All language subtitles for 09-Bush & Clinton-Squandered Peace-New World Order

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Jimmy Carter: The implications
of the soviet invasion of Afghanistan

Could cause a most serious
threat to the peace

Since the second world war.

( indistinct chatter )

Tear down this wall.

Stone:
For a glorious moment in the late 1980s,

The world was a hopeful...
even joyous... place.

Protracted and bloody wars
were ending

In Afghanistan, angola,
cambodia, nicaragua,

And between iran and iraq.

Plo leader yasser arafat,

Under pressure from moscow...

And implicitly recognized
israel's right to exist.

In December 1988,
at the united nations,

Mikhail gorbachev,
in the spirit of ending
the cold war,

Asked for joint action
to eliminate the...

He urged banning weapons
in outer space,

And demanded
an end to exploitation
of the third world...

Including a soviet...

He called for a u.N.-Brokered
cease fire in Afghanistan.

And offered...

And the tactic of...

"the new york times"
proclaimed that

Not since roosevelt's and
churchill's atlantic charter

Had a world leader
demonstrated a vision

Like gorbachev's at the u.N.

Breathtaking, risky,
bold, naive, heroic...

His ideas merit
the most serious response.

I support what
the president says.

Stone: New president
george Bush

Had not yet moved
into the white house

After trouncing massachusetts
governor michael dukakis

In the '88 election.

Trailing by 17 points
that summer,

Bush had struggled to overcome
the so-called "wimp factor."

It's odd that the recipient of
the distinguished flying cross

Who had flown
58 combat missions

As a navy pilot
during world war ii

And been shot down
in the pacific

Would be derided as a wasp,

Wimp, weenie,
every woman's first husband,

Bland conformist.

Peace through strength works.

Stone: But because
of his nasally voice

And his sheltered upbringing,

Yale education
and oil money background,

He appeared to be the ultimate
insider establishment
candidate.

Most of his political offices

Had been appointments...

Ambassador
to the united nations,

To china,
and c.I.A. Chief.

But none of ronald reagan's
charisma

Had rubbed off on him.

Reagan hadn't wanted
him on the ticket.

Reagan: And I am recommending
to this convention

That george Bush...

Stone: Seeking
to improve his changes,

Bush followed the advice
among others

Of his oldest son,
george w.,

Adopting a more
aggressive strategy

Against the reserved
and stoic dukakis...

Who came from greek
immigrant roots

And was reluctant
to counterattack.

He questioned
dukakis's patriotism

And openly played the race card

In a campaign ad about
the furloughed murderer
willie horton.

Man: Dukakis not only
opposes the death penalty,

He allowed first-degree
murderers to have weekend
passes from prison.

( man reading )

Stone: Like Nixon,
Bush appealed to voters' racism

And fears of crime.

His strategy turned the tide,

And Bush took office
in January 1989,

Placing the destiny
of much of mankind

In the hands of two men
who had witnessed firsthand

The ravages of war...

Bush as a victor,

Gorbachev as a young eyewitness

To germany's brutal
destruction of the u.S.S.R.

In the 1990s,
with america searching
for a new role

In the rapidly-changing
world,

The mass media began elevating
the world war ii generation

To especially
heroic dimensions.

At the 50th anniversary
of d-day in 1994,

The greatest generation
was anointed.

It became a nostalgic concept

And sales of books,
movies, and tv boomed.

32nd!

Stone: D-day became
the climactic battle

Of world war ii.

( men shouting )

Stone:
Even pearl harbor

In glorious technicolor

Was turned around
into a victory.

Jimmy doolittle:
Victory belongs to those
that believe in it the most.

Believe in it the longest.

We're gonna believe.

We're gonna make
america believe too.

Stone:
Conveniently, the media

Ignored or overlooked the fact

That influential americans
opposed to roosevelt's new deal

Had aided and abetted
the third reich

After the true nature
of hitler's anti-semitic regime

Was known.

The motive...
whether hatred of communism,

Fascist sympathies,
or simply greed...

Was rarely openly discussed.

Among these men was
president Bush's own father,

Prescott Bush...

German coal and steel magnate
fritz thyssen

Had been one of hitler's
early backers,

And much of his wealth
was protected overseas

By the brown brothers
harriman investment firm

Through the holding company,
union banking corporation,

In an account managed
by prescott Bush.

In 1942, the u.S. Government
seized union banking corp

Along with four other
thyssen-linked accounts

Managed by Bush.

And after the war,
the shares were returned

To the american shareholders
including Bush.

I.B.M.'s legendary founder
thomas watson,

Through his german
subsidiary dehomag,

Helped the government
in tabulating its census

With its punch card machines
that later proved effective

In identifying jews and helping
make the trains run on time.

On an even larger scale,
general motors' alfred sloan,

Through his german subsidiary
adam opel,

Built cards and transport
vehicles for the german army.

Sloan, on the even of
germany's invasion of poland,

Said his company
was too big to be affected

By a petty international
squabble.

Henry ford's german subsidiary

Manufactured an arsenal
of military vehicles

Throughout the war
with the consent of
the parent company in michigan.

Ford himself
had earlier published

A series of articles,
later a book,

Titled "the international jew:
The world's foremost problem."

Hitler hung a portrait of ford

In his munich office,
and told the detroit news

In 1931, "I regard henrich ford
as my inspiration."

When the european war
was declared in 1939,

Ford and g.M.,
despite subsequent disclaimers,

Refused to divest themselves
of their german holdings

And even complied
with german government orders

To retool for war production
while resisting similar demands

From the u.S. Government.

Ford, g.M., standard oil,

Alcoa, I.T.T.,
general electric,

The munitions maker du pont,

Eastman kodak, westinghouse,

Pratt & whitney,
douglas aircraft,

United fruit, singer,
and international harvester

Continued to trade
with germany up to 1941.

American authorities
knew of the death camps

By August of '42,

But until
this could be clarified

Said nothing to the public.

Rabbi stephen wise
finally broke the silence

In late '42.

The story
was carried on page 10
in "the new york times,"

And not much was made of it.

Although the u.S. Declared
many of these business
activities

Illegal under
the trading with the enemy act,

Several corporations
still received

Special licenses to continue
operations in germany,

And in some cases,
shipped supplies

Via fascist Spain
under flags of neutrality.

After the war,
I.B.M. Fought and succeeded

In recovering all of its
sequestered profits.

Ford and g.M. Both reabsorbed
their german subsidiaries,

Audaciously suing and winning
tens of millions of dollars

In reparations
for european factories

That had been destroyed
or damaged in allied
bombing raids.

The subject of collaboration
is highly taboo.

To facilitate such dealings,

Of course, banks
and law firms were needed.

The corporate powerhouse
law firm sullivan & cromwell,

Whose managing director was
future secretary of state

John foster dulles...

With his brother
allen dulles as a partner...

Had as clients many of these
powerful institutions

Including the very important
bank for international
settlements...

Which was set up
in switzerland in 1930

To channel world war I
reparations

Between the u.S. And germany.

After the war was declared,

The bank continued
to offer financial services

To the third reich.

And the majority of gold looted
during the nazi conquests

Of europe ended up
in b.I.S. Vaults...

Which allowed the nazis
access to money

That would have normally been
trapped in blocked accounts.

American lawyer and chairman
of the bank, thomas mckittrick,

Claiming neutrality
in switzerland

Managed this process.

Roosevelt's secretary
of the treasury,

Henry morgenthau,
unsuccessfully tried

To close the bank down
after the war...

Claiming it had acted
as an agent of the nazis.

Morgan bank, chase bank,

Union bank, and b.I.S.

Were the four dominant
banks who succeeded

In obfuscating their
collaborations with the nazis.

William randolph hearst,
the newspaper baron

Who had done
his best to provoke
the spanish-american war,

Throughout the 1930s
in his vast media empire

Demonized the soviet union...

Depicting hitler
in a friendly light.

And charles lindbergh,

One of the most celebrated
americans of the 1920s,

Became a poster boy
for the isolationist america
first movement.

After hitler conquered France,

Lindbergh openly feared
germany's ultimate defeat

And implored
the american public...

Hitler's destruction would
lay europe open to the rape,

Loot, and barbarism
of soviet russia's forces,

Causing possibly
the fatal wounding
of western civilization.

Stone:
Thus, almost 50 years

After the start
of world war ii,

In January 1989,

The past once more
echoed the present.

( playing stately tune )

I, george herbert
walker Bush...

Stone: Could prescott Bush's
son george,

Like john kennedy, repudiate
his father's murky past

And partner with
the communist gorbachev

In changing the world?

Bush perhaps pondered
his options.

But he was either
a deep or bold thinker.

Several times he had
scorned what he called the...

Distrusting
individualistic thinking.

Like harry truman
after world war ii,

He surrounded himself with
anti-soviet conservatives...

Among them, Dick Cheney
as his defense secretary

And as his deputy national
security advisor

Robert gates, the man
who had made his stripes

As deputy to the fanatic
william casey.

They all agreed...

Reaching out to gorbachev
would weaken western resolve.

Whereas gorbachev was calling
for eliminating tactical
nuclear weapons in europe,

An offer most europeans
applauded,

The United States countered
that the soviet union

Should remove 325,000 troops

In exchange for a u.S. Cut
of 30,000.

And while Bush neglected
to pursue real progress

With the soviet union,

He wavered when hundreds
of pro-democracy demonstrators

Were slaughtered in beijing
at tiananmen square

By the people's
liberation army.

Condemning the crackdown
publicly,

And banning military ties,

But behind the scenes
making it clear

That this would not
jeopardize relations

Between china and the u.S.

Gorbachev pursued the reform
of the soviet system,

Rejecting the long-held view

That controlling
eastern europe was necessary

To soviet security.

In a few extraordinary months
in 1989 and '90,

All the eastern
and central european communist
governments fell.

One by one.

As the world watched
in disbelief.

It was possibly the most
peaceful people's revolution

Ever carried out
in recorded history.

Poland, estonia, lithuania,

Latvia, hungary,
czechoslovakia,

East germany, and romania
changed their governments

Without fear.

On November 9, 1989,

East and west berliners jointly
tore down the berlin wall...

Desecrating the cold war's
most reviled symbol.

It was a grand moment...
evidence of a new beginning.

Yet many americans
hailed these actions
as the ultimate vindication

Of the capitalist west
after decades of cold war.

State department policy planner
francis fukuyama

Made a name for himself,
declaring...

Anointing western liberal
democracy

As the final form
of human government.

At yalta, in early 1945 on
the eve of germany's surrender,

Roosevelt, stalin,
and churchill went a long way

Towards dividing europe
and asia

Into western and soviet
spheres of influence.

This structure
essentially lasted

Through proxy wars,
near nuclear conflagrations,

Intense propaganda
and espionage activity

For 45 years.

Now this was all changing,
and quickly.

Gorbachev hoped
that a new trust

Might lead
to the dissolution of nato

And the warsaw pact.

And astonishingly,
he was even willing to allow

East and west germany
to reunite

On the understanding that
nato would not expand eastward.

Bush led him to believe so,

But would be out of power
by 1993.

And gorbachev would pay
the price of trusting america

As the clinton
and second Bush administrations

Expanded nato
right up to russia's doorstep.

The russians felt
thoroughly betrayed,

And although the u.S. Officials
over the years

Have insisted that no such
promises were ever given,

Recently released statements
from the u.S. Ambassador

To the soviet union at the time

And previously classified
british and west german
documents

Substantiate the russian claims

That there was
a clear commitment.

It was becoming
equally clear to some

That the United States
was not changing its colors

To celebrate
this new mood of peace.

Barely a month
after the berlin wall fell,

In December 1989,

Bush and his administration
launched its invasion
of panama.

Last night I ordered
u.S. Military forces to panama.

Stone: Panamanian strongman
manuel noriega

Had long been one
of the u.S.'s errand boys

In central america.

On the c.I.A. Payroll
since the 1960s,

Corrupt and unscrupulous,
he profited

Assisting colombia's
medellin drug cartel.

His assistance to the contras
in nicaragua

Won him protection
from top reagan officials

Including casey
and oliver north.

But a 1988 u.S. Drug indictment

And his overturning
of panama's 1989

Presidential election

Convinced Bush that noriega was
more a liability than asset.

He acted... operation
"just cause" he called it...

Sending in 12,000 troops
to assist the 12,000 already
in country

And leveling the impoverished
panama city neighborhood
of el chorillo,

Which abutted the headquarters
of the panamanian
defense forces...

Killing hundreds of civilians.

This was justified
as the war on drugs

Declared by Nixon in 1971

And which was now being shifted

To fight production
at the source

Which meant,
among other things,
targeting foreign countries

If need be for military action.

Noriega would be sent to jail

In the u.S.
For drug trafficking.

To much of the world,
the invasion was shocking
and illegal,

But to most north americans...

Indoctrinated to the idea
of a "war on drugs"...

It was business as usual
in their backyard.

Congress further failed
to challenge

Bush's flagrant violation

Of the 1973 war powers act.

The new message was clear.

We have decapitated him

From the dictatorship
of this country...

Stone: Joint chiefs
chairman colin powell

Declared, "we have to put
a shingle outside our doors

Saying, 'superpower lives here'

No matter what
the soviets do."

Soviet hardliners, concerned
about gorbachev's reforms,

Understood that their
concessions would not curb

U.S. Bellicosity.

They might, in fact,
embolden the u.S.

To act more recklessly.

It did...
within 14 months,

Bush once again
showed how tough he could be.

This time in the middle east.

The reagan administration
had cozied up
during the iran war

To iraq's saddam hussein...

Turning a blind eye
to his repeated use

Of chemical weapons, sometimes
against his own people,

Made in part from
u. S.-Supplied chemicals.

When tensions flared between
iraq and oil-rich kuwait,

Which had been part of iraq
until 1961,

The u.S. Ambassador
personally assured saddam

That Bush wanted
better relations

And had no opinion
on iraq's border dispute.

Hussein took this
as a signal from Bush,

And the following week...

With estimates of 250,000
troops and 1,500 tanks...

Took over kuwait
with little resistance.

Long desiring a stronger
footprint in the middle east,

The u.S. Sent
secretary of defense Cheney,

General powell,
and general schwarzkopf

To meet with saudi king fahd

To convince him to accept

A large american
military force as a buffer.

When they showed the king,

Apparently doctored photos

Of iraqi troops and tanks
at the saudi border,

And even across it,

Became upset, reacted,
and asked for help.

But at the same time,

U.S. Satellite photography

Had been edited to erase
all signs

That iraqi forces were digging
in with fortifications

And trenches nowhere close
to the border.

There is no evidence
that hussein ever intended

To invade saudi arabia.

The deception was exposed
when a japanese newspaper

Obtained photos taken
by a soviet commercial
satellite company

Showing no military
activity near the border.

Newsweek followed up,
calling it

"the missing military
presence."

Pressure, nonetheless,
mounted quickly.

If hussein took saudi arabia,

He'd have control
of at least 1/5...

If not more...
of the world's oil supply.

The israeli press
led the charge,

Decrying u.S. Impotence
and the weakness of Bush...

Who resembled,
one editorial said,

"chamberlain in his knowing
capitulation to hitler."

The ever-adaptable Bush

Turned the tired analogy
on its head...

Repeatedly comparing
saddam to hitler.

We're dealing with hitler
revisited.

A totalitarianism
and a brutality

That is naked and unprecedented

In modern times.

And that must not stand.

Stone: Concerned that
saudi arabia might come up
with an alternative solution

To the crisis,
he quickly announced

U.S. Troops were headed
to the persian gulf.

Meanwhile, kuwaiti officials

Hired the world's largest
public relations firm...

Hill + knowlton...
to orchestrate

The largest
foreign-funded effort

Ever undertaken to manipulate
u. S. Public opinion.

In October '90,
in a congressional caucus

Organized by hill + knowlton,

A 15-year-old
kuwaiti girl testified

That she'd been a volunteer
in a kuwaiti hospital

When iraqi troops burst in.

They took the babies
out of the incubators.

Took the incubators,

And left the children to die
on the cold floor.

Stone: It was a masterful
performance.

Bush cited the story repeatedly
in making the case for war.

Turns your stomach
when you listen to the tales

Of those that had
escaped the brutality

Of saddam the invader.

Mass hangings.

Babies pulled from incubators

And scattered like firewood
across the floor...

Stone: It was later discovered
that the young witness

Had never been at the hospital,

But was the daughter
of the kuwaiti ambassador
to the u.S.

And a member
of the ruling family.

By the time
the fraud was exposed,

The u.S. Bombing
of baghdad had begun.

The u.S. Public
was nonetheless divided.

The leaders of saudi arabia

And especially the loathsome
anti-semitic regime

Of kuwait
were cruel despots...

Hardly enamored of democracy
for their own people.

Nor were crucial
u. S. Interests at stake

When iraq and kuwait's
oil combined

For less than 10%
of u.S. Imports.

In late November, cheney warned

That iraq could have
a nuclear device within a year

And would likely use it.

It was a card Cheney would
play again in coming years.

N.S.C. Advisor
brent scowcroft

Added a terrorist threat
for good measure.

I've known for...

Stone: Stung by the criticisms
of his illegal panama invasion,

Bush took the measure
to congress.

And though anti-war protesters
filled the streets,

Congress narrowly
passed the resolution

In January '91.

By that time, over 560,000
u. S. Troops were in the region.

The total would reach 700,000.

Schwarzkopf claimed
the u.S. Was facing

A million-man
iraqi land force

With high-quality
soviet tanks

And openly willing to use
chemical weapons.

Operation: Desert storm...

Which began on
January 17, 1991...

By openly sending combat troops

In huge numbers
into a middle-eastern country

Marked the beginning
of a new era

In american geopolitics.

It would take the country
deeper into a rabbit hole

It had never been before.

For five weeks,
with new, awe-inspiring

Television-friendly
high-tech weapons

Including cruise
and tomahawk missiles

And laser-guided bombs,

U.S. Airstrikes pulverized
iraq's communications,

Military, and industrial
infrastructure.

On television,
the american population

Had never seen firepower
like this.

Arnett: The headquarters
of president saddam hussein

And socialist ba'ath party
took a direct hit,

And the u.S. Has been
bombing the periphery...

Stone: It was the beginning
of the video game era.

And it was dazzling
as iraq was reduced,

According to the u.N.,
to a near-apocalyptic,
pre-industrial age.

The ground invasion
lasted 100 hours

With u.S. And saudi forces
routing demoralized,

Poorly-trained iraqi troops
from kuwait.

A new category of weapons

Made out of depleted uranium
was born.

Their radioactivity
and chemical toxicity

Would produce cancers
and birth defects.

Victims would include
u. S. Soldiers who suffered

Mysteriously for years
from what became known as
"gulf war syndrome."

Enough of the republican
guard escaped to slaughter

To ensure that saddam
would retain his hold on power.

Bush and his advisors
decided not to push

To baghdad to overthrow
the regime.

Such a move would bolster
iraq's enemy iran

And might antagonize
america's arab allies.

But american officials
urged the iraqis

To rise up and topple
hussein themselves.

When iraqi kurds
and shiites responded

In large numbers,
the u.S. Stood idly by

While the government
crushed the uprisings

Using poison gas
and helicopter gun ships.

Despite the slaughter,
Bush said...

Bush: The specter of vietnam
has been buried forever

In the desert sands
of the arabian peninsula.

Stone: He called it
a "new world order."

But among those who saw through
what he called

A "burst of triumphalism"

Was the notoriously
peevish conservative

"washington post"
columnist george will

Who wrote...

"if that war,
in which the United States

And a largely rented and
potemkin coalition of allies

Smashed a nation
with a g.N.P. Of kentucky

Could make america
feel good about itself,

Then america should not
feel good about itself."

More than 200,000 iraqis

Died in the war
and its immediate aftermath.

Approximately half of them
civilians.

The u.S. Death toll
stood at less than...

200.

Privately, in his diary,

Bush wrote
he was experiencing...

Something was clearly missing.

The laurels of victory
and a true peace

Would be squandered,
not in the sands of kuwait,

But in Bush's lack of foresight
and vision in acquiring

A true ally
in the soviet union.

Just a few weeks after signing
the start one treaty,

As he prepared to move towards
greater autonomy

For the soviet republics,

Gorbachev was placed
under house arrest

By communist hardliners
in August '91.

Boris yeltsin, president
of the russian republic,

Led a popular uprising that
returned gorbachev to power.

But time was running out.

For the people,
there had been too many changes

Too fast.

And not enough order.

Condemned and rejected,
on christmas day 1991,

Gorbachev,
one of the most visionary

And transformative leaders
of the 20th century,

Resigned in a form of disgrace.

The russian people had no idea
what was in store for them.

But neither did george Bush.

- ( fanfare plays )
- His 91% approval rating

At the end of
the persian gulf war

Blinded leading democrats
to his electoral vulnerability,

Leaving the door open for
little-known arkansas governor

Bill clinton to run
as a new kind of democrat.

The crowd that's running
washington today

Has had 12 years
to test their economic theory,

And it's failed.

The charming compassionate man

Who wanted to be all things
to all people,

Clinton, with the help of

Third-party
conservative independent

Businessman ross perot

Siphoning off 19%
of the popular vote,

Surprisingly upset george Bush.

It seemed like a golden moment.

After all, the United States
had been blaming

- Social and political upheaval
on the soviet union...
- ( Soviet anthem playing )

For the previous 46 years.

Now with a democrat
in the white house,

How could we justify
the bloated military budget

That for decades
had diverted resources...

( fanfare playing )

As in the soviet union,
from needed development?

Would there at last be
the celebrated peace dividend?

( rock music playing )

The euphoria over clinton
proved short-lived.

Republicans wounded

Clinton out of the gate
by blocking his plan

For the open admission
of gays into the military.

Also, questioning his avoidance
of service during vietnam.

Even more damagingly,

The republicans
went to political war

With their business allies

To frighten the public
and defeat clinton's

Ambitious healthcare plan
to cover tens of millions

Of uninsured citizens.

Republicans called it
the "battle of the bulge

Of big government liberalism."

It's time to bring about
fundamental change...

Control our nation's
soaring healthcare costs.

Among advanced
industrial countries,

Only the United States
and apartheid south africa

Lacked a national
healthcare system.

Its defeat
in the conservative media

And in the public perception
was exaggerated

And gave momentum
to an even stronger

Republican renaissance

When the 1994 midterm elections

Achieved republican control

Of both branches

Of congress for the first time

In 40 years.

Amazingly, at a time
when there were

No international crises,

Both parties lurched
further to the right.

Clinton, without much
of a mandate and vulnerable,

Ended aid to families
with dependent children,

Which had helped poor families
since the great depression.

He supported the war on drugs

And tough-on-crime legislation.

The u.S. Prison
population exploded

From a half-million in 1980,

To two million by 2000.

Many of these
victimless drug crimes.

Post-soviet russia moved
drastically to the right.

Yeltsin turned
to harvard economist

Jeffrey sachs
and other experts,

Such as under secretary
of the treasury

Lawrence summers,

For help in privatizing
the economy.

With them came the g/7,

The international money fund
and the world bank,

With a form of economic
"shock therapy"

Yet unknown
to the russian people.

The flirtation
with capitalism proved surreal.

Yeltsin quickly
deregulated the economy,

Privatized state enterprises
and resources,

Eliminated desperately-needed
subsidies and price controls

And established
privately-owned monopolies.

The people called it
"the great grab,"

As the nation's factories
were sold for a pittance

To opportunistic
private investors

Including former communist
officials who became

Multi-millionaires overnight.

While a newer money generation

Was celebrating
its new freedoms,

Most russians' life savings

Were wiped out

By hyper-inflation,
and tens of millions of jobs

Were lost.

Life expectancy plummeted

From 67 to 57 years for men;

76 to 70 for women.

Russia's economy
shrank to the size

Of the netherlands,
as it was rapidly becoming

A second world power.

The western aid and debt relief

That sachs had promised
never materialized.

Sachs later blamed Cheney
and paul wolfowitz

For pursuing long-term
u. S. Military dominance

Over russia.

Gorbachev, in his recent memoir

"alone with myself,"

Reflected that yeltsin was
preferred by Bush's inner
circle

And eventually Bush,
himself as...

And that a...

Anti-americanism came back
into vogue.

Russians bristled as clinton
pushed u.S. Involvement

In the energy-rich
caspian basin

And expanded nato to include

Hungary, poland
and the czech republic.

92-year-old
cold war architect

George kennan called this
an enormous and historic
strategic error.

( indistinct )

Many russians
were coming to believe

The u.S. Was imposing
a "reverse iron curtain"

On russia's border.

( laughing )

Though clinton professed
himself a friend of yeltsin,

Polls showed 77%
of the population

Preferring order over the 9%

Choosing this form
of democracy...

Many pining for
the good old days of stalin.

Perceiving the increasingly
unpopular yeltsin

As a drunkard,

They deplored
his illegal shut down

Of an armed assault
on the elected parliament,

Suspending the constitution
and ruling

Primarily by decree
for the rest of the decade.

Polling single digit
approval ratings,

Yeltsin resigned
on the eve of the new century,

To be replaced
by former kgb officer

Vladimir putin, who brought

Russia back from the brink

By reinstating a strong
tyrannical centralizing
power...

In the old russian style.

Throughout the '90s,

Clinton's administration,

Eager to take economic
advantage wherever possible,

Pushed for building pipelines
to ship the rich oil and gas
reserves

Valued in the three to six
trillion dollar range

From former soviet republics
in central asia

Along routes that bypassed
iran and russia.

Meanwhile, the fundamentalist
taliban took over Afghanistan

And welcomed back
the wealthy saudi jihadist

Osama bin laden

To establish al qaeda...
"the base"... in their country.

Although he had been a part
of the c.I.A. Netherworld
of the '80s,

Bin laden was now
totally focused on driving

The u.S. And its allies
out of the muslim world...

Decrying especially the
presence of u.S. Troops
in saudi arabia...

Islam's holiest land.

Pointing as well
to u.S. Support for israel,

In 1992 he issued his first
religious fatwa.

Two mysterious bombings
followed in saudi arabia,

Killing more than 20
u. S. Military personnel.

Bin laden denied
al qaeda's involvement.

And the saudi government,
with its close ties

To the influential
bin laden family,

Steered the fbi investigation
towards iran,

A perceived u.S. Enemy.

In '98, u.S. Embassies

In kenya and tanzania
were bombed,

Killing more than 200.

In 2000, bin laden
claimed responsibility

For al qaeda striking
the u.S. Navy ship cole,

Killing 17.

Since the gulf war,
u. N. Weapons inspectors

Had been overseeing
destruction of iraq's wmd

As u.S. And british enforced
no-fly zones

And harsh u.N. Sanctions
had caused immense suffering.

The clinton administration
falsely blamed

The estimated deaths
of some half million children

From disease and malnutrition
on dictator saddam hussein.

You know,
is the price worth it?

I think this is
a very hard choice.

But the price...
we think the price

Is worth it.

Stone:
The tough-talking albright

Insisted that hussein's use
of wmd was a greater threat

To u.S. Security.

And on another occasion,
she said quite openly,

"if we have to use force,
it is because

We are america.

We are
the indispensable nation.

We stand tall
and we see further

Than other countries
into the future."

Although the United States
faced no clear threat

From hostile nations,

The clinton administration
proved even more tough-minded

On defense than their
republican adversaries

And squandered the supposed
peace dividend

In a new wave of spending.

In January 2000,
his administration added

115 million dollars

To the pentagon's projected
five-year defense plan.

It continued spending profusely
on missile defense.

Clinton also refused to sign
the ottawa land-mines treaty

And oversaw a significant
increase in u.S. Arms sales

To almost 60%
of the world's market by 1997.

Historian chalmers johnson
summed up these years in 2004,

"in the first
post-cold war decade,

We mounted many actions

To perpetuate and extend

Our global power,
including wars

And humanitarian interventions

In panama, the persian gulf,

Somalia, haiti, bosnia,

Colombia and serbia,

While maintaining unchanged
our cold war deployments

In east asia
and in the pacific."

This emerging bipartisan
foreign policy seemed
set in stone.

There would be no debate.

Clinton saw u.S. Actions abroad

Not as those of an aggressive
resource-hungry empire

But as a necessary force
for stability

In a new world order based on

America's concepts of democracy

And free markets.

He did nothing in the end

To challenge
the basic structures

Of this empire.

Although his last two years
were severely damaged by
a sex scandal with an intern...

I did not have
sexual relations
with that woman.

Stone: And an embarrassing trial
for impeachment

That once more blurred
in a sensationalist media

Far more significant events.

"slick willie,"
as some called him,

In his inestimable way,

Avoided major disasters.

Benefitting from a resurgent
global economy

Favoring u.S. Markets
and finance,

Clinton left behind

A temporarily
prosperous country

With a huge surplus.

Expecting to capitalize
on parts of this legacy,

His party nominated
vice president al gore in 2000.

A forward-looking,
experienced man,

Who repeatedly warned of
a world ecological disaster

Looming in a changing climate
that needed controlling,

He would back away
from this issue considerably

During the final campaign.

The here and now being
of more importance
to the average voter.

Republicans countered
with a self-proclaimed

"compassionate conservative,"
texas governor george w. Bush,

Son of george h.W.
And grandson of prescott.

People watching here tonight,

They wanna base their vote

On differences
between the two of you

As president.
Is there any difference?

I just think, jim, that this
is an absolutely unique period

In world history.

And we have
a fundamental choice to make.

Are we gonna step up
to the plate as a nation,

The way we did
after world war ii?

The way that generation
of heroes said,

"okay, the United States
is gonna...

Is gonna be the leader."

And the world benefitted
tremendously

From the courage that they
showed in those post-war years.

I think that in the aftermath
of the cold war,

It's time for us
to do something very similar,

To step up to the plate,
to provide the leadership...

Leadership on the environment,
leadership to make sure

The world economy keeps moving
in the right direction.

Again, that means not running
big deficits here

And not squandering
our surplus.

It means having
intelligent decisions

That keep our prosperity going

And shepherds
that economic strength

So that we can provide
that leadership role.

Yeah, I'm not so sure
the role of the United States

Is to go around the world
and say, "this is the way
it's gotta be."

We can help.
And maybe it's just
our difference in government,

The way we view government.

I mean, I want
to empower people.

You know, I wanna help people
help themselves,

Not have government
tell people what to do.

I just don't think it's
the role of the United States

To walk into a country and say,

"we do it this way,
so should you."

I'm not exactly sure
where the vice president

Is coming from.
But I think

What we need to do is convince

People who live
in the lands they live in

To build the nations.

Maybe I'm missing
something here.

I mean, are we gonna have
kind of a nation-building
core from america?

Absolutely not.
Our military's meant to fight

And win war.

That's what it's meant to do.

And when it gets overextended,
morale drops.

But I'm gonna be judicious
as to how to use the military.

It needs to be
in our vital interest,

The mission needs to be clear

And the exit strategy obvious.

Stone: As he embarked on
one of the country's

Most ambitious periods
of nation-building,

George Bush actually did more
in his eight years in office

Than any other president
to bury the world war ii myth

Of american power
moderated by fairness.

In hindsight,
it was his capacity to conceal

His reactionary intentions
that years later

Still confounds and shocks

Many americans from
the pre-2001 era.

It stared with
the 2000 election itself...

The most scandalous
in u.S. History,

Wounding perhaps fatally

The legitimacy of the
political process
in this country.

Coming as it did
at the beginning
of a new century

It felt to many
like an ominous oracle.

Al gore won the popular mandate
by more than 540,000 votes.

But lost florida
when more than 10%

Of african americans
were disqualified

By an antiquated
state voting system,

Overseen by florida governor
jeb Bush,

George's younger brother,

And florida secretary of state

Katherine harris,
Bush's state campaign manager.

Behooving the shenanigans
of a banana republic,

The u.S. Supreme court,
without precedent,

Surprisingly intervened
in the florida election process

And voted five-to-four
to stop a recount...

Thus handing Bush the election.

The majority of these justices
had been appointed

In administrations
in which Bush's father

Was either president
or vice president.

If it had happened
in another country

It would had been denounced
as a coup by the United States.

The dissenting judges wrote,

"although we may never know

With complete certainty
the identity of the winner,

The identity of the loser
is perfectly clear.

It is the nation's confidence

In the judge as an impartial
guardian of the rule of law."

On a drizzly January day

In 2001, george w. Bush,

The 43rd president,
was given the oath of office.

Thousands of protestors
were isolated in zones

Far from the cameras.

Befitting a roman emperor,

Surrounded by an entourage
of true believers,

Bush held fewer
press conferences

Than any other president
in history.

Compassion would be
in limited supply,

As most of his top appointees
hailed from a little-known
group called the...

Spearheaded by
william kristol
and robert kagan,

Which had been organized
in 1997

To rekindle
the neoconservative vision

Of an unchallenged
u. S. Hegemony.

It included defense secretary
donald rumsfeld,

His deputy paul wolfowitz,
and vice president Dick Cheney.

They deplored the fact
that the u.S. Had lost its way

Under clinton
and called for a return

To moral clarity
and reagan's military strength.

They demanded increased
defense spending,

Complete domination of space,

Deployment of a sweeping
missile defense system

And the ability to "win
multiple, simultaneous
major theater wars."

And to police
"critical regions,"

Especially the oil-rich
middle east,

Their first order of business

Was circumventing the u.N.
Security council

And toppling saddam hussein.

Gloomy and pathologically
secretive,

Dick Cheney would dominate
the administration

To an extent no vice president
had ever done before,

And made it clear,
with republicans controlling

Both houses of congress,
the u.S. Was playing

By a much tougher set of rules.

Bush 41 and bill clinton
had made efforts

At diplomacy
and coalition-building,

But Bush the younger,

In his sense of defiance
towards his father,

Came to resemble more
a degenerate heir

To an admired roman emperor.

In Bush's mind, both his father

And the sexually undisciplined
bill clinton were weak.

Ronald reagan
was his idea of strength

And a higher father.

After all, Bush and the neocons

Believed that reagan
beat the russians.

Ironically, in early 2001,

"gladiator" was named
best film of 2000...

A worldwide success celebrating

Rome's harsh militarism,

And depicting
a perverted leadership

That spelled the fall
of the roman empire.

Commodus:
All I've ever wanted

Was to live up to you...

Caesar.

Your faults as a son

Is my failure

As a father.

I would butcher
the whole world...

( sharply inhales )

If you would
only love me!

( marcus gasping and groaning )

Stone: Neoconservative contempt
for the united nations

Had always been a given,

But now it seemed
they were isolating themselves

Almost entirely from
the world community.

The u.S. Withdrew from

The international
criminal court treaty

That clinton and virtually
every other western democracy

Had negotiated.

They rejected the comprehensive
test ban treaty,

Which 150 nations had signed.

Bush repudiated the kyoto
protocol on global warming,

And to the shock
of the russians,

Abrogated the crucial 1972
anti-ballistic missile treaty

In order to revise the unproven
missile defense program.

In general,
the media asked few questions

About these abrupt
reversals in policy.

Bush disavowed
the middle east peace process

And suspended talks
with north korea

On its long range
missile program.

His administration was
"marinated in oil,"

Cheney putting together
a highly secretive

Energy task force
that laid out plans

To control the world's supply.

He'd made his intentions
clear in '99

To oil industry executives
when he said,

"the middle east with 2/3
of the world's oil

And the lowest cost is still

Where the prize
ultimately lies."

Signs of an impending attack

Abounded in the summer of 2001.

Intercepted al qaeda messages
said that

"something spectacular
was about to happen."

Counter terrorism chief
richard clark

Testified that c.I.A.
Director george tenet

Was running around washington
with his "hair on fire,"

Trying to get the attention
of national security advisor

Condoleezza rice
and president Bush.

But defense secretary rumsfeld
and rice,

A former chevron board member

With a double-hulled
oil tanker named after her,

Were preoccupied with

Ballistic missile defense

And reforming the pentagon.

Threat reports
with headlines like,

"bin laden threats are real,"

Or "bin laden determined to
strike inside the us"

Were issued.

But Bush could not
focus his attention,

As he spent more time away
from washington

Than any recent president

At his sequestered
crawford, texas ranch

Chopping wood.

He did not enjoy riding horses,

Unlike his hero reagan.

At his presidential daily
briefing on August 6th,

Where the threat of
al qaeda operatives

Hijacking planes was discussed,

Bush disdainfully
told his c.I.A. Briefer...

George w. Bush: All right,
you've covered your ass now.

Stone:
Yet with a straight face,

Bush told a news conference
in April 2004...

Had I had any inkling
whatsoever

That the people were gonna
fly airplanes into buildings,

We would have moved
heaven and earth to
save the country.

Stone: Rice was equally
disingenuous.

I don't think anybody
could have predicted

That they would try to use
an airplane as a missile,

A hijacked airplane
as a missile.

Stone: Although the fbi
was issuing reports

Of individuals taking
flying lessons

Who had no interest in
learning how to land.

As dissatisfaction was mounting

Over Bush's incompetent
governance,

The terrorists
struck the u.S.A.

In a highly ingenious
and dramatic fashion...

9/11 it was
forever to be called.

As the hijackers, 15 of them,
born in saudi arabia,

Flew planes
into the premier symbols

Of u.S. Imperial power...

Wall street and the pentagon.

More than 3,000 people
lost their lives.

In new york, more than
2,700 people were killed,

Including some 500
who hailed from 91
different countries.

The nation watched in horror

As flames engulfed
the twin towers

Before their stunning collapse.

How could this happen
to the u.S.?

Who would dare attack us
in the heart of our empire,

So nakedly, so low-tech?

Where was this new world order?

Had we as a nation
not gotten it right?

Were we not good enough?

Had we not contained the evil

For 60 years
since world war ii?

Had we not restrained ourselves
from dropping the bomb

Since hiroshima and nagasaki?

And now, to some very powerful
american leaders,

It was as if they,
the outliers of empire,

These terrorists had dropped
hiroshima on us,

At the very least pearl harbor.

All-out war was called for.

On that day, an anger
and justification

For that anger
was unleashed on the world.

An enormous pandora's box
of dark energy

And pent-up fear of chaos,

Reminiscent of the late
19th century french revolution,

All came together in
a self-righteousness

That would spawn
a crusade against not only

Bin laden and his followers,

But all evil
in the world itself.

( thick foreign accent )
may u.S. And a kill

Every single terrorist.

( whooping and cheering )

May george Bush drink the blood

Of every single man,
woman and child of iraq!

Yeah!

Stone:
For Bush, it was not only

His destiny to be
a war president,

But this was a great awakening

On a global scale.

Bush declared...

George w. Bush:
Our responsibility to history

Is already clear...

To answer these attacks
and rid the world of evil.

The world, for the most part,

Responded with great empathy
for america.

Vladimir putin of the u.S.S.R.
Was one of the first

To offer help.

Major islamic figures
denounced the attacks

As a crime against humanity

And osama bin laden as a fraud,

A person who had no right
to issue religious edicts,

And no religious training.

Chris hedges, a veteran
middle east journalist,

Wrote several years later:

"the tragedy was that if

We had the courage
to be vulnerable,

If we had built on empathy,

We would be far safer
and more secure today

Than we are.

We responded exactly

As these terrorist
organizations

Wanted us to respond...

In the recent past,
american leaders,

Especially harry truman
at the end of world war ii,

Lyndon johnson,

Richard Nixon and ronald reagan

Had reacted radically
to the appearance of
vulnerability.

Johnson, most dramatically,
pointing to his

Sacrifice of the great society

To his fear of failure
in vietnam.

Perhaps this is
the achilles heel

Of the american
political process.

Compassion or empathy
is in short supply

And easily dismissed by those

Who are tougher
as naivete or softness.

Yet it is compassion
for the other

That, in the end,
has distinguished

Our greatest leaders...

Be it washington, jefferson,

Lincoln, roosevelt

Or on other fronts,

People such as
martin luther king.

Had al gore been in office

Instead of being derided
by the media

As a know-it-all
who annoyed them,

Might he not have
emotionally connected

To a world that had hardened
in its hatred of u.S. Policies?

Might he not have acted
in humbler fashion

And pursued the terrorists

With the traditional structures

Of diplomacy,
intelligence services

And firm police action?

Would not the same results
have been achieved

Without making new enemies
that could be perceived

As martyrs
to a young generation

Of emerging radicals?

Would he have kicked off

A truly virtual world war iii?

George Bush instead
put the world on notice.

Every nation and every region

Now has a decision to make.

Either you're with us

Or you are with the terrorists.

( applause )

Stone: And framing his right
to do so

As a monumental struggle
between good and evil.

Imagine any citizen
of any country in the world

Being told by a man like this,

"you're either with us
or against us."

And imagine how you would feel
about america.

Chalmers johnson wrote,
before his death,

That "americans like to say
the world changed

As a result of September 11,"

But that it was
more accurate to say

That america was becoming

"a new rome, the greatest
colossus in history

No longer bound
by international law,

The concerns of allies

Or any constraints
on its use of military force."

The american people were still
largely in the dark

About why they had
been attacked

Or why their state department
began warning them

Against terrorism

In an ever-growing list
of foreign countries.

But a growing number finally
began to grasp

What most non-americans
already knew

And had experienced over
the previous half-century.

Namely that
the United States
was something other

Than what it professed to be,

That it was in fact
a military juggernaut

Intent on world domination.

Instead of explaining

The real reasons
for the attacks,

Al qaeda's fierce opposition

To u.S. Troops
in saudi arabia

And to u.S. Support
for israel

In its ongoing struggle
with the palestinians...

Bush mouthed platitudes,
asking...

Why do they hate us?

He answered for us:

They hate our freedoms...

Our freedom of religion,
our freedom of speech,

Our freedom to vote
and assemble

And disagree with each other.

How ironic that Bush 41

Had actually squandered
world peace

By unleashing in panama

And the first iraq
the furies of war.

And that his son,
striking out blindly

And virtually bankrupting
his nation

Precisely as bin laden
hoped he would,

Had now found his destiny

In his father's ancestral genes

As "america's war president"...

In a war that
by Dick Cheney's reckoning

Could "last forever."

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