can take that away from what is
happening in that country.

856
00:46:07,300 --> 00:46:09,446
NARRATOR: Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld had

857
00:46:09,470 --> 00:46:11,976
overseen the planning
for the war.

858
00:46:12,000 --> 00:46:14,376
Now he was doing damage control.

859
00:46:14,400 --> 00:46:16,806
It is a fundamental
misunderstanding

860
00:46:16,830 --> 00:46:21,246
to, to see those images over and
over and over again

861
00:46:21,270 --> 00:46:23,576
of some boy walking out with a
vase and say,

862
00:46:23,600 --> 00:46:26,146
"Oh, my goodness, you didn't
have a plan."

863
00:46:26,170 --> 00:46:28,346
That's nonsense!

864
00:46:28,370 --> 00:46:31,106
He said, "There's one little
riot in the street or something,

865
00:46:31,130 --> 00:46:34,606
and people say, 'Henny-Penny,
the sky is falling.'"

866
00:46:34,630 --> 00:46:39,376
I'm on the ground in the summer
of '03 in Iraq,

867
00:46:39,400 --> 00:46:42,076
and it's very clear to me that
what I'm seeing

868
00:46:42,100 --> 00:46:44,846
is very different from what
people

869
00:46:44,870 --> 00:46:47,076
at the Pentagon are seeing.

870
00:46:47,100 --> 00:46:49,276
And it's untidy.
And freedom's untidy.

871
00:46:49,300 --> 00:46:51,176
And free people are free
to make mistakes

872
00:46:51,200 --> 00:46:53,946
and commit crimes
and do bad things.

873
00:46:53,970 --> 00:46:57,946
They're also free to live their
lives and do wonderful things.

874
00:46:57,970 --> 00:47:01,806
And that's what's going
to happen here.

875
00:47:01,830 --> 00:47:03,576
NARRATOR: Rumsfeld's
disconnect grew

876
00:47:03,600 --> 00:47:07,146
as the country continued
to unravel.

877
00:47:07,170 --> 00:47:09,576
Rumsfeld actually thought and
said

878
00:47:09,600 --> 00:47:11,746
that we could just go in and
then get out.

879
00:47:11,770 --> 00:47:14,406
We weren't going to do
nation-building in Iraq.

880
00:47:14,430 --> 00:47:18,406
And if Iraq imploded, that was
somebody else's problem.

881
00:47:18,430 --> 00:47:22,006
In Baghdad today, the looting
and shooting continued.

882
00:47:22,030 --> 00:47:25,246
They still come in waves,
carting away metal frames...

883
00:47:25,270 --> 00:47:27,376
NARRATOR: To fix the problem,
President Bush handed it

884
00:47:27,400 --> 00:47:31,546
to a little-known diplomat,
L. Paul Bremer III.

885
00:47:31,570 --> 00:47:34,606
Jerry Bremer has agreed to
become the presidential envoy

886
00:47:34,630 --> 00:47:36,746
to Iraq.

887
00:47:36,770 --> 00:47:39,776
Paul Bremer wasn't
a Middle East expert.

888
00:47:39,800 --> 00:47:41,576
He wasn't seen as an Arabist.

889
00:47:41,600 --> 00:47:43,546
He wasn't a person
who was an expert

890
00:47:43,570 --> 00:47:47,076
in post-conflict rebuilding.

891
00:47:47,100 --> 00:47:50,430
And then he becomes a sort of de
facto ruler of Iraq.

892
00:47:54,330 --> 00:47:59,106
NARRATOR: Paul Bremer arrived
in Baghdad with grand ambitions.

893
00:47:59,130 --> 00:48:00,606
When Iraq was found not to
have weapons

894
00:48:00,630 --> 00:48:04,006
of mass destruction,
the mission then morphed

895
00:48:04,030 --> 00:48:08,106
to installing democracy.

896
00:48:08,130 --> 00:48:10,506
So Ambassador Bremer spoke
about, you know,

897
00:48:10,530 --> 00:48:13,846
"We're going to rebuild Iraq
like we did Germany

898
00:48:13,870 --> 00:48:17,846
and Japan after World War II."

899
00:48:17,870 --> 00:48:21,476
And to do that, we couldn't
build from the old foundations.

900
00:48:21,500 --> 00:48:25,006
We had to create new
foundations.

901
00:48:25,030 --> 00:48:26,676
NARRATOR: Bremer's first step
to making

902
00:48:26,700 --> 00:48:29,346
this new Iraqi democracy...

903
00:48:29,370 --> 00:48:31,576
Purge the entire Iraqi
government

904
00:48:31,600 --> 00:48:35,776
of tens of thousands of members
of Saddam's Ba'ath Party.

905
00:48:35,800 --> 00:48:37,606
And those who were on
high before,

906
00:48:37,630 --> 00:48:40,246
in particular the Ba'athists,

907
00:48:40,270 --> 00:48:43,046
who used their power to repress
the Iraqi people,

908
00:48:43,070 --> 00:48:44,700
will be removed from office.

909
00:48:46,200 --> 00:48:49,446
They threw tens of thousands
of people out of their jobs,

910
00:48:49,470 --> 00:48:52,746
out of their homes,
out of their future,

911
00:48:52,770 --> 00:48:56,446
and even robbed them
of their position in society.

912
00:48:56,470 --> 00:48:59,676
Shortly, I will issue an
order on measures to extirpate

913
00:48:59,700 --> 00:49:03,646
Ba'athists and Ba'athism
from Iraq forever.

914
00:49:03,670 --> 00:49:06,446
So there was no reason
for these individuals

915
00:49:06,470 --> 00:49:08,476
to support the new Iraq.

916
00:49:08,500 --> 00:49:12,006
In fact, it was in their
interest to oppose it.

917
00:49:12,030 --> 00:49:14,106
What was the Pentagon expecting?

918
00:49:14,130 --> 00:49:16,246
That American officers would
take over the ministries

919
00:49:16,270 --> 00:49:20,046
and become minister of culture
and minister of health?

920
00:49:20,070 --> 00:49:25,506
It was, it was really
an abysmal situation.

921
00:49:25,530 --> 00:49:28,476
NARRATOR: Bremer's second
order: disbanding the army

922
00:49:28,500 --> 00:49:32,806
and firing hundreds of thousands
of soldiers.

923
00:49:32,830 --> 00:49:36,306
I was stunned, because this
was not the plan.

924
00:49:36,330 --> 00:49:38,146
The C.I.A. was stunned.

925
00:49:38,170 --> 00:49:40,946
And the commanders in the field
out there were stunned.

926
00:49:40,970 --> 00:49:44,406
Because this was the solution
to the security problem.

927
00:49:44,430 --> 00:49:46,606
We were going to reconstitute
the Iraqi army

928
00:49:46,630 --> 00:49:49,706
so that they could secure
their country.

929
00:49:49,730 --> 00:49:54,446
And instead, we dismissed them
and we turned loose

930
00:49:54,470 --> 00:49:57,346
all of these trained military
people who might have weapons

931
00:49:57,370 --> 00:49:59,906
with them and knew
where weapons were.

932
00:49:59,930 --> 00:50:03,576
(chanting)

933
00:50:03,600 --> 00:50:05,346
NARRATOR: Saddam Hussein's
former soldiers

934
00:50:05,370 --> 00:50:08,006
took to the streets.

935
00:50:08,030 --> 00:50:09,876
Week after week after week,

936
00:50:09,900 --> 00:50:14,046
the big demonstrations
got larger and larger.

937
00:50:14,070 --> 00:50:17,276
There was enormous concern where
there were actually killings.

938
00:50:17,300 --> 00:50:18,470
(gunshots echo)

939
00:50:19,730 --> 00:50:21,576
The army was the central
instrument

940
00:50:21,600 --> 00:50:25,676
of Saddam's repression
of the Kurds and the Shia.

941
00:50:25,700 --> 00:50:28,446
I think the decision not to
recall Saddam's army,

942
00:50:28,470 --> 00:50:29,946
from a political point of view,

943
00:50:29,970 --> 00:50:32,246
is the single most important
correct decision that we made

944
00:50:32,270 --> 00:50:35,170
in the 14 months we were there.

945
00:50:38,100 --> 00:50:42,846
NARRATOR: Bremer's assertion
would be put to the test.

946
00:50:42,870 --> 00:50:47,876
In no time at all,
the insurgency began.

947
00:50:47,900 --> 00:50:50,046
Hell broke loose in Iraq.

948
00:50:50,070 --> 00:50:52,730
(explosions echo)

949
00:51:01,230 --> 00:51:04,146
We were taking casualties
somewhat systematically

950
00:51:04,170 --> 00:51:06,106
every week.

951
00:51:06,130 --> 00:51:08,676
And then it began to be
almost every day.

952
00:51:08,700 --> 00:51:11,176
And we were very slow to come to
the recognition

953
00:51:11,200 --> 00:51:15,230
that we really did have an
insurgency on our hands.

954
00:51:16,970 --> 00:51:22,306
NARRATOR: It all ramped up:
the insurgency and the denials.

955
00:51:22,330 --> 00:51:24,846
In Iraq, difficult work remains.

956
00:51:24,870 --> 00:51:27,746
They're making progress against
the dead-enders

957
00:51:27,770 --> 00:51:30,206
who are harassing coalition
forces.

958
00:51:30,230 --> 00:51:32,276
The fact is that most of Iraq
today

959
00:51:32,300 --> 00:51:35,046
is relatively stable and quiet.

960
00:51:35,070 --> 00:51:37,946
The remnants of the thugs and
crooks that looted their country

961
00:51:37,970 --> 00:51:41,106
and oppressed their countrymen
will be rooted out

962
00:51:41,130 --> 00:51:43,176
and they will be taken care of.

963
00:51:43,200 --> 00:51:46,506
There are some who feel like
that, you know, the conditions

964
00:51:46,530 --> 00:51:48,846
are such that they can attack us
there.

965
00:51:48,870 --> 00:51:50,976
My answer is, bring them on.

966
00:51:51,000 --> 00:51:53,376
We've got the force necessary to
deal

967
00:51:53,400 --> 00:51:56,646
with the security situation.

968
00:51:56,670 --> 00:52:00,576
The war was driven by
vengeance and idealism.

969
00:52:00,600 --> 00:52:04,506
The vengeance part of it was the
attempt to eliminate the people

970
00:52:04,530 --> 00:52:07,406
whom George W. Bush referred to
as the, quote-unquote,

971
00:52:07,430 --> 00:52:09,176
"evildoers."

972
00:52:09,200 --> 00:52:14,176
And the idealism was the idea
that these places could be

973
00:52:14,200 --> 00:52:18,206
remade as Western-style
democracies.

974
00:52:18,230 --> 00:52:21,006
That doing so would be
relatively straightforward

975
00:52:21,030 --> 00:52:23,746
and almost easy.

976
00:52:23,770 --> 00:52:27,376
All those ideas are naive.

977
00:52:27,400 --> 00:52:29,500
There's a naivete implicit
in all of that.

978
00:52:35,400 --> 00:52:38,376
The United States' invasion
of Iraq is proving to be

979
00:52:38,400 --> 00:52:40,006
a Pandora's box.

980
00:52:40,030 --> 00:52:41,906
Now, adding to the crisis of
credibility,

981
00:52:41,930 --> 00:52:44,776
allegations of torture.

982
00:52:44,800 --> 00:52:47,106
Photographs surfaced showing
American soldiers

983
00:52:47,130 --> 00:52:50,446
abusing and humiliating Iraqi
prisoners.

984
00:52:50,470 --> 00:52:53,846
I was shocked and disgusted.

985
00:52:53,870 --> 00:53:00,276
But I also felt extreme fear of,
when you treat people like this,

986
00:53:00,300 --> 00:53:02,746
what comes from that?

987
00:53:02,770 --> 00:53:05,976
The photographs were taken by
the soldiers themselves.

988
00:53:06,000 --> 00:53:08,976
The damage to U.S. interests
in the rest of the world

989
00:53:09,000 --> 00:53:12,176
is hard to calculate, but it
will be significant.

990
00:53:12,200 --> 00:53:16,076
Abu Ghraib was, yeah, it was,
it was heartbreaking.

991
00:53:16,100 --> 00:53:17,846
It was shocking.

992
00:53:17,870 --> 00:53:20,446
I, I wanted to believe very...

993
00:53:20,470 --> 00:53:24,146
I so wanted to believe those
pictures were not real.

994
00:53:24,170 --> 00:53:26,306
I didn't want to think
that Americans

995
00:53:26,330 --> 00:53:30,406
could do this to Iraqis.

996
00:53:30,430 --> 00:53:34,946
NARRATOR: The abuse happened
at Abu Ghraib prison.

997
00:53:34,970 --> 00:53:41,206
Once again, like at Gitmo, like
the C.I.A. torture program,

998
00:53:41,230 --> 00:53:46,046
America's war on terror
had come to this.

999
00:53:46,070 --> 00:53:50,676
What was going on at Abu
Ghraib came from Guantánamo.

1000
00:53:50,700 --> 00:53:54,146
Abu Ghraib was a kind of, you
know, a consequence

1001
00:53:54,170 --> 00:53:57,346
of that initial decision
of the C.I.A.

1002
00:53:57,370 --> 00:54:01,576
It bled out, you know, to Iraq.

1003
00:54:01,600 --> 00:54:03,106
Across the Arab world today,

1004
00:54:03,130 --> 00:54:05,146
there was condemnation of U.S.
troops.

1005
00:54:05,170 --> 00:54:07,606
(speaking in world language)

1006
00:54:07,630 --> 00:54:10,276
To see that splashed on
newspapers around the world,

1007
00:54:10,300 --> 00:54:14,046
it literally sent the entire
world up in arms

1008
00:54:14,070 --> 00:54:16,276
over the, over that treatment.

1009
00:54:16,300 --> 00:54:18,376
Beating with a broom handle
and a chair.

1010
00:54:18,400 --> 00:54:19,776
Sodomizing with...

1011
00:54:19,800 --> 00:54:22,276
From the very start,
President Bush had said

1012
00:54:22,300 --> 00:54:26,076
this would be a war of ideas,
and that American values,

1013
00:54:26,100 --> 00:54:31,176
America's faith in freedom and
democracy, would triumph.

1014
00:54:31,200 --> 00:54:33,306
The America I know is a
compassionate country

1015
00:54:33,330 --> 00:54:36,076
that believes in freedom.

1016
00:54:36,100 --> 00:54:40,806
The America I know cares about
every individual.

1017
00:54:40,830 --> 00:54:43,506
The America I know has sent
troops into Iraq

1018
00:54:43,530 --> 00:54:46,546
to promote freedom:
good, honorable citizens

1019
00:54:46,570 --> 00:54:50,746
that are helping the Iraqis
every day.

1020
00:54:50,770 --> 00:54:53,746
It exposes what many people
saw as the hypocrisy

1021
00:54:53,770 --> 00:54:57,176
of American foreign policy.

1022
00:54:57,200 --> 00:55:01,076
For many Iraqis,
it was seen as sordid.

1023
00:55:01,100 --> 00:55:06,576
So you started to see a
dwindling of support

1024
00:55:06,600 --> 00:55:08,846
for the actual war.

1025
00:55:08,870 --> 00:55:12,376
♪ ♪

1026
00:55:12,400 --> 00:55:14,606
Abu Ghraib was the moment
when the curtain kind of fell

1027
00:55:14,630 --> 00:55:18,246
on America, and enough Americans
saw what the world saw,

1028
00:55:18,270 --> 00:55:21,130
which is that this has gone
completely wrong.

1029
00:55:22,600 --> 00:55:25,676
We had gone to war thinking of
our better selves,

1030
00:55:25,700 --> 00:55:29,146
and now we were a country that
was occupying Iraq

1031
00:55:29,170 --> 00:55:32,046
and torturing its people
in, in kind of grotesque,

1032
00:55:32,070 --> 00:55:34,070
almost casual ways.

1033
00:55:35,930 --> 00:55:38,500
♪ ♪

1034
00:55:41,730 --> 00:55:45,476
NARRATOR: America was losing
its moral authority,

1035
00:55:45,500 --> 00:55:49,046
its standing.

1036
00:55:49,070 --> 00:55:51,546
What was lost was the hope
that Americans

1037
00:55:51,570 --> 00:55:57,076
had good intentions, that they
were trying to rebuild Iraq,

1038
00:55:57,100 --> 00:56:00,746
that they were protecting
the Iraqi people.

1039
00:56:00,770 --> 00:56:03,976
It did not look like that
at that point.

1040
00:56:04,000 --> 00:56:07,006
So anyone who still had some
hope at that point,

1041
00:56:07,030 --> 00:56:10,976
I think, was faced
with that reality.

1042
00:56:11,000 --> 00:56:14,076
The photographs are so powerful.

1043
00:56:14,100 --> 00:56:18,546
They antagonize the Iraqi
public.

1044
00:56:18,570 --> 00:56:22,876
There are people, we know, who
join the insurgency

1045
00:56:22,900 --> 00:56:24,230
because of those images.

1046
00:56:26,600 --> 00:56:30,706
Which means that American
soldiers torturing Iraqis,

1047
00:56:30,730 --> 00:56:34,546
and photographing it, helped get
other American soldiers

1048
00:56:34,570 --> 00:56:36,600
and Iraqis killed.

1049
00:56:41,500 --> 00:56:46,306
♪ ♪

1050
00:56:46,330 --> 00:56:49,846
NARRATOR: And there were more
consequences to come.

1051
00:56:49,870 --> 00:56:52,846
Osama bin Laden seized the
moment.

1052
00:56:52,870 --> 00:56:56,876
For al-Qaeda, this was an
opportunity to emerge

1053
00:56:56,900 --> 00:57:00,746
from the shadows, to confront
the United States

1054
00:57:00,770 --> 00:57:03,276
invading yet another country.

1055
00:57:03,300 --> 00:57:05,446
NARRATOR: Bin Laden rallied
his followers

1056
00:57:05,470 --> 00:57:09,546
to join the insurgency in Iraq.

1057
00:57:09,570 --> 00:57:14,776
Foreign fighters came in to
fight against the occupation.

1058
00:57:14,800 --> 00:57:17,406
And because all the security
forces had been dismissed,

1059
00:57:17,430 --> 00:57:20,146
there was nobody to guard
the borders.

1060
00:57:20,170 --> 00:57:22,506
And so these, you know, foreign
fighters, jihadis,

1061
00:57:22,530 --> 00:57:25,346
could enter the country.

1062
00:57:25,370 --> 00:57:26,746
(people shouting)

1063
00:57:26,770 --> 00:57:29,346
NARRATOR: Jihadis,
Ba'athists, former soldiers

1064
00:57:29,370 --> 00:57:33,406
uniting in opposition to
America.

1065
00:57:33,430 --> 00:57:37,006
It created a monster,
a Frankenstein monster,

1066
00:57:37,030 --> 00:57:39,776
that half-bin Laden and
half-Saddam...

1067
00:57:39,800 --> 00:57:43,846
A monster that did not exist
before we went to Iraq,

1068
00:57:43,870 --> 00:57:46,606
but because of what we did in
the aftermath

1069
00:57:46,630 --> 00:57:52,306
of our invasion,
that monster became a reality.

1070
00:57:52,330 --> 00:57:55,276
NARRATOR: The centerpiece of
Al-Qaeda's strategy:

1071
00:57:55,300 --> 00:57:57,106
fomenting civil war.

1072
00:57:57,130 --> 00:57:58,606
(explosion)

1073
00:57:58,630 --> 00:58:01,346
Explosives detonating just
after 7:00 a.m. this morning

1074
00:58:01,370 --> 00:58:02,846
underneath the golden dome...

1075
00:58:02,870 --> 00:58:05,276
NARRATOR: A bombing designed
to inflame tensions

1076
00:58:05,300 --> 00:58:10,446
between Iraq's rival religious
sects, the Sunni and Shia.

1077
00:58:10,470 --> 00:58:11,676
One of the country's most holy

1078
00:58:11,700 --> 00:58:13,646
Shiite religious shrines.

1079
00:58:13,670 --> 00:58:16,206
And that set off a cycle of
violence...

1080
00:58:16,230 --> 00:58:17,706
(explosion)

1081
00:58:17,730 --> 00:58:21,146
between Sunni and Shia that
Al-Qaeda tried to fuel

1082
00:58:21,170 --> 00:58:23,246
as much as they possibly could.

1083
00:58:23,270 --> 00:58:25,476
(sirens)

1084
00:58:25,500 --> 00:58:28,446
This violence had so much
momentum

1085
00:58:28,470 --> 00:58:33,406
that it was very, very difficult
to stop it.

1086
00:58:33,430 --> 00:58:34,900
(explosion)

1087
00:58:36,230 --> 00:58:38,746
We had now sectarian strife,

1088
00:58:38,770 --> 00:58:41,276
we had now armed groups killing
whoever they wanted,

1089
00:58:41,300 --> 00:58:44,670
we had now Al-Qaeda rampant
in the country.

1090
00:58:45,500 --> 00:58:47,106
Friendships were torn.

1091
00:58:47,130 --> 00:58:49,706
Families were torn apart, um...

1092
00:58:49,730 --> 00:58:55,306
Cities will never be the same
as they were, um...

1093
00:58:55,330 --> 00:58:58,176
There's a, there's a generation
that has grown up

1094
00:58:58,200 --> 00:58:59,906
that has never known one day
of stability

1095
00:58:59,930 --> 00:59:02,330
in their entire lives.

1096
00:59:05,730 --> 00:59:10,106
NARRATOR: The high cost and
consequences of war

1097
00:59:10,130 --> 00:59:13,946
came home to America, too.

1098
00:59:13,970 --> 00:59:21,970
Every week, at military bases,
the bodies arrived.

1099
00:59:23,830 --> 00:59:29,176
Soldiers and contractors.

1100
00:59:29,200 --> 00:59:31,646
As these troops were going to
Iraq,

1101
00:59:31,670 --> 00:59:35,876
these wars were being lost, or
they looked like

1102
00:59:35,900 --> 00:59:38,706
they were losing these wars.

1103
00:59:38,730 --> 00:59:40,576
Suddenly, Americans started
to ask,

1104
00:59:40,600 --> 00:59:43,730
why are we here
and is it worth it?

1105
00:59:46,130 --> 00:59:51,446
NARRATOR: The wounded,
haunted,

1106
00:59:51,470 --> 00:59:54,506
forever changed.

1107
00:59:54,530 --> 00:59:57,776
Tens of thousands of them.

1108
00:59:57,800 --> 00:59:59,676
Is it worth the costs?

1109
00:59:59,700 --> 01:00:03,606
Not just in terms of taxpayer
dollars.

1110
01:00:03,630 --> 01:00:06,776
Is it worth the costs in terms
of human lives

1111
01:00:06,800 --> 01:00:08,930
and in terms of values?

1112
01:00:11,000 --> 01:00:14,076
Most soldiers say, when
they leave the battlefield,

1113
01:00:14,100 --> 01:00:16,306
the battlefield
doesn't leave them.

1114
01:00:16,330 --> 01:00:20,506
20% to 40% of individuals
come back with significant

1115
01:00:20,530 --> 01:00:22,446
post-traumatic stress symptoms.

1116
01:00:22,470 --> 01:00:24,976
They are dying in record
numbers...

1117
01:00:25,000 --> 01:00:26,846
And I'm not talking about
on the battlefield,

1118
01:00:26,870 --> 01:00:29,300
but rather by their own hand.

1119
01:00:39,300 --> 01:00:42,846
One of the ugliest legacies
of this crisis is home-grown.

1120
01:00:42,870 --> 01:00:45,476
We've seen both the best of
America,

1121
01:00:45,500 --> 01:00:48,646
and now because of hate, begin
to see some of the worst.

1122
01:00:48,670 --> 01:00:50,676
NARRATOR: At home during
those years,

1123
01:00:50,700 --> 01:00:52,206
a different war was brewing.

1124
01:00:52,230 --> 01:00:54,946
Is America becoming
Islamophobic,

1125
01:00:54,970 --> 01:00:56,806
a prejudice against Muslims?

1126
01:00:56,830 --> 01:00:58,906
NARRATOR: In fear and
frustration,

1127
01:00:58,930 --> 01:01:00,706
Americans were turning
on each other.

1128
01:01:00,730 --> 01:01:02,846
A growing number of Americans
saying,

1129
01:01:02,870 --> 01:01:04,946
"Forget political correctness."

1130
01:01:04,970 --> 01:01:07,206
I tell you what you do...
You racially profile.

1131
01:01:07,230 --> 01:01:10,006
I am not going to stop until
I have executed

1132
01:01:10,030 --> 01:01:13,476
at least ten Muslims.

1133
01:01:13,500 --> 01:01:16,546
In the wake of 9/11,
we saw a wave of hate violence

1134
01:01:16,570 --> 01:01:18,776
all across the United States.

1135
01:01:18,800 --> 01:01:21,746
Muslim Americans, Sikh Americans
at the forefront

1136
01:01:21,770 --> 01:01:23,376
of this violence.

1137
01:01:23,400 --> 01:01:26,106
In Ohio today,
another mosque vandalized.

1138
01:01:26,130 --> 01:01:29,076
Saturday, a Pakistani Muslim
shot dead in Dallas,

1139
01:01:29,100 --> 01:01:32,676
and in Arizona, a gas station
owner shot and killed...

1140
01:01:32,700 --> 01:01:35,676
Not an Arab or a Muslim,
but an Indian Sikh.

1141
01:01:35,700 --> 01:01:38,646
So to be a Sikh American at
that time,

1142
01:01:38,670 --> 01:01:42,346
it was to feel as though our
nation was under siege

1143
01:01:42,370 --> 01:01:44,606
and that our families
were under siege.

1144
01:01:44,630 --> 01:01:46,606
We would like to make it very
clear

1145
01:01:46,630 --> 01:01:48,776
that we are Americans, too.

1146
01:01:48,800 --> 01:01:50,246
It's not about religion.

1147
01:01:50,270 --> 01:01:52,806
It is about stopping Tennessee
home-grown terrorists.

1148
01:01:52,830 --> 01:01:56,206
We were receiving phone calls
from loved ones who were saying,

1149
01:01:56,230 --> 01:01:58,046
"Our brother has been shot.

1150
01:01:58,070 --> 01:01:59,876
Our gurdwara has been
vandalized,

1151
01:01:59,900 --> 01:02:02,276
someone's going to die,
someone's going to die."

1152
01:02:02,300 --> 01:02:05,476
The man who plowed his pickup
truck into a Tallahassee mosque

1153
01:02:05,500 --> 01:02:08,406
said he did it because he hated
Muslims.

1154
01:02:08,430 --> 01:02:12,746
It was very easy to see after
9/11 that the result

1155
01:02:12,770 --> 01:02:15,706
was a more truculent,
antagonistic version

1156
01:02:15,730 --> 01:02:17,346
of the United States.

1157
01:02:17,370 --> 01:02:19,946
The number of hate crimes is
growing by the day.

1158
01:02:19,970 --> 01:02:24,146
We to date have initiated 40
hate crime investigations.

1159
01:02:24,170 --> 01:02:26,176
120 investigations...

1160
01:02:26,200 --> 01:02:28,146
316 hate crime invest...

1161
01:02:28,170 --> 01:02:30,346
In excess of 400
investigations...

1162
01:02:30,370 --> 01:02:34,476
532 hate crime investigations
where the victims

1163
01:02:34,500 --> 01:02:36,676
were either Arab, Muslim,
or Sikh.

1164
01:02:36,700 --> 01:02:39,706
And you could see the
hostility that was directed

1165
01:02:39,730 --> 01:02:41,646
at Muslim Americans
or people who were perceived

1166
01:02:41,670 --> 01:02:43,776
as Muslim Americans.

1167
01:02:43,800 --> 01:02:46,776
Somebody needs to grab the
Muslim world by the shirt collar

1168
01:02:46,800 --> 01:02:50,206
and say, "Straighten up or we're
going to eradicate you beetles

1169
01:02:50,230 --> 01:02:51,476
from the face of the Earth."

1170
01:02:51,500 --> 01:02:53,046
You have to set up encampments

1171
01:02:53,070 --> 01:02:55,246
like during World War II, like
with the Japanese and Germans.

1172
01:02:55,270 --> 01:02:57,976
The Quran is a document
of slavery.

1173
01:02:58,000 --> 01:03:01,006
Take your religion and shove it
up your behind!

1174
01:03:01,030 --> 01:03:04,646
You round them up and then
ship them out of this country,

1175
01:03:04,670 --> 01:03:06,500
period.

1176
01:03:07,730 --> 01:03:09,406
♪ ♪

1177
01:03:09,430 --> 01:03:14,506
NARRATOR: George W. Bush's
war of good versus evil

1178
01:03:14,530 --> 01:03:19,106
had ushered in a dark era
of division.

1179
01:03:19,130 --> 01:03:22,246
Moral compromise.

1180
01:03:22,270 --> 01:03:24,800
And expanding conflict.

1181
01:03:26,770 --> 01:03:32,876
3,000 people were killed
on 9/11.

1182
01:03:32,900 --> 01:03:38,276
And the U.S. response to that
event included invading Iraq

1183
01:03:38,300 --> 01:03:43,576
and Afghanistan, holding people
without due process,

1184
01:03:43,600 --> 01:03:48,576
torturing detainees in Abu
Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay,

1185
01:03:48,600 --> 01:03:51,076
kidnapping suspects
in one country

1186
01:03:51,100 --> 01:03:53,276
and transporting them to
another,

1187
01:03:53,300 --> 01:03:55,376
and assassinating people
in countries

1188
01:03:55,400 --> 01:03:59,646
where the U.S. wasn't even
at war.

1189
01:03:59,670 --> 01:04:05,006
In this obsessive hunt to
eradicate terrorists,

1190
01:04:05,030 --> 01:04:09,276
undermined the very rules-based
international order

1191
01:04:09,300 --> 01:04:13,200
that it had set up
and led for 70 years.

1192
01:04:23,370 --> 01:04:27,500
(trumpet fanfare playing)

1193
01:04:30,130 --> 01:04:33,106
NARRATOR: Oslo, Norway.

1194
01:04:33,130 --> 01:04:36,046
The Nobel Peace Prize is about
to be awarded to the president

1195
01:04:36,070 --> 01:04:39,106
of the United States.

1196
01:04:39,130 --> 01:04:43,176
It is not George W. Bush.

1197
01:04:43,200 --> 01:04:46,176
(cheers and applause)

1198
01:04:46,200 --> 01:04:48,946
Here's a president who is
given the Nobel Peace Prize

1199
01:04:48,970 --> 01:04:51,246
nine months into his presidency.

1200
01:04:51,270 --> 01:04:54,606
He had barely had time to figure
out his way

1201
01:04:54,630 --> 01:04:56,746
to the situation room
and how to get to the Pentagon

1202
01:04:56,770 --> 01:04:59,446
before he's got
the Nobel Peace Prize.

1203
01:04:59,470 --> 01:05:02,746
A little embarrassing.

1204
01:05:02,770 --> 01:05:07,276
He got the Nobel Peace Prize
even before he'd done anything.

1205
01:05:07,300 --> 01:05:12,006
Just for not being
President Bush.

1206
01:05:12,030 --> 01:05:15,476
There were huge expectations
of Obama when he came in.

1207
01:05:15,500 --> 01:05:18,746
They expected him to remedy
what was being done in Iraq

1208
01:05:18,770 --> 01:05:20,346
and Afghanistan.

1209
01:05:20,370 --> 01:05:23,206
So the expectations
didn't just lie

1210
01:05:23,230 --> 01:05:26,206
with the Nobel Peace Committee,
it lay with public opinion

1211
01:05:26,230 --> 01:05:28,706
right across Europe and more
widely in the world.

1212
01:05:28,730 --> 01:05:30,676
(applause)

1213
01:05:30,700 --> 01:05:32,606
NARRATOR: Barack Obama's
surprising rise

1214
01:05:32,630 --> 01:05:35,276
in American politics
had been fueled

1215
01:05:35,300 --> 01:05:40,506
by growing disillusionment and
anger over George Bush's wars.

1216
01:05:40,530 --> 01:05:43,146
There's a zero percent chance
that Barack Obama ever becomes

1217
01:05:43,170 --> 01:05:44,906
president of the United States
without the Iraq war...

1218
01:05:44,930 --> 01:05:47,176
I mean, zero.

1219
01:05:47,200 --> 01:05:49,676
In this very kind of curious
accident of history,

1220
01:05:49,700 --> 01:05:52,576
the Iraq war opens the door to
the first Black president

1221
01:05:52,600 --> 01:05:56,246
and to Barack Obama himself.

1222
01:05:56,270 --> 01:05:57,476
NARRATOR: He ran
for the presidency

1223
01:05:57,500 --> 01:05:59,746
as the anti-war candidate.

1224
01:05:59,770 --> 01:06:03,106
I know that an invasion of
Iraq without a clear rationale

1225
01:06:03,130 --> 01:06:05,906
and without strong international
support will only fan the flames

1226
01:06:05,930 --> 01:06:07,746
in the Middle East.

1227
01:06:07,770 --> 01:06:09,846
He had called the war in Iraq
a dumb war.

1228
01:06:09,870 --> 01:06:13,076
And so he was the anti-war
candidate

1229
01:06:13,100 --> 01:06:16,006
that everybody was looking for.

1230
01:06:16,030 --> 01:06:19,976
And he got great reception with
that position on the war.

1231
01:06:20,000 --> 01:06:21,306
Fired up!

1232
01:06:21,330 --> 01:06:22,676
(audience repeats)

1233
01:06:22,700 --> 01:06:23,706
Ready to go!

1234
01:06:23,730 --> 01:06:24,547
(audience repeats)

1235
01:06:24,571 --> 01:06:25,976
Fired up!

1236
01:06:26,000 --> 01:06:29,076
We are now less safe
than we were before 9/11.

1237
01:06:29,100 --> 01:06:30,806
We will reject torture.

1238
01:06:30,830 --> 01:06:33,676
We will close Guantánamo.

1239
01:06:33,700 --> 01:06:35,506
It is time to write
a new chapter

1240
01:06:35,530 --> 01:06:38,246
in our response to 9/11.

1241
01:06:38,270 --> 01:06:40,576
He basically created an
argument:

1242
01:06:40,600 --> 01:06:43,276
how can you trust these people
after they got this so wrong?

1243
01:06:43,300 --> 01:06:46,146
But the American people
weren't just failed

1244
01:06:46,170 --> 01:06:48,406
by the president, they were
failed by the Congress.

1245
01:06:48,430 --> 01:06:50,706
What Obama tapped into was
not just the anger

1246
01:06:50,730 --> 01:06:54,976
at the Iraq war, but the anger
at how fake everything felt

1247
01:06:55,000 --> 01:06:58,276
about it, that, from the news
media to how politicians

1248
01:06:58,300 --> 01:07:03,146
justified their actions, to just
the failure to properly account

1249
01:07:03,170 --> 01:07:05,646
with this horrible thing that
had happened

1250
01:07:05,670 --> 01:07:09,676
that was leading Americans
to die.

1251
01:07:09,700 --> 01:07:13,106
(trumpet fanfare playing)

1252
01:07:13,130 --> 01:07:17,046
NARRATOR: Obama's anti-war
message earned him that Nobel.

1253
01:07:17,070 --> 01:07:21,106
The Nobel Peace Prize
Laureate for 2009,

1254
01:07:21,130 --> 01:07:23,346
President Barack Obama.

1255
01:07:23,370 --> 01:07:27,476
NARRATOR: But accepting the
award, he had a surprise.

1256
01:07:27,500 --> 01:07:31,906
The anti-war candidate would be
a wartime president.

1257
01:07:31,930 --> 01:07:34,646
President Obama may be the
first person to accept

1258
01:07:34,670 --> 01:07:37,676
the Nobel Peace Prize
and use it as an opportunity

1259
01:07:37,700 --> 01:07:40,746
to lay out his philosophy
of war.

1260
01:07:40,770 --> 01:07:43,276
I cannot stand idle in the
face of threats

1261
01:07:43,300 --> 01:07:45,176
to the American people.

1262
01:07:45,200 --> 01:07:49,146
For make no mistake: evil does
exist in the world.

1263
01:07:49,170 --> 01:07:52,346
A non-violent movement could not
have halted Hitler's armies.

1264
01:07:52,370 --> 01:07:54,876
Negotiations cannot convince
Al-Qaeda's leaders

1265
01:07:54,900 --> 01:07:57,276
to lay down their arms.

1266
01:07:57,300 --> 01:08:00,276
In terms of Nobel speeches,

1267
01:08:00,300 --> 01:08:02,776
this is probably the most
belligerent speech

1268
01:08:02,800 --> 01:08:06,046
that you have, as a Nobel Prize
acceptance,

1269
01:08:06,070 --> 01:08:11,046
in talking about the fact that
sometimes you have to wage war.

1270
01:08:11,070 --> 01:08:14,746
It was the most non-pacifist
Peace Prize acceptance

1271
01:08:14,770 --> 01:08:17,406
that we've ever seen.

1272
01:08:17,430 --> 01:08:19,206
♪ ♪

1273
01:08:19,230 --> 01:08:22,476
President Obama came to
office facing two wars.

1274
01:08:22,500 --> 01:08:25,406
Inheriting what was left
by the Bush administration...

1275
01:08:25,430 --> 01:08:27,976
Obama will need all the magic
he can muster to solve

1276
01:08:28,000 --> 01:08:31,106
the huge problems
he's inheriting.

1277
01:08:31,130 --> 01:08:33,376
NARRATOR: Facing two wars,

1278
01:08:33,400 --> 01:08:35,806
he knew which one he was going
to fight.

1279
01:08:35,830 --> 01:08:37,446
There was a huge and deadly
explosion

1280
01:08:37,470 --> 01:08:39,106
in Afghanistan tonight.

1281
01:08:39,130 --> 01:08:41,946
Obama's global analysis of
the situation

1282
01:08:41,970 --> 01:08:44,506
was that Afghanistan
was the right war,

1283
01:08:44,530 --> 01:08:46,576
and Iraq was the wrong war.

1284
01:08:46,600 --> 01:08:49,806
Afghanistan is bracing itself
for Taliban attempts

1285
01:08:49,830 --> 01:08:51,776
to disrupt law and order.

1286
01:08:51,800 --> 01:08:54,876
For President Obama, there
was justification

1287
01:08:54,900 --> 01:08:56,746
for us being in Afghanistan,

1288
01:08:56,770 --> 01:09:02,106
because the attacks on 9/11 had
come from Afghanistan.

1289
01:09:02,130 --> 01:09:04,306
President Obama's message was,

1290
01:09:04,330 --> 01:09:05,876
we were going to double down,

1291
01:09:05,900 --> 01:09:07,746
we were going to win
in Afghanistan,

1292
01:09:07,770 --> 01:09:11,246
which was the good war.

1293
01:09:11,270 --> 01:09:14,446
NARRATOR: Obama wanted to
reverse years of failure

1294
01:09:14,470 --> 01:09:17,946
in Afghanistan
and deliver the victory

1295
01:09:17,970 --> 01:09:20,706
that eluded President Bush.

1296
01:09:20,730 --> 01:09:24,346
To do it, he brought
in hard-charging

1297
01:09:24,370 --> 01:09:27,006
General Stanley McChrystal.

1298
01:09:27,030 --> 01:09:29,776
General McChrystal has been
for years

1299
01:09:29,800 --> 01:09:31,546
the head of Special Forces,

1300
01:09:31,570 --> 01:09:34,446
and he brings with him his old
Special Forces group,

1301
01:09:34,470 --> 01:09:39,206
who speak in the harsh language
of Special Forces.

1302
01:09:39,230 --> 01:09:42,546
We don't hire the snake eaters,
as they call themselves,

1303
01:09:42,570 --> 01:09:45,706
to be America's diplomats.

1304
01:09:45,730 --> 01:09:49,376
He describes the Afghan
conflict as at a precipice,

1305
01:09:49,400 --> 01:09:52,576
and we're at real risk
of losing the war.

1306
01:09:52,600 --> 01:09:55,306
But it can be turned around.

1307
01:09:55,330 --> 01:09:57,406
NARRATOR: McChrystal said a
surge of tens of thousands

1308
01:09:57,430 --> 01:09:59,976
of troops was necessary.

1309
01:10:00,000 --> 01:10:04,346
Obama was reluctant,
but wanted to win.

1310
01:10:04,370 --> 01:10:06,146
He agreed.

1311
01:10:06,170 --> 01:10:10,876
(helicopters whirring)

1312
01:10:10,900 --> 01:10:14,206
Thousands of U.S. troops are
now heading to Afghanistan.

1313
01:10:14,230 --> 01:10:16,146
In Afghanistan, the surge of
American troops

1314
01:10:16,170 --> 01:10:18,046
is now at its peak.

1315
01:10:18,070 --> 01:10:19,976
The final deployment
of U.S. troops

1316
01:10:20,000 --> 01:10:21,776
is arriving in Afghanistan.

1317
01:10:21,800 --> 01:10:25,006
The question is, is that
troop surge working?

1318
01:10:25,030 --> 01:10:26,806
NARRATOR: General McChrystal
had to quickly deliver

1319
01:10:26,830 --> 01:10:29,776
on his promise that the surge
could bring victory

1320
01:10:29,800 --> 01:10:32,106
in Afghanistan.

1321
01:10:32,130 --> 01:10:35,346
Military commanders wanted to
show how additional forces

1322
01:10:35,370 --> 01:10:39,106
deployed by President Obama
could turn the tide of the war,

1323
01:10:39,130 --> 01:10:43,046
to show how U.S. forces could
knock back the Taliban.

1324
01:10:43,070 --> 01:10:46,246
NARRATOR: McChrystal designed
a test case...

1325
01:10:46,270 --> 01:10:49,246
15,000 troops would try to rout
the resurgent Taliban

1326
01:10:49,270 --> 01:10:53,246
from their stronghold in Marjah.

1327
01:10:53,270 --> 01:10:55,746
I was there on the ground,
and the truth was,

1328
01:10:55,770 --> 01:10:57,406
Marjah was a mess.

1329
01:10:57,430 --> 01:10:58,576
Come on!

1330
01:10:58,600 --> 01:11:01,106
(gunfire, explosions)

1331
01:11:01,130 --> 01:11:02,476
Come on, let's go!

1332
01:11:02,500 --> 01:11:04,046
Watch yourself!

1333
01:11:04,070 --> 01:11:05,906
(yelling)

1334
01:11:05,930 --> 01:11:08,676
(gunfire)

1335
01:11:08,700 --> 01:11:11,270
(explosions)

1336
01:11:13,430 --> 01:11:17,976
NARRATOR: The American forces
could not hold Marjah.

1337
01:11:18,000 --> 01:11:22,646
They faced constant
counterattacks from the Taliban.

1338
01:11:22,670 --> 01:11:24,746
Taliban fighters would sneak in,

1339
01:11:24,770 --> 01:11:26,846
they would lay more roadside
bombs,

1340
01:11:26,870 --> 01:11:28,930
they'd lay in wait and ambush.

1341
01:11:30,900 --> 01:11:35,306
NARRATOR: McChrystal called
it a bleeding ulcer.

1342
01:11:35,330 --> 01:11:40,076
What was thought to be a war
that could be turned around

1343
01:11:40,100 --> 01:11:43,246
with some additional troops
really starts to look like

1344
01:11:43,270 --> 01:11:46,806
it's fundamentally unwinnable.

1345
01:11:46,830 --> 01:11:49,406
Marjah brings the challenges
of Afghanistan

1346
01:11:49,430 --> 01:11:53,146
into much starker focus
in the White House.

1347
01:11:53,170 --> 01:11:56,206
NARRATOR: With Marjah, once
again, an American president

1348
01:11:56,230 --> 01:12:00,446
was being forced to concede
there would be no easy victory

1349
01:12:00,470 --> 01:12:03,006
in Afghanistan.

1350
01:12:03,030 --> 01:12:05,906
He's thinking a lot about
Lyndon Johnson and Vietnam.

1351
01:12:05,930 --> 01:12:08,476
And he's thinking, here he's,
might be in

1352
01:12:08,500 --> 01:12:11,276
the very same situation...
A president with a grand,

1353
01:12:11,300 --> 01:12:15,946
ambitious, domestic agenda
with a war overseas

1354
01:12:15,970 --> 01:12:18,906
that's unwinnable, that's,
that's sucking away energy

1355
01:12:18,930 --> 01:12:21,206
and lives and possibilities.

1356
01:12:21,230 --> 01:12:23,406
♪ ♪

1357
01:12:23,430 --> 01:12:25,506
He basically changes his mind.

1358
01:12:25,530 --> 01:12:29,306
He gets into the Afghanistan
work, he escalates,

1359
01:12:29,330 --> 01:12:33,346
and then decides to draw back
in Afghanistan.

1360
01:12:33,370 --> 01:12:36,006
NARRATOR: But disentangling
from the country

1361
01:12:36,030 --> 01:12:41,146
where 9/11 was launched would
not be easy, either.

1362
01:12:41,170 --> 01:12:45,406
The political incentives are
such that the risks associated

1363
01:12:45,430 --> 01:12:49,146
with ending wars are seen as far
greater than the risks

1364
01:12:49,170 --> 01:12:52,406
associated with kind of being
in them.

1365
01:12:52,430 --> 01:12:54,276
There was this calculation that,
well, what happens

1366
01:12:54,300 --> 01:12:56,046
if there's a terrorist attack,
you know?

1367
01:12:56,070 --> 01:12:58,876
That would be the end
of a presidency.

1368
01:12:58,900 --> 01:13:00,906
♪ ♪

1369
01:13:00,930 --> 01:13:04,206
NARRATOR:
It was now Obama's war.

1370
01:13:04,230 --> 01:13:06,846
A quagmire with no visible exit,

1371
01:13:06,870 --> 01:13:11,406
as the death toll on both sides
mounted.

1372
01:13:11,430 --> 01:13:14,506
He felt that, with all the
goodwill in the world,

1373
01:13:14,530 --> 01:13:19,076
America couldn't bring democracy
to Afghanistan.

1374
01:13:19,100 --> 01:13:21,906
And the best that you could
probably do

1375
01:13:21,930 --> 01:13:28,076
is just mow the lawn, keep
terrorism under control,

1376
01:13:28,100 --> 01:13:33,030
and stop Afghanistan becoming
a sanctuary for terrorists.

1377
01:13:38,270 --> 01:13:41,346
("Taps" playing slowly)

1378
01:13:41,370 --> 01:13:46,276
NARRATOR: During his
presidency,

1379
01:13:46,300 --> 01:13:49,346
American deaths in Afghanistan
surged.

1380
01:13:49,370 --> 01:13:51,376
♪ ♪

1381
01:13:51,400 --> 01:13:54,676
Almost three times as many
as under Bush.

1382
01:13:54,700 --> 01:13:57,106
(guns fire)

1383
01:13:57,130 --> 01:13:58,946
Nearly 2,000.

1384
01:13:58,970 --> 01:14:00,676
(guns fire)

1385
01:14:00,700 --> 01:14:03,576
And there would be far-reaching
consequences at home.

1386
01:14:03,600 --> 01:14:05,106
(guns fire)

1387
01:14:05,130 --> 01:14:09,346
There's just finally been
exhaustion in the United States.

1388
01:14:09,370 --> 01:14:12,946
The Afghan policy was a failure.

1389
01:14:12,970 --> 01:14:16,346
And all the smartest generals
and the presidents

1390
01:14:16,370 --> 01:14:22,206
of both parties, nobody could
make this policy succeed.

1391
01:14:22,230 --> 01:14:25,070
It's a humiliation
for the United States.

1392
01:14:35,370 --> 01:14:36,606
♪ ♪

1393
01:14:36,630 --> 01:14:39,246
NARRATOR: Guantánamo Bay.

1394
01:14:39,270 --> 01:14:43,876
By now, it had dropped
to 242 detainees.

1395
01:14:43,900 --> 01:14:46,606
Obama had promised to close
Gitmo.

1396
01:14:46,630 --> 01:14:50,546
He'd tried it
with an executive order.

1397
01:14:50,570 --> 01:14:53,806
I hereby order Guantánamo
will be closed

1398
01:14:53,830 --> 01:14:56,406
no later than one year from now.

1399
01:14:56,430 --> 01:14:59,906
We were so hopeful
with the Obama era.

1400
01:14:59,930 --> 01:15:02,976
I was one of many who campaigned
for Obama

1401
01:15:03,000 --> 01:15:07,246
and really believed in this
vision of, of hope and change,

1402
01:15:07,270 --> 01:15:10,906
and I took that vision
to mean a clean break

1403
01:15:10,930 --> 01:15:13,146
from Bush-era policies.

1404
01:15:13,170 --> 01:15:16,846
NARRATOR: But for the
controversy over Gitmo,

1405
01:15:16,870 --> 01:15:19,046
Obama hit a wall trying
to roll back

1406
01:15:19,070 --> 01:15:21,576
what Bush and Cheney had begun.

1407
01:15:21,600 --> 01:15:23,746
This was his first executive
order when he came into office.

1408
01:15:23,770 --> 01:15:25,176
He's going to shut down Gitmo.

1409
01:15:25,200 --> 01:15:27,246
Why are we closing Gitmo?
It makes no sense.

1410
01:15:27,270 --> 01:15:28,876
It's a lousy idea.

1411
01:15:28,900 --> 01:15:30,746
And the entire Congress had a
complete meltdown,

1412
01:15:30,770 --> 01:15:32,846
including Democrats.

1413
01:15:32,870 --> 01:15:35,276
Part of what we don't want
is them to be put in prisons

1414
01:15:35,300 --> 01:15:36,147
in the United States...
We don't want them around

1415
01:15:36,171 --> 01:15:38,406
the United States.

1416
01:15:38,430 --> 01:15:39,876
The American people want to
keep the terrorists

1417
01:15:39,900 --> 01:15:42,806
at Guantánamo,
out of their neighborhoods,

1418
01:15:42,830 --> 01:15:45,946
out of their neighborhoods,
and off the battlefield.

1419
01:15:45,970 --> 01:15:49,146
Mitch McConnell went down to
the floor of Congress

1420
01:15:49,170 --> 01:15:51,546
every single day
and just ranted about it.

1421
01:15:51,570 --> 01:15:53,976
Keep this secure facility
open...

1422
01:15:54,000 --> 01:15:55,646
And what he was trying to do

1423
01:15:55,670 --> 01:15:58,606
was just make it politically
untenable for Obama to do this.

1424
01:15:58,630 --> 01:16:00,406
This is insane in my opinion.

1425
01:16:00,430 --> 01:16:02,546
These people, many of them
are terrorists,

1426
01:16:02,570 --> 01:16:04,076
we've had some of them
that were released

1427
01:16:04,100 --> 01:16:05,376
and went back to
their home countries

1428
01:16:05,400 --> 01:16:07,576
and became terrorists again.

1429
01:16:07,600 --> 01:16:11,346
There were enormous not just
legal issues involved,

1430
01:16:11,370 --> 01:16:14,346
but, really, political issues.

1431
01:16:14,370 --> 01:16:15,606
(gavel banging)

1432
01:16:15,630 --> 01:16:17,006
The yeas and nays are ordered,

1433
01:16:17,030 --> 01:16:18,276
the clerk will call the roll.

1434
01:16:18,300 --> 01:16:19,976
Mr. Akaka.

1435
01:16:20,000 --> 01:16:22,546
NARRATOR: Congress voted
to keep Guantánamo open.

1436
01:16:22,570 --> 01:16:24,976
By an overwhelming vote, the
Senate today rejected

1437
01:16:25,000 --> 01:16:26,646
the president's request.

1438
01:16:26,670 --> 01:16:29,076
The 90-to-6 vote was a big
bipartisan vote.

1439
01:16:29,100 --> 01:16:36,930
He runs into huge opposition
in Congress and basically folds.

1440
01:16:38,800 --> 01:16:41,046
NARRATOR: In Obama's defeat,
a triumph

1441
01:16:41,070 --> 01:16:44,276
for the brewing politics
of fear.

1442
01:16:44,300 --> 01:16:47,976
I was selected as a legal
observer to travel

1443
01:16:48,000 --> 01:16:50,506
to Guantánamo...
I thought I was going to be

1444
01:16:50,530 --> 01:16:54,376
among the last visitors to ever
set foot on Guantánamo

1445
01:16:54,400 --> 01:16:57,246
where prisoners were still held,
and here we are,

1446
01:16:57,270 --> 01:16:58,870
and Guantánamo is still open.

1447
01:17:00,270 --> 01:17:02,576
NARRATOR: The island prison
would endure

1448
01:17:02,600 --> 01:17:04,506
as a monument
to the consequences

1449
01:17:04,530 --> 01:17:06,646
of moral compromise,

1450
01:17:06,670 --> 01:17:11,806
embracing what Cheney had
described as the "dark side."

1451
01:17:11,830 --> 01:17:16,346
One of the things that I find
most shocking, unforeseeable,

1452
01:17:16,370 --> 01:17:18,806
unimaginable, is that 20 years
later,

1453
01:17:18,830 --> 01:17:22,306
Guantánamo is still a prison.

1454
01:17:22,330 --> 01:17:24,606
It's just such a violation of
everything

1455
01:17:24,630 --> 01:17:28,176
that you think of
as American values.

1456
01:17:28,200 --> 01:17:30,706
NARRATOR: The president who'd
been given a Nobel Prize

1457
01:17:30,730 --> 01:17:34,106
with the hope he would reverse
Bush's legacy

1458
01:17:34,130 --> 01:17:38,306
was now presiding over an even
more unsettled nation.

1459
01:17:38,330 --> 01:17:40,646
Every day, there are
reminders that terrorists

1460
01:17:40,670 --> 01:17:43,006
are still planning to attack
this country.

1461
01:17:43,030 --> 01:17:45,406
Here in New York, a reminder
of the continuing threat

1462
01:17:45,430 --> 01:17:47,046
of terrorism.

1463
01:17:47,070 --> 01:17:49,946
There hasn't been a terror
attack on U.S. soil since 9/11,

1464
01:17:49,970 --> 01:17:53,346
but tonight, federal agents say
they just stopped one...

1465
01:17:53,370 --> 01:17:54,876
A big one.

1466
01:17:54,900 --> 01:17:59,306
He was a truck driver living
in Ohio and he was a terrorist.

1467
01:17:59,330 --> 01:18:03,946
NARRATOR: On television, a
drumbeat of warnings, attacks,

1468
01:18:03,970 --> 01:18:05,546
thwarted plots.

1469
01:18:05,570 --> 01:18:07,946
"Somebody is up to
something."

1470
01:18:07,970 --> 01:18:10,906
Six Muslim extremists are in
jail in New Jersey.

1471
01:18:10,930 --> 01:18:13,206
In the media, people
discovered pretty quickly

1472
01:18:13,230 --> 01:18:14,406
that a terrorist attack,

1473
01:18:14,430 --> 01:18:16,206
no matter where it was
in the world,

1474
01:18:16,230 --> 01:18:18,646
would immediately seize people's
attention.

1475
01:18:18,670 --> 01:18:20,776
And found the vehicle
packed with gasoline containers

1476
01:18:20,800 --> 01:18:22,346
and propane canisters.

1477
01:18:22,370 --> 01:18:25,476
It was almost like the
battlefield that was limitless

1478
01:18:25,500 --> 01:18:28,206
in the war on terror had also
become limitless

1479
01:18:28,230 --> 01:18:29,876
in the American consciousness.

1480
01:18:29,900 --> 01:18:32,606
That we were constantly at war.

1481
01:18:32,630 --> 01:18:36,846
Not only abroad, but also
increasingly within...

1482
01:18:36,870 --> 01:18:38,846
In our own borders.

1483
01:18:38,870 --> 01:18:40,946
The four suspects
hoped to be martyrs,

1484
01:18:40,970 --> 01:18:42,976
and were on a mission to commit
what they called jihad.

1485
01:18:43,000 --> 01:18:46,446
No one wants to use the
M-word or the J-word,

1486
01:18:46,470 --> 01:18:48,146
Muslim or jihadist.

1487
01:18:48,170 --> 01:18:49,576
It was about fear.

1488
01:18:49,600 --> 01:18:52,146
It was about us versus them.

1489
01:18:52,170 --> 01:18:55,246
It was about all these
immigrants, that they come,

1490
01:18:55,270 --> 01:18:58,506
or Muslim names, that they come,
they are coming to kill us.

1491
01:18:58,530 --> 01:19:01,306
Suspect Umar Farouk
Abdulmutallab...

1492
01:19:01,330 --> 01:19:02,576
Nidal Malik Hasan...

1493
01:19:02,600 --> 01:19:03,846
Nadir Soofi...

1494
01:19:03,870 --> 01:19:06,206
Faisal Shahzad, connected to
the Taliban...

1495
01:19:06,230 --> 01:19:10,176
There was this constant
torquing up of phobia

1496
01:19:10,200 --> 01:19:14,906
about Arabs, about Muslims,
about foreigners...

1497
01:19:14,930 --> 01:19:18,546
There's no question there is
a Muslim problem in the world.

1498
01:19:18,570 --> 01:19:20,546
Not all Muslims are terrorists,

1499
01:19:20,570 --> 01:19:22,276
but all terrorists are Muslims.

1500
01:19:22,300 --> 01:19:24,406
All the people who have tried
to blow airline,

1501
01:19:24,430 --> 01:19:28,106
airliners out of the sky pretty
much look alike.

1502
01:19:28,130 --> 01:19:30,976
Equating them with criminals
and terrorists.

1503
01:19:31,000 --> 01:19:33,276
We need to kill them!

1504
01:19:33,300 --> 01:19:35,146
You're in danger.

1505
01:19:35,170 --> 01:19:36,706
I'm in danger.

1506
01:19:36,730 --> 01:19:39,406
And throwing Obama
into that camp.

1507
01:19:39,430 --> 01:19:43,306
Why do you think one in four
think that he is a Muslim?

1508
01:19:43,330 --> 01:19:45,306
He was raised a Muslim.

1509
01:19:45,330 --> 01:19:49,006
Barack Obama,
raised as a Muslim...

1510
01:19:49,030 --> 01:19:53,576
The anger at Obama was less
about the specifics

1511
01:19:53,600 --> 01:19:57,306
of his policy in Iraq or
Afghanistan...

1512
01:19:57,330 --> 01:20:02,406
But it is entirely fair to
say he has Islamic sympathies...

1513
01:20:02,430 --> 01:20:06,006
than it was about this
sort of inchoate anger

1514
01:20:06,030 --> 01:20:08,946
against him for being him.

1515
01:20:08,970 --> 01:20:12,206
For being Barack Hussein Obama.

1516
01:20:12,230 --> 01:20:16,576
Barack Obama has deep
emotional ties to Islam.

1517
01:20:16,600 --> 01:20:18,546
What I felt very acutely in
the Obama years

1518
01:20:18,570 --> 01:20:21,606
is a lot of that nationalism and
xenophobia that was stirred up

1519
01:20:21,630 --> 01:20:25,576
in those Bush years, because it
wasn't going to get expression

1520
01:20:25,600 --> 01:20:28,876
in some victory in Afghanistan
or Iraq,

1521
01:20:28,900 --> 01:20:33,246
it suddenly began to be
repurposed to, "We oppose Obama.

1522
01:20:33,270 --> 01:20:36,306
We need to take
our country back."

1523
01:20:36,330 --> 01:20:40,370
"We oppose anybody who can be
cast as the American other."

1524
01:20:43,630 --> 01:20:45,206
♪ ♪

1525
01:20:45,230 --> 01:20:47,446
NARRATOR: At the White House,
Obama was mired

1526
01:20:47,470 --> 01:20:50,206
in the nation's escalating
frustrations

1527
01:20:50,230 --> 01:20:54,406
and the ongoing threats
to its security.

1528
01:20:54,430 --> 01:20:56,906
There were threats coming in
all the time.

1529
01:20:56,930 --> 01:20:59,676
Al-Qaeda getting ahold of a nuke

1530
01:20:59,700 --> 01:21:04,706
or Al-Qaeda gaining an ability
to, to produce

1531
01:21:04,730 --> 01:21:10,876
chemical weapons,
biological weapons...

1532
01:21:10,900 --> 01:21:14,446
President Obama is beginning
to see exactly

1533
01:21:14,470 --> 01:21:18,076
what the prior president
had seen every day.

1534
01:21:18,100 --> 01:21:19,346
And he begins to get the
intelligence brief,

1535
01:21:19,370 --> 01:21:22,946
he begins to see the substance
behind,

1536
01:21:22,970 --> 01:21:25,346
on the inner workings of
government.

1537
01:21:25,370 --> 01:21:28,606
All of that influences, then,
how he sees the threat

1538
01:21:28,630 --> 01:21:31,146
and his own responsibility.

1539
01:21:31,170 --> 01:21:33,606
NARRATOR: The president had
ordered the end

1540
01:21:33,630 --> 01:21:36,706
of the torture program
and secret prisons.

1541
01:21:36,730 --> 01:21:39,646
But the C.I.A. wanted him
to reauthorize

1542
01:21:39,670 --> 01:21:42,546
some of the other
Bush-era methods.

1543
01:21:42,570 --> 01:21:44,276
What he quickly discovered
was actually,

1544
01:21:44,300 --> 01:21:46,676
these were programs that he was
not willing to part with,

1545
01:21:46,700 --> 01:21:48,706
because if you get rid of them

1546
01:21:48,730 --> 01:21:50,506
and then the United States is
attacked again,

1547
01:21:50,530 --> 01:21:53,676
then all of a sudden you're
going to be the ones to blame.

1548
01:21:53,700 --> 01:21:55,046
♪ ♪

1549
01:21:55,070 --> 01:21:59,506
NARRATOR: One program had
particular appeal.

1550
01:21:59,530 --> 01:22:00,930
Drone strikes.

1551
01:22:03,530 --> 01:22:05,206
Targeted killing.

1552
01:22:05,230 --> 01:22:11,446
(radio chatter)

1553
01:22:11,470 --> 01:22:13,906
The drone program that
started under George Bush

1554
01:22:13,930 --> 01:22:16,346
becomes much bigger under Obama.

1555
01:22:16,370 --> 01:22:19,246
(explosions)

1556
01:22:19,270 --> 01:22:22,406
Not just in terms of the number
of drone strikes,

1557
01:22:22,430 --> 01:22:25,606
but in terms of the types of
people that can be hit.

1558
01:22:25,630 --> 01:22:28,906
(radio chatter)

1559
01:22:28,930 --> 01:22:30,306
(explosion)

1560
01:22:30,330 --> 01:22:34,006
And suddenly, the controversy
that accompanied an arrest

1561
01:22:34,030 --> 01:22:36,606
and detention and putting them
in Guantánamo

1562
01:22:36,630 --> 01:22:38,476
no longer mattered,

1563
01:22:38,500 --> 01:22:40,276
because you could put them
on a kill list,

1564
01:22:40,300 --> 01:22:43,276
and very few members of the
American public

1565
01:22:43,300 --> 01:22:45,046
would be riled up by that.

1566
01:22:45,070 --> 01:22:46,946
You are cleared to engage.
(explosion)

1567
01:22:46,970 --> 01:22:48,376
Whoa, buddy!

1568
01:22:48,400 --> 01:22:49,846
Good shot.

1569
01:22:49,870 --> 01:22:53,406
NARRATOR: Obama personally
reviewed many of the strikes.

1570
01:22:53,430 --> 01:22:56,306
Every day, every week,
someone would come

1571
01:22:56,330 --> 01:22:58,706
from the, from his national
security team,

1572
01:22:58,730 --> 01:23:02,176
and say, you know, "We've got
this band of six terrorists

1573
01:23:02,200 --> 01:23:04,506
on the Pakistan-Afghanistan
border.

1574
01:23:04,530 --> 01:23:09,746
We have a 45-minute window in
which we can kill them.

1575
01:23:09,770 --> 01:23:11,346
What do you want to do?"

1576
01:23:11,370 --> 01:23:14,546
And very, very often,
he would say, "Kill them."

1577
01:23:14,570 --> 01:23:15,946
Let me know when you see the
target area

1578
01:23:15,970 --> 01:23:17,646
and I'll start the bomb down.

1579
01:23:17,670 --> 01:23:19,606
(explosion)

1580
01:23:19,630 --> 01:23:22,906
NARRATOR: Obama authorized
ten times as many drone strikes

1581
01:23:22,930 --> 01:23:25,406
as Bush had.

1582
01:23:25,430 --> 01:23:28,806
Hundreds during his time
in office.

1583
01:23:28,830 --> 01:23:35,176
Almost 4,000 people killed,
including hundreds of civilians.

1584
01:23:35,200 --> 01:23:37,446
Of course, the downside with
the drones

1585
01:23:37,470 --> 01:23:39,876
was the collateral damage.

1586
01:23:39,900 --> 01:23:46,376
Women, children got killed in
some of these drone strikes.

1587
01:23:46,400 --> 01:23:49,976
The image of the drone
becomes a very disturbing

1588
01:23:50,000 --> 01:23:52,446
influence over millions
of people

1589
01:23:52,470 --> 01:23:55,276
all over the Muslim world
and even in the West.

1590
01:23:55,300 --> 01:23:58,906
(yelling, protesting)

1591
01:23:58,930 --> 01:24:02,046
When we start thinking
of a drone as the answer

1592
01:24:02,070 --> 01:24:05,646
to all problems terrorism...

1593
01:24:05,670 --> 01:24:06,647
(cheering)

1594
01:24:06,671 --> 01:24:08,606
this is when we failed.

1595
01:24:08,630 --> 01:24:12,606
A drone cannot kill an ideology,
cannot kill a message,

1596
01:24:12,630 --> 01:24:14,606
cannot kill a narrative.

1597
01:24:14,630 --> 01:24:16,546
So every time we kill someone,

1598
01:24:16,570 --> 01:24:20,076
ten people came to take
their position.

1599
01:24:20,100 --> 01:24:22,906
(yelling)

1600
01:24:22,930 --> 01:24:27,646
(laughter, shouts)

1601
01:24:27,670 --> 01:24:30,406
NARRATOR: Ben Rhodes, one of
Obama's top national security

1602
01:24:30,430 --> 01:24:35,176
advisers, now questions whether
the strikes were worth it.

1603
01:24:35,200 --> 01:24:37,406
I've made a point of trying
to meet people

1604
01:24:37,430 --> 01:24:40,806
where they describe the buzz
overhead and this feeling

1605
01:24:40,830 --> 01:24:43,606
of dread, of just living in a
kind of permanent surveillance

1606
01:24:43,630 --> 01:24:48,176
of an American killing machine.

1607
01:24:48,200 --> 01:24:53,076
What happens when a superpower
spends trillions of dollars

1608
01:24:53,100 --> 01:24:55,306
over a long period of time
figuring out

1609
01:24:55,330 --> 01:24:58,476
different ways to kill people?

1610
01:24:58,500 --> 01:25:04,576
♪ ♪

1611
01:25:04,600 --> 01:25:07,506
You know, think of how many ways
the United States has killed

1612
01:25:07,530 --> 01:25:11,846
people since 9/11.

1613
01:25:11,870 --> 01:25:14,370
Like, how would you look at
America?

1614
01:25:17,300 --> 01:25:20,930
I mean, I, I...
I'm haunted by that.

1615
01:25:29,130 --> 01:25:31,176
Yes, yeah.

1616
01:25:31,200 --> 01:25:35,406
The reason I'm calling is to
tell you that we killed...

1617
01:25:35,430 --> 01:25:36,946
Yeah, we killed...

1618
01:25:36,970 --> 01:25:40,976
NARRATOR: Almost ten years
after 9/11,

1619
01:25:41,000 --> 01:25:43,976
an American president finally
announced a win

1620
01:25:44,000 --> 01:25:46,576
that had been so elusive.

1621
01:25:46,600 --> 01:25:48,446
Good evening.

1622
01:25:48,470 --> 01:25:51,846
Tonight, I can report
to the American people

1623
01:25:51,870 --> 01:25:55,106
and to the world that the United
States has conducted

1624
01:25:55,130 --> 01:25:58,006
an operation that killed
Osama bin Laden,

1625
01:25:58,030 --> 01:25:59,706
the leader of Al-Qaeda...

1626
01:25:59,730 --> 01:26:01,206
(cheering faintly)

1627
01:26:01,230 --> 01:26:03,406
and a terrorist who's
responsible for the murder

1628
01:26:03,430 --> 01:26:07,946
of thousands of innocent men,
women, and children.

1629
01:26:07,970 --> 01:26:12,006
(chanting): U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

1630
01:26:12,030 --> 01:26:13,646
Obama's legacy,
first and foremost,

1631
01:26:13,670 --> 01:26:16,476
is that he did kill
Osama bin Laden.

1632
01:26:16,500 --> 01:26:19,946
For the average American,
that was a big deal.

1633
01:26:19,970 --> 01:26:21,346
He won reelection in part
because he killed

1634
01:26:21,370 --> 01:26:23,276
Osama bin Laden... he did
something that George W. Bush

1635
01:26:23,300 --> 01:26:24,676
didn't do.

1636
01:26:24,700 --> 01:26:26,446
Obama! Obama!

1637
01:26:26,470 --> 01:26:29,706
We (bleep) killed Osama!
Obama! Obama!

1638
01:26:29,730 --> 01:26:30,946
It meant a lot to America,

1639
01:26:30,970 --> 01:26:33,676
like Saddam's statue coming
down.

1640
01:26:33,700 --> 01:26:36,976
♪ Oh, say, does
that star-spangled... ♪

1641
01:26:37,000 --> 01:26:39,176
The killing of Osama bin
Laden gave Americans

1642
01:26:39,200 --> 01:26:40,806
a sense of closure.

1643
01:26:40,830 --> 01:26:42,846
But it really didn't close
anything.

1644
01:26:42,870 --> 01:26:45,946
It didn't resolve Iraq or
Afghanistan.

1645
01:26:45,970 --> 01:26:49,206
(chanting): U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

1646
01:26:49,230 --> 01:26:52,306
We wanted to believe that
once bin Laden was eliminated,

1647
01:26:52,330 --> 01:26:55,806
that the threat was over,
that we had achieved

1648
01:26:55,830 --> 01:26:58,946
what we had set out to do a
decade before,

1649
01:26:58,970 --> 01:27:02,806
that now the architect of the
9/11 attacks,

1650
01:27:02,830 --> 01:27:05,276
the founder and leader of
Al-Qaeda, was gone,

1651
01:27:05,300 --> 01:27:07,046
the threat would end.

1652
01:27:07,070 --> 01:27:08,676
(cheering)

1653
01:27:08,700 --> 01:27:10,976
Nothing, unfortunately, could
have been further

1654
01:27:11,000 --> 01:27:14,176
from the truth... the problem is
that the movement had become

1655
01:27:14,200 --> 01:27:15,776
larger than one man.

1656
01:27:15,800 --> 01:27:17,546
Al-Qaeda is expanding operations

1657
01:27:17,570 --> 01:27:18,846
across the Middle East.

1658
01:27:18,870 --> 01:27:20,906
NARRATOR: Thousands of
fighters...

1659
01:27:20,930 --> 01:27:22,376
Each of those dots...

1660
01:27:22,400 --> 01:27:25,206
NARRATOR: all over the
Middle East and Northern Africa.

1661
01:27:25,230 --> 01:27:27,346
Al-Qaeda cells striking out.

1662
01:27:27,370 --> 01:27:28,946
Back at the top in Iraq...

1663
01:27:28,970 --> 01:27:30,106
Al-Qaeda in Yemen...

1664
01:27:30,130 --> 01:27:31,706
Inside of Syria...

1665
01:27:31,730 --> 01:27:35,206
So Al-Qaeda, trillions of
dollars later,

1666
01:27:35,230 --> 01:27:37,376
is more powerful
than it used to be.

1667
01:27:37,400 --> 01:27:39,946
Attack at a university
in eastern Kenya...

1668
01:27:39,970 --> 01:27:43,376
It's changed, but it's more
powerful than it used to be

1669
01:27:43,400 --> 01:27:46,170
on the eve of 9/11.

1670
01:27:49,900 --> 01:27:52,176
("Hail to the Chief" playing)

1671
01:27:52,200 --> 01:27:54,876
The president makes good on a
campaign pledge today.

1672
01:27:54,900 --> 01:27:57,076
He'll make his plans public
today during a trip

1673
01:27:57,100 --> 01:27:58,646
to Camp Lejeune.

1674
01:27:58,670 --> 01:28:00,446
A most significant moment...
The president...

1675
01:28:00,470 --> 01:28:04,006
NARRATOR: Even as he was
facing a reinvigorated Al-Qaeda,

1676
01:28:04,030 --> 01:28:07,576
Obama was determined to deliver
on a campaign promise...

1677
01:28:07,600 --> 01:28:10,046
To get out of Iraq.

1678
01:28:10,070 --> 01:28:14,906
I intend to remove all U.S.
troops from Iraq

1679
01:28:14,930 --> 01:28:17,706
by the end of 2011.

1680
01:28:17,730 --> 01:28:20,946
There was such a desire,
not just at the White House,

1681
01:28:20,970 --> 01:28:22,406
but even the country as a whole,

1682
01:28:22,430 --> 01:28:24,476
to write an end to this
experience and to say,

1683
01:28:24,500 --> 01:28:27,946
"We're done with this place that
had caused so much hardship

1684
01:28:27,970 --> 01:28:30,646
and heartache for Americans."

1685
01:28:30,670 --> 01:28:32,576
So we will complete this
transition

1686
01:28:32,600 --> 01:28:35,946
to Iraqi responsibility and we
will bring our troops home

1687
01:28:35,970 --> 01:28:38,846
with the honor
that they have earned.

1688
01:28:38,870 --> 01:28:41,206
Semper Fi! Oo-rah!

1689
01:28:41,230 --> 01:28:42,606
(cheers and applause)

1690
01:28:42,630 --> 01:28:46,906
NARRATOR: But behind the
scenes, again and again,

1691
01:28:46,930 --> 01:28:48,876
warnings.

1692
01:28:48,900 --> 01:28:50,746
You had a number of people...

1693
01:28:50,770 --> 01:28:52,806
Senior American military
officers,

1694
01:28:52,830 --> 01:28:57,906
diplomats on the ground...
Who essentially told him,

1695
01:28:57,930 --> 01:29:01,230
"The Iraqi state
is not ready for this.

1696
01:29:02,770 --> 01:29:07,276
You cannot go to zero, and if,
if you go down to zero,

1697
01:29:07,300 --> 01:29:09,406
you, you are going to endanger
the Iraqi state,

1698
01:29:09,430 --> 01:29:11,146
you're going to endanger,
essentially, everything

1699
01:29:11,170 --> 01:29:14,206
that we've built here."

1700
01:29:14,230 --> 01:29:17,246
NARRATOR: Still, Obama was
determined.

1701
01:29:17,270 --> 01:29:20,506
The last 6,000 U.S. forces in
Iraq are packing up.

1702
01:29:20,530 --> 01:29:22,946
It marks the end of the war
in Iraq.

1703
01:29:22,970 --> 01:29:25,476
The last U.S. troops are now
leaving Iraq.

1704
01:29:25,500 --> 01:29:27,146
NARRATOR: At the end of 2011,

1705
01:29:27,170 --> 01:29:30,246
Obama ordered the troops
to leave.

1706
01:29:30,270 --> 01:29:33,146
It wasn't just the troops
that we were leaving,

1707
01:29:33,170 --> 01:29:36,746
it was our disengagement
from Iraq, as well.

1708
01:29:36,770 --> 01:29:40,946
Both of those things coupled
together are significant.

1709
01:29:40,970 --> 01:29:44,376
Final American soldiers
packing up right now.

1710
01:29:44,400 --> 01:29:47,406
NARRATOR: It was more than
just soldiers.

1711
01:29:47,430 --> 01:29:50,400
Over 10,000 State Department
employees would leave, too.

1712
01:29:52,200 --> 01:29:57,376
We disengaged not only
militarily at the end of 2011,

1713
01:29:57,400 --> 01:29:59,946
we disengaged politically.

1714
01:29:59,970 --> 01:30:01,446
The war was over.

1715
01:30:01,470 --> 01:30:04,176
We were out, um...

1716
01:30:04,200 --> 01:30:07,306
Let, let the chips fall for,
where they may...

1717
01:30:07,330 --> 01:30:08,476
Well, I don't think
we thought through

1718
01:30:08,500 --> 01:30:10,646
exactly how many chips were
going to fall

1719
01:30:10,670 --> 01:30:13,200
and what the consequences
of that would be.

1720
01:30:15,670 --> 01:30:19,706
NARRATOR: Iraq... power always
teetering between Sunni

1721
01:30:19,730 --> 01:30:22,676
and Shia Muslims... was now in
the hands

1722
01:30:22,700 --> 01:30:26,306
of Shiite Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki.

1723
01:30:26,330 --> 01:30:32,546
The last American Humvees
left Iraq in December of 2011.

1724
01:30:32,570 --> 01:30:37,646
And within 24 hours of that,
Maliki, the prime minister,

1725
01:30:37,670 --> 01:30:40,876
the Shiite prime minister,
he orders the arrest

1726
01:30:40,900 --> 01:30:44,306
of his Sunni vice president.

1727
01:30:44,330 --> 01:30:46,506
After the U.S. withdrawal,

1728
01:30:46,530 --> 01:30:48,406
the Iraqi government was very
emboldened,

1729
01:30:48,430 --> 01:30:54,076
and it was free to practice,
to carry out sectarian policies.

1730
01:30:54,100 --> 01:30:55,706
(chanting)

1731
01:30:55,730 --> 01:30:59,606
NARRATOR: In response,
huge Sunni protests.

1732
01:30:59,630 --> 01:31:02,676
(chanting)

1733
01:31:02,700 --> 01:31:04,276
NARRATOR:
The Iraqi government

1734
01:31:04,300 --> 01:31:06,346
violently cracked down.

1735
01:31:06,370 --> 01:31:09,106
(gunfire)

1736
01:31:09,130 --> 01:31:12,876
(people shouting)

1737
01:31:12,900 --> 01:31:15,006
(gunfire)

1738
01:31:15,030 --> 01:31:18,476
NARRATOR: With the Americans
gone and the chaos growing...

1739
01:31:18,500 --> 01:31:21,346
(horns honking)

1740
01:31:21,370 --> 01:31:25,646
yet another opportunity
for Al-Qaeda in Iraq,

1741
01:31:25,670 --> 01:31:28,576
now operating under
a new banner:

1742
01:31:28,600 --> 01:31:32,806
the Islamic State... ISIS.

1743
01:31:32,830 --> 01:31:36,746
What this did was create the
conditions for the Islamic State

1744
01:31:36,770 --> 01:31:40,246
to rise up out of the ashes of
Al-Qaeda in Iraq

1745
01:31:40,270 --> 01:31:43,046
and proclaim itself as
the defender of the Sunnis

1746
01:31:43,070 --> 01:31:45,946
against Nouri al-Maliki.

1747
01:31:45,970 --> 01:31:49,576
They swept into western Iraq
and took control

1748
01:31:49,600 --> 01:31:52,046
of a third of western Iraq.

1749
01:31:52,070 --> 01:31:54,806
The banks that were robbed
and stripped,

1750
01:31:54,830 --> 01:32:01,646
the assets that were stripped in
that entire area, was huge.

1751
01:32:01,670 --> 01:32:04,576
It's a threat like no other,
a powerful battlefield force

1752
01:32:04,600 --> 01:32:06,476
and a commanding online
presence.

1753
01:32:06,500 --> 01:32:10,346
ISIS has gained ground and
is not on the defensive.

1754
01:32:10,370 --> 01:32:14,606
The Islamic State of Iraq and
Syria driving toward Baghdad.

1755
01:32:14,630 --> 01:32:16,146
Allahu akbar!

1756
01:32:16,170 --> 01:32:20,746
(gunfire)

1757
01:32:20,770 --> 01:32:22,206
Allahu akbar!

1758
01:32:22,230 --> 01:32:24,176
The Iraqi army, which was built

1759
01:32:24,200 --> 01:32:26,976
at this incredible expense...

1760
01:32:27,000 --> 01:32:30,406
I don't even know what the final
price tag was, $30 billion,

1761
01:32:30,430 --> 01:32:33,606
largely by the Americans, paid
for by the American taxpayer,

1762
01:32:33,630 --> 01:32:35,876
you know, all their equipment,
everything...

1763
01:32:35,900 --> 01:32:36,677
It all came apart.

1764
01:32:36,701 --> 01:32:38,846
(explosion)

1765
01:32:38,870 --> 01:32:41,606
(sirens)

1766
01:32:41,630 --> 01:32:44,576
NARRATOR: As ISIS
destabilized the entire region,

1767
01:32:44,600 --> 01:32:47,846
Obama had little choice.

1768
01:32:47,870 --> 01:32:50,376
The United States of America
is meeting them

1769
01:32:50,400 --> 01:32:52,146
with strength and resolve.

1770
01:32:52,170 --> 01:32:55,606
I ordered our military to take
targeted action against ISIL...

1771
01:32:55,630 --> 01:32:57,246
NARRATOR: He would
reluctantly send

1772
01:32:57,270 --> 01:33:01,946
some American forces back
to Iraq.

1773
01:33:01,970 --> 01:33:05,846
Obama came into office with
one very clear objective,

1774
01:33:05,870 --> 01:33:09,976
which was to get out of Iraq,
bring that war to a close.

1775
01:33:10,000 --> 01:33:13,306
But ISIS forced the United
States back in,

1776
01:33:13,330 --> 01:33:15,576
and so, you know, all of a
sudden, the United States

1777
01:33:15,600 --> 01:33:21,876
then has 5,000 U.S. troops back
on the ground in Iraq.

1778
01:33:21,900 --> 01:33:23,846
What we're talking about here
is the beginning

1779
01:33:23,870 --> 01:33:27,730
of something that he understands
that he's not going to finish.

1780
01:33:29,830 --> 01:33:32,876
That, in fact, he's going
to leave his successor

1781
01:33:32,900 --> 01:33:37,976
an ongoing military conflict
with an, with an elusive

1782
01:33:38,000 --> 01:33:42,106
and hard-to-beat enemy,
just as he felt he was left

1783
01:33:42,130 --> 01:33:43,800
when he took over.

1784
01:33:45,870 --> 01:33:49,106
The next president is going to
be the third president in a row

1785
01:33:49,130 --> 01:33:51,606
who finds himself figuring out
Iraq,

1786
01:33:51,630 --> 01:33:53,306
and what are American interests
there,

1787
01:33:53,330 --> 01:33:55,400
and how do we solve it.

1788
01:34:01,330 --> 01:34:06,506
(bagpipes, drums playing)

1789
01:34:06,530 --> 01:34:07,976
NARRATOR: 15 years after
9/11,

1790
01:34:08,000 --> 01:34:15,276
on the grounds of what used to
be the World Trade Center,

1791
01:34:15,300 --> 01:34:19,646
in the midst of a presidential
campaign,

1792
01:34:19,670 --> 01:34:25,546
Donald Trump would stake out his
view of 9/11 and its aftermath.

1793
01:34:25,570 --> 01:34:27,046
For Donald Trump the candidate

1794
01:34:27,070 --> 01:34:30,776
and then the president, 9/11
is something very different

1795
01:34:30,800 --> 01:34:34,846
than it was for George W. Bush
or Barack Obama.

1796
01:34:34,870 --> 01:34:41,006
9/11 is not an event that is
used to create unity.

1797
01:34:41,030 --> 01:34:44,706
It's not an awful, awful moment

1798
01:34:44,730 --> 01:34:48,476
that, that calls on us
to come together.

1799
01:34:48,500 --> 01:34:52,106
9/11, for Donald Trump,
becomes a wedge issue.

1800
01:34:52,130 --> 01:34:56,046
It becomes something he can
exploit to further division

1801
01:34:56,070 --> 01:34:58,246
and distrust in our society.

1802
01:34:58,270 --> 01:35:01,006
NARRATOR: He had been
watching.

1803
01:35:01,030 --> 01:35:02,476
The rise of ISIS.

1804
01:35:02,500 --> 01:35:05,546
We'll begin to smoke your
people on your streets.

1805
01:35:05,570 --> 01:35:07,606
NARRATOR: Attacks around the
world.

1806
01:35:07,630 --> 01:35:09,706
Paris is under siege.

1807
01:35:09,730 --> 01:35:12,306
Terror attack unfolding in
multiple locations...

1808
01:35:12,330 --> 01:35:14,876
No one survived after a
Russian passenger jet

1809
01:35:14,900 --> 01:35:16,306
crashed in Egypt.

1810
01:35:16,330 --> 01:35:18,476
Heavily armed, apparently
well trained,

1811
01:35:18,500 --> 01:35:20,446
arrived at the offices of
"Charlie Hebdo"...

1812
01:35:20,470 --> 01:35:21,876
NARRATOR: And at home.

1813
01:35:21,900 --> 01:35:23,576
A shooting at the Pulse
nightclub...

1814
01:35:23,600 --> 01:35:27,846
A lone gunman who called 911
to pledge allegiance to ISIS.

1815
01:35:27,870 --> 01:35:31,846
Tashfin Malique, the female
attacker in San Bernardino,

1816
01:35:31,870 --> 01:35:33,906
she and her husband, Said
Farouque,

1817
01:35:33,930 --> 01:35:36,476
lived among us, walking this
very sidewalk,

1818
01:35:36,500 --> 01:35:38,546
lived in this complex...

1819
01:35:38,570 --> 01:35:42,076
NARRATOR: Anti-Muslim fear
that Trump readily exploited.

1820
01:35:42,100 --> 01:35:43,876
They want our buildings to
come down,

1821
01:35:43,900 --> 01:35:46,246
they want our cities to be
crushed.

1822
01:35:46,270 --> 01:35:48,376
They are living
within our country.

1823
01:35:48,400 --> 01:35:50,776
There was this hatred toward
Muslims,

1824
01:35:50,800 --> 01:35:53,276
as if they just hated Americans

1825
01:35:53,300 --> 01:35:55,206
and they wanted to kill
Americans.

1826
01:35:55,230 --> 01:35:58,406
Calling for a total and
complete shutdown

1827
01:35:58,430 --> 01:36:01,146
of Muslims entering
the United States.

1828
01:36:01,170 --> 01:36:05,106
Trump really came in and
articulated a lot of the things

1829
01:36:05,130 --> 01:36:07,246
that were already whispered.

1830
01:36:07,270 --> 01:36:10,646
I think Islam hates us.

1831
01:36:10,670 --> 01:36:13,806
There's something, there's
something there that,

1832
01:36:13,830 --> 01:36:15,346
there's a tremendous hatred.

1833
01:36:15,370 --> 01:36:19,306
Trump took all of that
anti-Muslim rhetoric,

1834
01:36:19,330 --> 01:36:22,946
anti-Muslim hate,
and weaponized it

1835
01:36:22,970 --> 01:36:26,530
and used it inside of our own
country to enact his agenda.

1836
01:36:27,630 --> 01:36:30,076
The innovation that Trump used,

1837
01:36:30,100 --> 01:36:33,146
like many a great demagogue
that preceded him,

1838
01:36:33,170 --> 01:36:35,906
was to switch.

1839
01:36:35,930 --> 01:36:38,546
The reason we have not been
successful abroad

1840
01:36:38,570 --> 01:36:40,576
in dealing with our enemies
abroad,

1841
01:36:40,600 --> 01:36:43,376
is the fact
that we have not dealt

1842
01:36:43,400 --> 01:36:46,576
with our enemies at home.

1843
01:36:46,600 --> 01:36:50,346
That we have enemies within the
country who are responsible

1844
01:36:50,370 --> 01:36:54,306
for us being weakened
on the world stage.

1845
01:36:54,330 --> 01:36:56,476
NARRATOR: He stoked the anger
that had been building

1846
01:36:56,500 --> 01:36:58,506
since 9/11.

1847
01:36:58,530 --> 01:37:00,276
The wars.

1848
01:37:00,300 --> 01:37:02,806
The failures.
The lies.

1849
01:37:02,830 --> 01:37:06,776
The war in Iraq was a big,
fat mistake, all right?

1850
01:37:06,800 --> 01:37:08,546
They lied.

1851
01:37:08,570 --> 01:37:10,376
They said there were weapons of
mass destruction.

1852
01:37:10,400 --> 01:37:12,576
There were none, and they knew
there were none.

1853
01:37:12,600 --> 01:37:14,276
NARRATOR: And he incited
Americans' fear

1854
01:37:14,300 --> 01:37:15,976
of Barack Obama.

1855
01:37:16,000 --> 01:37:19,176
ISIS is honoring
President Obama.

1856
01:37:19,200 --> 01:37:21,946
He is the founder of ISIS.

1857
01:37:21,970 --> 01:37:23,576
He's the founder of ISIS.

1858
01:37:23,600 --> 01:37:28,206
He was good at utilizing
distrust of the establishment

1859
01:37:28,230 --> 01:37:30,276
and distrust of Washington.

1860
01:37:30,300 --> 01:37:35,806
We are led by very, very
stupid people.

1861
01:37:35,830 --> 01:37:37,106
"We can't beat ISIS."

1862
01:37:37,130 --> 01:37:38,976
Give me a break.

1863
01:37:39,000 --> 01:37:42,146
There's no more post-9/11
president than Donald Trump.

1864
01:37:42,170 --> 01:37:45,306
It's all the language, all the
rhetoric, all the xenophobia,

1865
01:37:45,330 --> 01:37:49,246
all the nationalism that is
impossible without 9/11.

1866
01:37:49,270 --> 01:37:52,406
We have to recognize that it's
convenient to say

1867
01:37:52,430 --> 01:37:54,406
that Donald Trump broke America.

1868
01:37:54,430 --> 01:37:58,500
No, America was broken, and so
Donald Trump became president.

1869
01:38:06,170 --> 01:38:07,846
(indistinct chatter)

1870
01:38:07,870 --> 01:38:10,876
NARRATOR: Barack Obama left
the legacy of 9/11

1871
01:38:10,900 --> 01:38:14,946
to Donald Trump.

1872
01:38:14,970 --> 01:38:20,306
Thousands of troops in Iraq,
and in Afghanistan.

1873
01:38:20,330 --> 01:38:24,276
Detainees in Guantánamo.

1874
01:38:24,300 --> 01:38:28,346
Drones and targeted killing.

1875
01:38:28,370 --> 01:38:31,506
American influence waning.

1876
01:38:31,530 --> 01:38:34,670
A nation increasingly
deeply divided.

1877
01:38:39,130 --> 01:38:41,776
Trump didn't really
understand the nature

1878
01:38:41,800 --> 01:38:43,206
of the Middle East.

1879
01:38:43,230 --> 01:38:46,306
He didn't understand the range
of threats that we saw.

1880
01:38:46,330 --> 01:38:50,346
And he didn't particularly care
to learn what they were.

1881
01:38:50,370 --> 01:38:56,046
I think you have to understand
the things that he says

1882
01:38:56,070 --> 01:39:00,306
as relating not to coherent
international policies

1883
01:39:00,330 --> 01:39:04,576
or domestic policies, but
relating to the political future

1884
01:39:04,600 --> 01:39:06,876
of Donald Trump.

1885
01:39:06,900 --> 01:39:09,576
NARRATOR: From the beginning,
he talked tough.

1886
01:39:09,600 --> 01:39:12,906
He aimed his decisions
at his political base.

1887
01:39:12,930 --> 01:39:14,876
Mr. President...
Personally...

1888
01:39:14,900 --> 01:39:16,576
Mr. President, you told me
during one of the debates

1889
01:39:16,600 --> 01:39:18,246
that you would bring back
waterboarding

1890
01:39:18,270 --> 01:39:19,476
and a hell of a lot worse...

1891
01:39:19,500 --> 01:39:21,006
I would do, what I would do...

1892
01:39:21,030 --> 01:39:22,546
I want to keep our country safe.

1893
01:39:22,570 --> 01:39:25,246
NARRATOR: While he railed
against his predecessors,

1894
01:39:25,270 --> 01:39:27,106
he embraced the dark side
methods

1895
01:39:27,130 --> 01:39:28,806
of Vice President Dick Cheney.

1896
01:39:28,830 --> 01:39:31,476
As far as I'm concerned, we
have to fight fire with fire.

1897
01:39:31,500 --> 01:39:37,546
I have spoken as recently
as 24 hours ago with people

1898
01:39:37,570 --> 01:39:39,446
at the highest level
of intelligence.

1899
01:39:39,470 --> 01:39:43,046
And I asked them the question,
"Does it work?

1900
01:39:43,070 --> 01:39:45,376
Does torture work?"

1901
01:39:45,400 --> 01:39:49,376
And the answer was,
"Yes, absolutely."

1902
01:39:49,400 --> 01:39:52,176
NARRATOR: He ordered Gitmo to
remain open.

1903
01:39:52,200 --> 01:39:55,276
(indistinct chatter)

1904
01:39:55,300 --> 01:39:58,446
Dramatically accelerated
the drone strikes.

1905
01:39:58,470 --> 01:40:00,206
(explosions)

1906
01:40:00,230 --> 01:40:03,506
Air strikes.

1907
01:40:03,530 --> 01:40:06,546
Targeted killing.

1908
01:40:06,570 --> 01:40:11,176
And he ordered a raid that led
to the death

1909
01:40:11,200 --> 01:40:13,046
of the leader of ISIS.

1910
01:40:13,070 --> 01:40:16,246
He will never again harm
another innocent man,

1911
01:40:16,270 --> 01:40:18,646
woman, or child.

1912
01:40:18,670 --> 01:40:21,146
He died like a dog.

1913
01:40:21,170 --> 01:40:23,446
He died like a coward.

1914
01:40:23,470 --> 01:40:26,776
NARRATOR: And Trump wanted
something more.

1915
01:40:26,800 --> 01:40:28,706
He sent the secretary of state
to negotiate

1916
01:40:28,730 --> 01:40:33,276
with America's longtime enemy,
the Taliban.

1917
01:40:33,300 --> 01:40:37,046
But he couldn't end the war on
his watch.

1918
01:40:37,070 --> 01:40:39,946
After four years, Donald
Trump had discovered something

1919
01:40:39,970 --> 01:40:42,246
like what his predecessors had
discovered,

1920
01:40:42,270 --> 01:40:44,376
which is that it's very easy to
announce

1921
01:40:44,400 --> 01:40:46,176
that you're going to be able to
get out of these wars,

1922
01:40:46,200 --> 01:40:48,546
but it's very difficult to
actually do it.

1923
01:40:48,570 --> 01:40:53,576
And he found himself still
embroiled in this war

1924
01:40:53,600 --> 01:40:57,376
in Afghanistan, still contending
with the remnants of ISIS

1925
01:40:57,400 --> 01:41:00,706
and the wars in Syria and Iraq.

1926
01:41:00,730 --> 01:41:04,406
And it was, in its own way,
grinding on just as it had been

1927
01:41:04,430 --> 01:41:07,976
in previous presidencies.

1928
01:41:08,000 --> 01:41:12,176
NARRATOR: But by this time,
the biggest war wasn't overseas.

1929
01:41:12,200 --> 01:41:14,406
(chanting): Hands up!
Don't shoot!

1930
01:41:14,430 --> 01:41:15,906
Hands up!
Don't shoot!

1931
01:41:15,930 --> 01:41:18,906
NARRATOR: It was here,
in the streets of America.

1932
01:41:18,930 --> 01:41:22,746
Our great national wound of
race has opened up once again.

1933
01:41:22,770 --> 01:41:25,106
The police killing of George
Floyd sparked

1934
01:41:25,130 --> 01:41:27,076
a massive wave of protests...

1935
01:41:27,100 --> 01:41:28,706
People demand justice for
George Floyd

1936
01:41:28,730 --> 01:41:31,306
and call for an end
to racial inequality.

1937
01:41:31,330 --> 01:41:34,646
NARRATOR: It was a domestic
war that had been building

1938
01:41:34,670 --> 01:41:36,006
for years.

1939
01:41:36,030 --> 01:41:39,076
One that Donald Trump was ready
to fight.

1940
01:41:39,100 --> 01:41:41,906
Black lives matter!
Black lives matter!

1941
01:41:41,930 --> 01:41:43,646
People were rightly upset
about what happened

1942
01:41:43,670 --> 01:41:47,476
to George Floyd and had taken to
the streets in large numbers.

1943
01:41:47,500 --> 01:41:50,706
George Floyd!
George Floyd!

1944
01:41:50,730 --> 01:41:53,946
Some of the protests
did turn violent.

1945
01:41:53,970 --> 01:41:55,246
(shouting and calling)

1946
01:41:55,270 --> 01:41:59,206
But for the most part, people
were just exercising

1947
01:41:59,230 --> 01:42:02,246
their first amendment rights
to, to protest

1948
01:42:02,270 --> 01:42:04,806
and to make their feelings
known.

1949
01:42:04,830 --> 01:42:08,806
NARRATOR: Trump cast
the protesters as the enemy.

1950
01:42:08,830 --> 01:42:12,406
His war on terror was not
a terror of the Middle East,

1951
01:42:12,430 --> 01:42:14,676
it was a terror against him.

1952
01:42:14,700 --> 01:42:18,376
Anyone who's against him
is a terrorist,

1953
01:42:18,400 --> 01:42:24,976
because they are trying
to stop values

1954
01:42:25,000 --> 01:42:27,576
that make America "great again."

1955
01:42:27,600 --> 01:42:29,976
I can't breathe!
I can't breathe!

1956
01:42:30,000 --> 01:42:32,476
NARRATOR: Trump urged a
forceful response by police

1957
01:42:32,500 --> 01:42:34,376
and National Guard.

1958
01:42:34,400 --> 01:42:37,706
I have strongly recommended
to every governor to deploy

1959
01:42:37,730 --> 01:42:40,776
the National Guard
in sufficient numbers

1960
01:42:40,800 --> 01:42:43,476
that we dominate the streets.

1961
01:42:43,500 --> 01:42:48,046
(projectiles firing)

1962
01:42:48,070 --> 01:42:53,006
(people yelling)

1963
01:42:53,030 --> 01:42:56,546
These images,
really not imagining them

1964
01:42:56,570 --> 01:43:00,046
in the United States... tanks on
the street in the United States.

1965
01:43:00,070 --> 01:43:01,476
(sirens)

1966
01:43:01,500 --> 01:43:03,876
It seems to be
that the wars came home.

1967
01:43:03,900 --> 01:43:05,406
(explosions)

1968
01:43:05,430 --> 01:43:07,876
You can look at police
in America,

1969
01:43:07,900 --> 01:43:09,646
and you can see all the kit
that they've got.

1970
01:43:09,670 --> 01:43:11,406
(shouting)

1971
01:43:11,430 --> 01:43:15,376
They've taken
all the surplus from Iraq

1972
01:43:15,400 --> 01:43:17,776
and Afghanistan...
It's come back.

1973
01:43:17,800 --> 01:43:21,906
And a lot of these weapons,
a lot of the vehicles,

1974
01:43:21,930 --> 01:43:25,746
are now being used
by law enforcement.

1975
01:43:25,770 --> 01:43:28,446
What is going on?
Who are you?

1976
01:43:28,470 --> 01:43:32,906
You see unnamed,
unidentifiable federal agents

1977
01:43:32,930 --> 01:43:35,846
being dispatched to the sites
of protests.

1978
01:43:35,870 --> 01:43:38,276
How are we supposed
to know who you are?

1979
01:43:38,300 --> 01:43:42,306
And that chilling image of
the military helicopter

1980
01:43:42,330 --> 01:43:45,106
flying low to intimidate
the protesters.

1981
01:43:45,130 --> 01:43:47,706
(helicopter hovering)

1982
01:43:47,730 --> 01:43:55,730
We have seldom seen this kind of
display of military force

1983
01:43:57,100 --> 01:44:02,976
used on American soil against
American citizens.

1984
01:44:03,000 --> 01:44:05,406
NARRATOR: Trump hardened
the battle lines.

1985
01:44:05,430 --> 01:44:08,246
"The Radical Left Democrats
will destroy our Country

1986
01:44:08,270 --> 01:44:09,177
as we know it."

1987
01:44:09,201 --> 01:44:10,276
(tweet posts)

1988
01:44:10,300 --> 01:44:11,646
Donald Trump took the
divisive language

1989
01:44:11,670 --> 01:44:15,206
that he used against Muslims
in 2016...

1990
01:44:15,230 --> 01:44:17,976
"ANTIFA is a fascist
terror-group committed

1991
01:44:18,000 --> 01:44:20,576
to bringing fascism
to the United States."

1992
01:44:20,600 --> 01:44:21,776
(tweet posts)

1993
01:44:21,800 --> 01:44:24,076
That he used against
terrorists in 2016...

1994
01:44:24,100 --> 01:44:26,176
"The terrorists burn and
pillage our cities,

1995
01:44:26,200 --> 01:44:27,676
and they think it is just
wonderful."

1996
01:44:27,700 --> 01:44:28,876
(tweet posts)

1997
01:44:28,900 --> 01:44:30,976
The threats were no longer
from dangerous

1998
01:44:31,000 --> 01:44:33,306
overseas countries as much.

1999
01:44:33,330 --> 01:44:34,646
The way Donald Trump talked
about it,

2000
01:44:34,670 --> 01:44:36,906
the threat was the enemy within.

2001
01:44:36,930 --> 01:44:38,746
"Antifa has been engaging in
terrorism

2002
01:44:38,770 --> 01:44:41,076
and seditious conspiracy
for years."

2003
01:44:41,100 --> 01:44:42,246
(tweet posts)

2004
01:44:42,270 --> 01:44:43,506
It's the same language.

2005
01:44:43,530 --> 01:44:45,746
It's the same us-versus-them
thing.

2006
01:44:45,770 --> 01:44:48,706
You can just slot in Antifa
for Al-Qaeda,

2007
01:44:48,730 --> 01:44:51,306
slot in the radical left
for radical Islam.

2008
01:44:51,330 --> 01:44:53,506
It's triggering
the same emotions.

2009
01:44:53,530 --> 01:44:56,346
"Domestic Terrorists have
taken over Seattle,

2010
01:44:56,370 --> 01:44:58,576
run by Radical Left Democrats."

2011
01:44:58,600 --> 01:45:00,576
(tweet posts)

2012
01:45:00,600 --> 01:45:03,146
In the same way that Bush
marshaled the whole country

2013
01:45:03,170 --> 01:45:04,976
to kind of take on this
generational fight

2014
01:45:05,000 --> 01:45:07,876
against terrorism, this war
against terrorism,

2015
01:45:07,900 --> 01:45:10,676
Trump marshaled his half
of the country

2016
01:45:10,700 --> 01:45:14,506
to think of itself as literally
in an existential war

2017
01:45:14,530 --> 01:45:16,846
against the other half
of the country.

2018
01:45:16,870 --> 01:45:18,976
(paintball gun firing)

2019
01:45:19,000 --> 01:45:21,546
The great irony of the Trump
administration's use

2020
01:45:21,570 --> 01:45:23,806
of the war at home danger

2021
01:45:23,830 --> 01:45:27,206
is that they're using tools
developed in the war on terror

2022
01:45:27,230 --> 01:45:31,976
to try to harass and persecute
their political enemies at home,

2023
01:45:32,000 --> 01:45:36,006
by exaggerating domestic threats
that are relatively small.

2024
01:45:36,030 --> 01:45:37,446
Get out of here, you (bleep)!

2025
01:45:37,470 --> 01:45:39,046
Get out of here!

2026
01:45:39,070 --> 01:45:42,006
And meanwhile, however,
ignoring the genuine

2027
01:45:42,030 --> 01:45:44,276
terrorism threat that they are
actually helping

2028
01:45:44,300 --> 01:45:46,346
to foster and encourage.

2029
01:45:46,370 --> 01:45:49,146
(distant yelling)
(people gasp and laugh)

2030
01:45:49,170 --> 01:45:51,946
That's for everything that
you (bleep) did to me, bitch!

2031
01:45:51,970 --> 01:45:53,606
Told you I'd get you!

2032
01:45:53,630 --> 01:45:55,270
I'm sorry!

2033
01:45:58,870 --> 01:46:01,706
(chanting): Fight for Trump!
Fight for Trump!

2034
01:46:01,730 --> 01:46:03,306
Fight for Trump!

2035
01:46:03,330 --> 01:46:05,946
NARRATOR: It all came
to a head two months

2036
01:46:05,970 --> 01:46:09,606
after Donald Trump lost the 2020
presidential election.

2037
01:46:09,630 --> 01:46:12,676
By the time you get to
January the 6th,

2038
01:46:12,700 --> 01:46:16,146
so much doubt has been sown
in the system,

2039
01:46:16,170 --> 01:46:22,206
so much fear, that how this
opposition is described

2040
01:46:22,230 --> 01:46:27,376
by Trump and Trump supporters,
it looks terrifying.

2041
01:46:27,400 --> 01:46:28,806
(cheers)

2042
01:46:28,830 --> 01:46:32,146
It was impossible not to
recognize that the people

2043
01:46:32,170 --> 01:46:34,706
were dressed very similarly to
the Americans

2044
01:46:34,730 --> 01:46:37,446
who had been fighting
in Iraq and Afghanistan.

2045
01:46:37,470 --> 01:46:40,906
They were wearing the same kinds
of flak jackets

2046
01:46:40,930 --> 01:46:43,246
and helmets and the earpieces.

2047
01:46:43,270 --> 01:46:46,106
There was a visual language
of the war on terror.

2048
01:46:46,130 --> 01:46:47,406
(chanting) U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

2049
01:46:47,430 --> 01:46:50,046
NARRATOR: Trump rallied them
with a lie.

2050
01:46:50,070 --> 01:46:53,546
Make no mistake, this
election was stolen from you,

2051
01:46:53,570 --> 01:46:55,176
from me, and from the country.

2052
01:46:55,200 --> 01:46:57,046
(cheers)

2053
01:46:57,070 --> 01:47:01,906
After 9/11, and Iraq,
after torture,

2054
01:47:01,930 --> 01:47:04,946
after all of these things
have happened,

2055
01:47:04,970 --> 01:47:10,146
there's a part of America that
doesn't trust its leadership.

2056
01:47:10,170 --> 01:47:11,746
And Trump has tapped into them.

2057
01:47:11,770 --> 01:47:12,976
We will never give up.

2058
01:47:13,000 --> 01:47:14,876
We will never concede.

2059
01:47:14,900 --> 01:47:16,806
It doesn't happen.

2060
01:47:16,830 --> 01:47:20,646
You don't concede
when there's theft involved.

2061
01:47:20,670 --> 01:47:22,076
Our country has had enough.

2062
01:47:22,100 --> 01:47:25,146
We will not take it anymore.

2063
01:47:25,170 --> 01:47:30,546
It was kind of a culmination
of two decades

2064
01:47:30,570 --> 01:47:33,406
of growing mistrust
in the government,

2065
01:47:33,430 --> 01:47:36,776
feeling like the government
doesn't listen to you,

2066
01:47:36,800 --> 01:47:41,146
that your voice, that your
opinion doesn't matter.

2067
01:47:41,170 --> 01:47:43,676
People on every side of the
political issues

2068
01:47:43,700 --> 01:47:47,676
and every side of the spectrum
felt they had been lied to,

2069
01:47:47,700 --> 01:47:50,746
they had been betrayed.

2070
01:47:50,770 --> 01:47:53,706
It sort of helped create
the atmosphere

2071
01:47:53,730 --> 01:47:57,606
in which January 6 could happen.

2072
01:47:57,630 --> 01:48:02,406
Now it is up to Congress to
confront this egregious assault

2073
01:48:02,430 --> 01:48:04,506
on our democracy.

2074
01:48:04,530 --> 01:48:06,806
And after this, we're going to
walk down...

2075
01:48:06,830 --> 01:48:09,976
And I'll be there with you...
We're going to walk down

2076
01:48:10,000 --> 01:48:11,876
to the Capitol...

2077
01:48:11,900 --> 01:48:15,700
(shouting)

2078
01:48:19,270 --> 01:48:24,376
♪ Stand beside her and guide
her through the night ♪

2079
01:48:24,400 --> 01:48:27,376
♪ With the light from above ♪

2080
01:48:27,400 --> 01:48:28,576
NARRATOR: They swarmed over
the steps where Congress

2081
01:48:28,600 --> 01:48:31,776
had sung "God Bless America"
on the evening

2082
01:48:31,800 --> 01:48:36,106
of September 11, 2001.

2083
01:48:36,130 --> 01:48:38,776
That's quite a juxtaposition,
isn't it?

2084
01:48:38,800 --> 01:48:41,346
These two scenes in the Capitol:

2085
01:48:41,370 --> 01:48:43,046
a moment of solidarity
and unity,

2086
01:48:43,070 --> 01:48:46,906
us against our enemies around
the world.

2087
01:48:46,930 --> 01:48:53,746
♪ God bless America,
my home sweet home ♪

2088
01:48:53,770 --> 01:48:56,546
Suddenly, 20 years later,
it's us against ourselves.

2089
01:48:56,570 --> 01:48:59,376
♪ God bless America ♪

2090
01:48:59,400 --> 01:49:00,806
This mob rampaging through
the Capitol

2091
01:49:00,830 --> 01:49:04,646
trying to stop democracy.

2092
01:49:04,670 --> 01:49:09,346
(screaming)

2093
01:49:09,370 --> 01:49:12,546
And coming closer in some
ways than Al-Qaeda did.

2094
01:49:12,570 --> 01:49:17,246
Stand aside and let us in,
you traitors!

2095
01:49:17,270 --> 01:49:18,876
(explosions)

2096
01:49:18,900 --> 01:49:23,306
(chanting): Trump won!
Trump won! Trump won!

2097
01:49:23,330 --> 01:49:27,330
(chanting continues)

2098
01:49:33,670 --> 01:49:36,246
To see them going and
attacking the temple

2099
01:49:36,270 --> 01:49:44,246
of democracy in order to change
a result of an election...

2100
01:49:44,270 --> 01:49:47,646
Chanting that they want to kill
the vice president.

2101
01:49:47,670 --> 01:49:50,546
(chanting): Hang Mike Pence!
Hang Mike Pence!

2102
01:49:50,570 --> 01:49:54,346
It was a sad moment.

2103
01:49:54,370 --> 01:49:58,576
This threat is way more
dangerous because...

2104
01:49:58,600 --> 01:50:00,806
They are us.

2105
01:50:00,830 --> 01:50:04,046
They are in our towns,
in our cities.

2106
01:50:04,070 --> 01:50:07,646
If we look at January 6 as
one measure

2107
01:50:07,670 --> 01:50:13,046
of where we are as a nation,
did bin Laden succeed

2108
01:50:13,070 --> 01:50:16,346
in some way in fundamentally
dividing us

2109
01:50:16,370 --> 01:50:18,746
and bringing pain to us

2110
01:50:18,770 --> 01:50:22,846
in ways that we couldn't see
at the time?

2111
01:50:22,870 --> 01:50:26,576
If we don't take a proper
accounting of what we did

2112
01:50:26,600 --> 01:50:31,806
in these past 20 years and what
the impact has been,

2113
01:50:31,830 --> 01:50:34,306
not just half a world away,

2114
01:50:34,330 --> 01:50:38,906
but what the impact has been
within our own borders,

2115
01:50:38,930 --> 01:50:40,776
then we have fundamentally
misunderstood

2116
01:50:40,800 --> 01:50:43,270
the legacy of 9/11.

2117
01:50:51,200 --> 01:50:54,970
♪ ♪

2118
01:51:03,800 --> 01:51:09,546
It's time to end America's
longest war.

2119
01:51:09,570 --> 01:51:12,130
It's time for American troops
to come home.

2120
01:51:15,400 --> 01:51:16,506
The significance of Biden's
decision

2121
01:51:16,530 --> 01:51:19,476
is that we have given up.

2122
01:51:19,500 --> 01:51:22,446
We do not believe that we can
win there,

2123
01:51:22,470 --> 01:51:25,046
and we don't believe
we should try.

2124
01:51:25,070 --> 01:51:31,846
The last 20 years has been
an exercise in failure.

2125
01:51:31,870 --> 01:51:35,546
Let's be frank, it's a failure.

2126
01:51:35,570 --> 01:51:38,306
They are leaving Afghanistan
and they can't say,

2127
01:51:38,330 --> 01:51:42,976
"Mission accomplished."

2128
01:51:43,000 --> 01:51:47,306
At one level, you could say
yes, at last,

2129
01:51:47,330 --> 01:51:51,906
it's been 20 years, these
forever wars had to end.

2130
01:51:51,930 --> 01:51:56,176
But at another level,
the war doesn't end.

2131
01:51:56,200 --> 01:51:59,606
What's going to happen
to Afghanistan?

2132
01:51:59,630 --> 01:52:03,876
Those who helped America, those
who stood alongside America

2133
01:52:03,900 --> 01:52:07,746
will have their lives destroyed.

2134
01:52:07,770 --> 01:52:09,546
And that hundreds of thousands
more Afghans

2135
01:52:09,570 --> 01:52:13,606
will become refuges.

2136
01:52:13,630 --> 01:52:16,906
So, America's war may end
in Afghanistan,

2137
01:52:16,930 --> 01:52:21,370
but the Afghan war
might not end.

2138
01:52:34,400 --> 01:52:39,306
Go to pbs.org/frontline
to explore 25 interviews

2139
01:52:39,330 --> 01:52:40,576
from the film, as part
of "Frontline's"

2140
01:52:40,600 --> 01:52:42,746
Transparency Project.

2141
01:52:42,770 --> 01:52:46,146
Putting country over party
at a moment of crisis.

2142
01:52:46,170 --> 01:52:48,876
I so wanted to believe those
pictures were not real.

2143
01:52:48,900 --> 01:52:51,976
We had gone to war thinking
of our better selves.

2144
01:52:52,000 --> 01:52:55,106
And watch documentaries from
our 9/11 archive.

2145
01:52:55,130 --> 01:52:58,046
Connect with "Frontline" on
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

2146
01:52:58,070 --> 01:53:01,706
and TikTok and watch anytime
on the PBS Video App

2147
01:53:01,730 --> 01:53:04,270
or pbs.org/frontline.

2148
01:53:07,530 --> 01:53:11,530
♪ ♪

2149
01:53:31,170 --> 01:53:34,406
For more on this and other
"Frontline" programs,

2150
01:53:34,430 --> 01:53:38,176
visit our website
at pbs.org/frontline.

2151
01:53:38,200 --> 01:53:40,230
♪ ♪

2152
01:53:46,930 --> 01:53:50,406
To order "Frontline's"
"America After 9/11" on DVD,

2153
01:53:50,430 --> 01:53:55,176
visit ShopPBS
or call 1.800.PLAY.PBS.

2154
01:53:55,200 --> 01:53:59,276
This program is also available
on Amazon Prime Video.

2155
01:53:59,300 --> 01:54:01,630
♪ ♪