All language subtitles for 10-Bush & Obama-Age of Terror

Martin luther king jr.:
A nation that continues
year after year

To spend more money
on military defense

Than on programs
of social uplift

Is approaching
spiritual death.

Henry wallace:
The source of all
our mistakes is fear.

Out of fear,

Great nations have been
acting like cornered beasts,

Thinking only
of survival.

George w. Bush:
Every nation in every region

Now has a decision to make.

Either you are with us

Or you are
with the terrorists.

( applause )

Stone:
For most americans,
9/11 was a terrible tragedy.

For george bush
and dick cheney,

It was that plus more--

A chance to implement
the agenda

That their neoconservative
allies had been working up
for decades.

The project for
the new american century's

Recent report called
"rebuilding america's defenses"

Had said "the process
of transformation is
likely to be a long one,

Absent some catastrophic
and catalyzing event,

Like a new pearl harbor."

Al qaeda, in their mind,

Had given us pearl harbor.

And within minutes
of the attack,

The bush team
leapt into action.

With bush in florida,

Vice president cheney
and his legal counsel

David addington,

Took charge,
arguing that the president

As a wartime
commander-in-chief

Could act virtually unfettered
by legal constraints.

On September 12th,

Already looking past
all qaeda's

Osama bin laden group
in afghanistan,

Bush, back in washington,
instructed counter-terrorism
chief richard clark...

Bush's voice:
See if saddam did this.

See if he's linked
in any way.

"it was iraq,
saddam.

Find out,
get back to me."

And the reaction
you got that day

From the defense secretary,
donald rumsfeld,

From his assistant
paul wolfowitz?

Well, donald rumsfeld said,

When we talked about bombing
the al qaeda infrastructure
in afghanistan,

He said there were
"no good targets
in afghanistan.

Let's bomb iraq."

And we said,
"but iraq had nothing
to do with this."

And that didn't seem
to make much difference.

Stone:
Donald rumsfeld had,
already on September 11th,

Ordered strike plans
for iraq.

"go massive," he said.

"sweep it all up,
things related and not."

Within a matter of days,
bush announced

Before a joint
session of congress

That the United States was
embarking on a global war.

From this day forward,

Any nation that continues
to harbor or support terrorism

Will be regarded
by the United States

As a hostile regime.

Stone:
At home, 1,200 men were
quickly arrested and detained,

Another 8,000 sought
for interrogation,

Mostly muslims.

Bush rushed a 362-page

U.S.A. Patriot act
through congress.

Senators had no time
to read the bill,

Let alone debate it.

Only senator russ feingold

Of wisconsin voted
against it, insisting...

Feingold:
Preserving our freedom

Is one of the main reasons
that we are now engaged

In this new war
on terrorism.

We will lose that war
without firing a shot

If we sacrifice the liberties
of the american people.

Stone:
Bush cloaked
white house deliberations

In an unprecedented
veil of secrecy,

And in 2002, empowered
the national security agency

To conduct
warrantless wiretaps

And monitor u.S. Citizens'
emails on a massive scale...

Eyes and ears
in every room.

...In violation
of legal reviews

Required by legislation
passed in 1978

In reaction to
intelligence abuses of
the previous decades.

The administration
barraged the public

With constant alerts,
heightened security,

And a five-tier system
of color-coded warnings.

The system was at times
being politically manipulated

By rumsfeld and
attorney general john ashcroft,

And in 2005, tom ridge,

Under pressure,
felt compelled to resign.

Potential terror targets
jumped from 160 sites in 2003

To over 300,000
in the next four years.

Amazingly,
indiana led all states

With 8600 potential
targets by 2006.

The national database
included

Petting zoos, donut shops,
popcorn stands,

Ice cream parlors
and the mule day parade

In columbia, tennessee.

The unreality of the time
continued to heighten.

At the start of world war ii,
franklin roosevelt warned,

"war costs money--

That means taxes and bonds
and bonds and taxes.

It means cutting luxuries
and other nonessentials."

Bush instead
cut taxes on the wealthy
and told americans:

Fly and enjoy america's
great destination spots.

Take your families
and enjoy life.

Stone: Ironically,
it was arch-cold warrior
zbigniew brzezinski

Who in 2007 decried bush's...

Brzezinski's voice:
Five years of almost continuous

National brainwashing.

Where is the u.S. Leader
ready to say

"enough of this hysteria;
stop this paranoia"?

Even in the face of
future terrorist attacks,

The likelihood of which
cannot be denied,

Let us show some sense.

Let us be true
to our traditions.

Stone:
Terrorism,
he stressed repeatedly,

Was a tactic,
not an ideology

And declaring war
on a tactic

Made absolutely
no sense.

We must stop the terror.

I call upon all nations
to do everything they can

To stop these
terrorist killers.

Thank you.
Now watch this drive.

Stone:
But the real weight
of bush's global crusade

Would be felt abroad.

Less than a month after
the terrorist attacks,

The u.S. Invaded
afghanistan,

Ostensibly to destroy some
of the same islamic fanatics

The u.S. Had helped arm
and train to defeat
the soviets

Two decades earlier.

Critics of the war
would point out later

That no afghans were among
the 19 9/11 hijackers,

15 of whom were saudi;

And that u.S. Bungling
allowed osama bin laden

And other al qaeda leaders
to escape into pakistan

In early December.

The c.I.A. Did round up
thousands of suspects

In afghanistan and beyond.

Although the u.S.
Had always considered

Its humane treatment
of prisoners of war

A sign of its
moral superiority,

The bush administration
branded detainees as...

...Waived the battlefield
hearings required,

And placed them outside
the conventions of treatment

Mandated by the geneva
convention of 1949.

When foreign governments
criticized his position,

Bush backed down
on the taliban suspects,

But refused
to change his policy
for the al qaeda fighters.

Bush said...

Bush's voice:
I don't care what
the international lawyers say,

We are going to kick some ass.

Stone:
The u.S. Flew
an unknown number of detainees

To secret "black sites"
around the world

In such places as thailand,
poland, romania, and morocco,

Where torture and other
"harsh interrogation
techniques"

Were implemented.

Hundreds of others were
imprisoned at the u.S.
Naval station

At guantanamo bay, cuba.

At its peak in may 2003,

The prison held
roughly 680 men,

Age 13 to 98.

5% of these were captured
by u.S. Troops.

More than 80%
were turned over,

Often for cash rewards,

By a combination
of afghan warlord militias

And both afghan and
pakistani bounty hunters.

Government sources show that
only 8% were al qaeda fighters.

600 have been released,

Six convicted,
and according
to the government,

Nine have died--
most from suicide.

As of 2012,

166 men from
more than 20 countries

Remain in guantanamo.

The bush administration
encouraged the c.I.A.

To employ 10 enhanced
interrogation methods

That were the product
of decades of research
into torture,

Honed by allies
in foreign countries.

In February 2004,

Major general antonio taguba
reported that his investigation

Had turned up
numerous instances of...

Taguba's voice:
Sadistic, blatant,
and wanton criminal abuses

...At abu ghraib prison
in iraq.

Taguba's voice:
There is no longer any doubt

As to whether
the current administration

Has committed war crimes.

Stone:
Arthur schlesinger, jr.,
a former kennedy aide,

Said this torture policy
was the...

Schlesinger's voice:
Most dramatic sustained
and radical challenge

To the rule of law
in american history.

No position taken
has done more damage

To the american reputation
in the world... Ever!

Stone:
Although the security
situation in afghanistan

Worsened over
the next seven years,

And the u.S. Presence grew
from 2500 to 30,000 troops,

Afghanistan was
a distraction to bush.

His attention was
focused on toppling

His father's old adversary--
saddam hussein.

Bush:
Evidence from
intelligence sources,

Secret communications
and statements

By people now in custody,

Reveal that saddam hussein aids
and protects terrorists...

Including members
of al qaeda.

Stone:
As had bill casey
in the 1980s

And lyndon johnson
in vietnam,

Bush used
false intelligence.

Bush:
There is no question
that the leader of iraq

Is an evil man.

After all,
he gassed his own people.

We know
he's been developing

Weapons
of mass destruction.

Stone:
U.N. Inspectors
searched high and low,

Visiting sites
identified by the c.I.A.

They found nothing,
but bush insisted

The w.M.D. Were there.

Bush:
The british government has
learned that saddam hussein

Recently sought
significant quantities
of uranium from africa.

Stone:
Bush told bob woodward

Of "the washington post"
around this time...

Bush's voice:
I do not need to explain
why I say things.

I don't feel like
I owe anybody

Any explanations.

Stone:
These were extraordinary times.

Words took on new meanings,

Fulfilling george orwell's
prophecies of "doublespeak"

In his novel "1984"--

First they steal the words,
then they steal the meaning.

Words like "axis of evil,"
"war against terror,"

"regime change,"
"simulated drowning,"

"preventive war."

Civilians killed were now
"collateral damage."

C.I.A. Kidnappings

Were now
"extraordinary renditions."

And that most patriotic
concept, "the homeland,"

Grew into a gargantuan
new federal agency

As labyrinthine
as the pentagon.

The french philosopher voltaire
in the 18th century observed,

"those who can make you
believe absurdities

Can make you
commit atrocities."

The descent into unreality
was dizzying.

"black hawk down," another
popular oscar-nominated film

Appeared in late 2001,

Glorifying american
heroism and technology

In 1990's somalia.

Through technology, video games
became more and more lifelike.

And on television

Increasingly bizarre and
fanciful reality game shows

Prospered in the ratings.

Jenna, the tribe
has spoken.

U.S. Media beat
the drums of war.

M.S.N.B.C., which was owned
by general electric,

Cancelled phil donahue's
popular primetime show

Three weeks before
the invasion.

Officials feared
that the show...

And wave the flag
they did.

C.N.N., fox, n.B.C. Paraded

Over 75 retired
generals and officers,

Almost all of whom
were later revealed

To be working directly
for military contractors.

Pentagon officials
gave them talking points,

Portraying iraq
as an urgent threat.

Major newspapers
and magazines,

Including "the new york times,"
advanced the same message.

One bush insider told
journalist ron suskind

That suskind represented
"the reality-based community,"

But "that's not the way
the world works anymore.

We're an empire now,

And when we act,
we create our own reality."

When France,
germany and russia,

As well as most of
the security council,

Refused to support
the u.S. Position,

Bush was furious
and rumsfeld sneered...

You're thinking of europe
as germany and France.

I don't.

I think that's old europe.

Stone:
French fries in
the congressional cafeteria

Were renamed
"freedom fries,"

Just as sauerkraut
became "liberty cabbage"
during world war I.

Bush laid out
his new strategy

In a speech to the cadets
at west point in June 2002.

We must take
the battle to the enemy,

Disrupt its plans

And confront
the worst threats

Before they emerge.

Stone:
The u.S. Would act
unilaterally and preemptively

To overthrow
any government

Deemed a threat
to u.S. Security.

Cheney had declared...

Cheney's voice:
If there's a 1% chance
pakistani scientists

Are helping al qaeda build
or develop a nuclear weapon,

We have to treat it
as a certainty

In terms of our response.

In the world
we have entered,

The only path to safety

Is the path of action.

And this nation will act.

Stone: 60 countries
made it on to bush's
potential hit list.

With bush calling
for a moral crusade,

Saying that the United States
must defend liberty and justice

Because these principles
are right and true

For all people everywhere.

Moral truth is the same
in every culture,

In every time
and in every place.

Stone:
It was a bold statement
of american exceptionalism.

Bruce bartlett, who served

In both the reagan
and first bush administrations
explained...

Bartlett's voice:
This is why george w. Bush
is so clear-eyed

About al qaeda
and the islamic
fundamentalist enemy.

He understands them
because he's just like them.

He truly believes
he's on a mission from god.

The whole thing about faith
is to believe things

For where there is
no empirical evidence.

I have a sense of calm

Knowing that
the bible's admonition,

"thy will be done,"

Is life's guide.

Stone:
In early October of 2002,

Congress empowered bush
to go to war

Against iraq
on his own authority,

Whenever he deemed it
appropriate,

Using whatever means,

Including nuclear weapons,
he felt necessary.

The resolution drew
a direct connection

Between iraq and al qaeda.

Among those authorizing this

Were senators john kerry
and hillary clinton.

This would cost
both of them dearly

In their runs for president.

Not all were fooled.

Escalating this war
and expanding this war

Does nothing in terms
of our national security.

It puts us more at risk.

Iraq was not a haven
for terrorists as it is now.

Again, iraq,
saddam hussein and al qaeda--

There was no connection and
we have to dispel that notion

So the american people
know the truth.

Stone:
Millions of protesters hit
the streets around the world--

Three million in rome,

A million in london,

Hundreds of thousands
in new york.

"time" magazine surveyed
several hundred thousand
europeans.

84% thought the United States

The greatest threat to peace;

8% thought iraq was.

Bush sent secretary of state
colin powell,

The most respected member
of his administration,

Before the united nations
to make a case for war.

He told powell...

Bush's voice:
Maybe they'll believe you.

Saddam hussein is determined

To get his hands
on a nuclear bomb.

Stone:
Powell spoke
for 75 minutes.

It was a thoroughly
shameful performance,

Promoting false intelligence

That powell later called
a low point in his career.

But the speech, although
it fell flat overseas,

Had the desired impact
on u.S. Public opinion.

Support for the war
jumped from 50% to 63%.

"the washington post"
pronounced the evidence
on w.M.D. "irrefutable."

The u.S., without
a security council resolution,

Was moving inexorably
towards war.

The truth was even darker.

For bush, iraq was
only the appetizer.

After devouring iraq,
the neocons had their eyes set

On the main course.

Pentagon officials foresaw
a 5-year campaign

With a total
of seven targeted countries,

Beginning with iraq,
syria, lebanon, libya,

Somalia, sudan
and the biggest prize of all,

Iran.

It would be a war
to remake the world

The neoconservative way.

Talk of empire abounded.

"the new york times"
Sunday magazine cover

For January 5, 2003 read:

"american empire:
Get used to it."

Bush clearly was a man
with a boldness of vision.

He'd always exhibited an
outlaw side as a younger man.

Now he would outdo
his towering father

By going beyond
the laws of nations.

The 8-year war became
the debacle critics predicted.

Iraqi society
was rent asunder.

Like vietnam,
it warped america,

Polarizing it even further
as costs and casualties

Mounted on all sides.

Yet remarkably,
bush won the 2004 election

With a naked appeal to even
more fervent patriotism.

By 2008,
when bush left office

With the most dismal poll
ratings since harry truman,

He had not only thoroughly
mismanaged two wars...

As well as the federal relief
efforts for new orleans

In the aftermath
of hurricane katrina,

But most importantly,
in the eyes of the public,

He mismanaged
the economy of the country

Which nearly collapsed
in 2008

And ensured the presidency
to the democrats.

His successor,
barack hussein obama,

Child of a black
kenyan father

And a white kansas mother,

Who was raised
in indonesia and hawaii,

Became at 47 president
of the United States

Evoking great
hopes for change.

His words and demeanor attested
to the other side of america--

Constitutional, humanist,
global, environmental.

Obama had spoken out strongly
against the iraq war.

What I do oppose
is a dumb war.

Stone: Financed by
the internet's multitude
of small contributors

Stunned the heavily
favored and financed

Democratic party choice,

Hillary clinton
in the primaries.

He now confronted
an ex-military man,

Conservative john mccain
in the national election.

The wind was at obama's back.

Perhaps not since roosevelt
in the early 1930s

Was there such
populist anger at wall street

And the unnecessary
wars of empire.

But then an unexpected
thing happened.

Obama betrayed
his earlier promise,

And became the first candidate
to run in a general election

To reject public financing

In favor of private financing
without limits.

Mccain, who took
the public option,

Was badly outspent
two to one.

In this period, obama turned
quietly to wall street funders

With deep pockets like
j.P. Morgan, goldman sachs

And citigroup,
as well as general electric

And other defense contractors,
computer giants

And the pharmaceuticals
industry.- Big pharma.-

Which reversed years
of supporting republicans,

Giving obama three times
as much as mccain.

Few of obama's supporters
complained at the time.

His victory
in the national election

Was applauded
across the world--

A new america was here.

Though conservatives would
absurdly decry obama
as a socialist,

By far the biggest
winner in the election

Turned out to be wall street.

Obama brought back
the same economic team

That under clinton
had done so much

To deregulate the economy.

"the new york times"
referred to them as

"a constellation of rubinites,"

Acolytes of the most powerful
treasury secretary in decades,

Robert rubin.

After nearly wrecking
the world economy

With spectacular innovations
in leveraging and speculation,

Several giant banks,
insurance companies

And mortgage lenders,
prophesying the collapse
of the world's economy

If they went under--
they were in other words
"too big to fail"--

Eagerly accepted
a $700 billion bailout

On remarkably easy terms.

In addition,
the federal reserve board

Cut the interest rate
for banks to 0%.

It became almost
unpatriotic at the time

To question the rightness
of these financial rescues.

But there were
those who wondered--

Could not some of
the sicker financial entities

Be let go and broken up?

Could not these giants
be confronted

With the real market value
of their toxic assets?

The public wanted revenge.

It was a classic depression
back room moment,

As illustrated
by frank capra.

You sit there back
of your big cigars

And think of deliberately
killing an idea

That's made millions of people
a little bit happier,

An idea that's brought
thousands of them here

From all over the country

By bus and by freight
and jalopies,

And on foot!

So they could pass
onto each other

Their own simple
little experiences.

Why look,

I'm just a mug
and I know it.

But I'm beginning to
understand a lot of things.

Why, your type's
as old as history.

If you can't lay
your dirty fingers

On a decent idea
and twist it and squeeze it

And stuff it
into your own pocket,

You slap it down!
Like dogs,

If you can't eat something,
you bury it!

Stone:
Former federal reserve
chairman, paul volcker,

Urged obama to act.

Volcker's voice:
Right now, when you have
your chance

And their breasts are bared,

You need to put a spear
through the heart

Of all these guys
on wall street

That for years have been
mostly debt merchants.

Stone:
But it didn't happen.
The bailout was forced through

A panicked congress,
the media applauded.

The treasury made
no immediate demands

That bankers make that money
available in new loans

To businesses
or the public,

Or, for that matter,
cut their personal
compensations.

And made no demands that
shareholders or bondholders

Absorb any losses.

Taxpayers would fund
the bailout alone.

The biggest losers over time
would be workers,

Pensioners,
older people with savings,

Homeowners,
small businessmen,

Students with loans, and those,
especially african-americans,

Who lost their jobs
to a surging,

Structural
unemployment problem.

Many simply lost
their tenuous grip

On the proverbial
american dream

Of joining
the middle class.

The myth of upward mobility
was shattered.

The bankers, or "banksters"
as they were nicknamed

During the great depression
of the 1930s,

Had talked
of voluntary restraint,

But received record
compensation packages

For the next two years.

Whereas c.E.O.S
in britain and canada

Earned 20 times as much
as the average worker in 2010--

And in japan 11 times--

In the u.S., c.E.O.S made

343 times as much
as the average worker.

The number of billionaires
went from 13 in '85

To 450 in 2008.

While the minimum wage
stagnated at $5.15 an hour

From '97 to '2007,

The poverty rate was higher
than at any time

Since the 1960s.

The net worth of
the average american family

Actually dropped almost 40%

From $126,000 in 2007

To $77,000 in 2010.

By 2011, the top 1%

Had more wealth than
the bottom 90 percent.

Populist anger
boiled over into the
occupy wall street movement,

A kind of protest not seen
since the 1930s.

The right-wing tea party
expressed a different
kind of anger

Fueled by advocacy groups like
americans for prosperity,

Largely funded
by the conservative,
billionaire koch brothers.

The confused american public,
not knowing who to blame

For persisting
economic hardship,

Handed the republicans
a sweeping victory

In 2010's mid-term elections,

But only more gridlock and
confusion pervaded washington.

Obama, who'd swept to office
amid such euphoria,

Now walked a fine line,

Avoiding fatal mistakes,

But failing to deliver
on hope or change.

During the 2008 campaign,

The constitutional professor
had promised

"transparency
and the rule of law

Will be the touchstones
of this presidency."

Yet, in office,
he refused to relinquish
the expanded powers

Usurped by
the bush administration--

As a passive population
continued to consent

To being stripped in front
of airport screeners,

Permit eavesdropping
on their communications

And pay for vast
new security programs.

It did not make political sense
for obama to ease

This heightened state
of alert,

In the risk that a single
terrorist incident

Would certainly result
in renewed media hysteria

And a republican
I-told-you-so firestorm

That could cost him
his presidency.

Ever in the middle
of all this coming at you,

You think maybe
one term is enough?

The one thing
I'm clear about

Is that I'd rather be

A really good
one-term president

Than a mediocre
two-term president.

Stone: Instead of fighting
for transparency, however,

Obama became
a far more effective manager

Of the national
security state.

Like bush,
he repeatedly invoked

The state secrets privilege
in lawsuits

Involving torture,
extraordinary rendition

And illegal
n.S.A. Eavesdropping.

He blocked habeas corpus rights
for enemy combatants,

Preserved military
commissions and authorized,
without due process,

The killing of
a u.S. Citizen in yemen

Accused of having ties
to al qaeda.

Obama stunned
civil libertarians when he took

Bush-era investigations
to the next level,

And began prosecuting
government whistleblowers
and reporters

Using the world war I era
espionage act.

Only three cases
had been brought in 92 years.

Obama initiated
six cases of dubious merit--

Most defendants claiming
to have exposed unlawful
activity in the government.

Most prominent was
bradley manning,

An army intelligence
analyst in iraq,

Who leaked over
260,000 classified

Diplomatic cables
and war reports,

As well as videos,
distributed by wikileaks,

A non-profit whistleblower
media organization.

These revelations
of u.S. War crimes in iraq

And afghanistan,
and u.S. Support

For dictatorial regimes
in the region

Proved to be
a significant catalyst

For the arab spring uprisings
in egypt, tunisia,

Yemen, libya and bahrain.

Nonetheless,
obama's administration has

Severely impaired
the operation of wikileaks

And threatens to prosecute
its co-founder.

These actions sent a clear
message to all whistleblowers:

Commit war crimes
like bush and cheney

And you walk free.

Expose them,
and you risk careers

And huge fines.

Or, like manning,
you rot in jail.

One of the leading defenders

Of the new standards
of conduct, jack goldsmith,

Former head of the bush office
of legal counsel,

Reassured cheney
and other anxious neocons

In an article,
saying that obama was...

Goldsmith's voice:
...Like nixon going to china.

The changes he had made
are destined to fortify

The bulk of the bush program
for the long run.

Stone:
This was a new shadow world.

In 2010, "the washington post"
called it

"an alternative geography
of the United States,

A top-secret america

Hidden from public view."

Almost a million and a half
people had top security
clearances.

More than 3,000 government

And private security
corporations existed.

1.7 billion e-mails
and communications

Were intercepted
and stored every day

By the national
security agency.

Political commentator

And constitutional lawyer
glen greenwald

Best described
this truly radical change

In our world
when he wrote,

"the core guarantee
of western justice

Since the magna carta
was codified in the u.S.

By the fifth amendment
to the constitution..."

He might well have
added the fourth amendment
to the constitution...

Without due process
and the right to privacy,

Each of us is essentially
living at the mercy

Of the surveillance state.

All this in the name

Of stopping a terrorist threat

Blown wildly
out of proportion.

Obama's foreign policy
seemed more reasonable

Than bush's,
repudiating the unilateralism

And preemption that had
so outraged world opinion.

But the goal, embracing
u.S. Global domination,
differed little.

And even the means
were frustratingly similar.

In 2011, bush's former n.S.A.

And c.I.A. Director,
general michael hayden,

Took comfort
in the powerful continuity

Between two
vastly different presidents,

Saying that...

Hayden's voice:
Americans have found
a comfortable center line

In what it is they accept
their government doing.

Stone:
He called it a...

( hayden's voice )

Stone:
His own experience
in foreign affairs limited,

Obama surrounded himself
with hawkish advisors.

Among them, bush holdover,
secretary of defense
robert gates,

A hard-liner
from the bill casey
c.I.A. Era of the '80s.

Hillary clinton,
as secretary of state,

Was equally hawkish.

In an early speech,
clinton presented

A version of american history
steeped in

Unvarnished triumphalism
and historical amnesia.

So let me say it clearly--

The United States can,
must and will lead

In this new century.

The third world war

That so many feared
never came.

And many millions of people
were lifted out of poverty,

And exercised their human rights
for the first time.

Those were the benefits
of a global architecture

Forged over many years

By american leaders
from both political parties.

Stone:
It would be difficult
to find and ask

The millions killed
over many decades

Of american interference
in their countries

What they thought.

The people of hiroshima
and nagasaki,

The philippines,
central america,

Greece,

Iran,

Brazil, cuba,

Congo,

Indonesia, vietnam,

Cambodia, laos,

Chile, east timor,

Iraq

And afghanistan,

Among others.

In afghanistan, obama,

Calling it
"a war of necessity,"

Doubled down on bush.

Pressure in late 2009
into sending more troops,

He waivered.

He was told by
a military advisor,

"I don't see how you can defy
your military chain here,"

Meaning that his high command
might resign in protest.

C.I.A. Director leon panetta
told him,

"no democratic president
can go against military advice,

Especially if he asks for it.
So just do it,"

He recommended.
"do what they say."

When it came down
to his decision,

Obama did not show
the courage of a john kennedy.

In December,
he announced another
30,000 troop increase

To reach almost 100,000--

About the same number
the soviets had deployed

In their disastrous invasion
of afghanistan.

He announced
the troop increase

At westpoint,
reminding the cadets

That the u.S. Had invaded
afghanistan

Because it had provided
sanctuary for al qaeda.

But he neglected to mention
that most of the preparation

For 9/11 took place
not in afghanistan,

But in apartments
in germany and Spain

And flight schools
in the u.S.,

Or that only 50 to 100
of al qaeda's 300 cadre

Were actually

Left in afghanistan,

And that most were
now in pakistan,

An ally.

That the president
waging two wars

Would receive
the nobel peace prize

That same month was surreal
in the first place.

But when the world heard

Obama's defense

Of american unilateralism
and preemption,

The meaning of the prize
had been diminished,

As it had by kissinger
36 years earlier.

I believe the United States
of america must remain

A standard bearer
in the conduct of war.

That is what makes us different
from those whom we fight.

Stone:
Obama feared getting
bogged down in afghanistan,

As johnson had in vietnam.

What the backward,

Dirt-poor, overwhelmingly

Illiterate afghans needed

Was economic aid, education
and social reform.

The u.S. Spent

$110 billion
on military programs

In 2011, but only $2 billion

For sustainable development.

With big u.S. Money

Floating around,
as in vietnam,

Corruption reached
epic proportions.

Mistrust between
the supposed nato

And afghan allies soared.

The u.S.-Backed president
hamid karzai

Announced that he would

Support pakistan
if it should go to war

With the u.S.

By 2012, afghan soldiers
and police

Were killing u.S. Troops
with such increasing regularity

That the forces had to be
increasingly separated.

Meanwhile, bedraggled,
demoralized u.S. Forces

Left iraq in December 2011.

Almost 4500 u.S. Troops
would not come home,

More than 32,000 wounded,

Many of them severely.

Iraqi death counts
ranged from 150,000

To over a million.

Two million iraqis
fled the country.

The irony was exquisite.

In deposing the sunni hussein,
the United States had turned

The new shiite-dominated iraq

Into a valuable ally of iran,

Which ended up
the war's biggest winner.

Bush officials
had estimated the iraq war

To cost $50 to $60 billion.

Rumsfeld had called anything
above 100 billion "baloney."

By 2008
when bush left office,

The u.S. Had spent
some $700 billion on the war,

Not including
long-term care for veterans.

Economists project
total long-term costs

As high as 3 trillion.

Obama welcomed the troops home
at fort bragg, north carolina,

Ensuring that the end
of the war would be as
dishonest as its beginning.

But we're leaving behind
a sovereign, stable and
self-reliant iraq.

Unlike the old empires,

We don't make
these sacrifices

For territory
or for resources.

We do it
because it's right.

Never forget that you are
part of an unbroken line

Of heroes
spanning two centuries.

To your grandparents
and parents

Who faced down fascism
and communism

And delivered justice

To those who attacked us
on 9/11.

Stone:
Thus sanctioning,
once again, bush's lie

About the connection
of 9/11 to iraq.

The words were barely
out of his mouth

Before iraq was racked
with a new series

Of deadly suicide bombings.

To this day, iraq teeters
on the edge of civil war.

Among the two wars'
fiercest critics

Were the nation's mayors,

Who gathered in baltimore
in June 2011

And called for using
$126 billion in savings

From these wars
to rebuild the nation's cities.

The mayor of los angeles
was quoted as saying...

Villaraigosa's voice:
That we would build bridges
in baghdad and kandahar

And not baltimore
and kansas city

Absolutely boggles the mind.

Stone:
For the american people,

Deadened to these wars,

A single bright spot
in this foreign miasma

Came in may 2011--

A bold cross-border raid

At night by navy seals

Killed osama bin laden,

Living comfortably
in the shadow of pakistan's

Premier military academy.

In the euphoria

The raid created
in the u.S.,

Celebrating the skill
and power of the seals

Who had executed
bin laden vigilante-style

And dumped
his body at sea,

A new profile
was created for obama,

As unlike bush,
an effective war president

Who would,
by any means necessary,

Hunt down the enemy.

In fact, really a wolf
in sheep's clothing.

After a firefight,
they killed osama bin laden

And took custody
of his body.

Stone:
A celebrated movie even implied

Torture as effective

In finding bin laden.

Though, in fact,
it had been ordinary police

And espionage work
that located him

After almost 10 years.

For god and country,

Geronimo is k.I.A.

- ( chuckles )
- man: Oh my god.

Stone:
Nonetheless, america's
capacity for self-love

Was again in full flower.

And there were no troubling
discussions of bringing

A wounded bin laden back

For imprisonment
and trial,

As the United States
had done at nuremberg,

Where the nazi defendants
were unmasked and diminished.

But a trial was the last thing
most americans wanted.

Those who accepted torture

Could tolerate
vigilante justice.

But who was
the real victor here?

After estimated trillions
of dollars spent in two wars,

Hundreds of thousands
of dead worldwide,

An endless war on terror,

The loss of civil liberties
and confidence

In one presidency

And the near-collapse
of the empire's financial
structure along with it,

It can be said
by a neutral observer

That at the least
the u.S. Had won

A pyrrhic victory
in which its losses

Had made victory pointless.

Bin laden,
with his twisted vision

Of a new caliphate,
was dead,

But had achieved far more
than he ever dreamed.

He goaded the largest,
most powerful empire
in history

To reveal its worst nature.

And like the wizard of oz,

It didn't look so great
and mighty.

Who are you?

Oh, I-- I--
I am the great
and powerful...

( meekly )
wizard of oz.

Stone:
Bin laden's martyrdom

In the eyes of his followers,

Cemented his place
in the history books

As a catalyst
who weakened and perhaps

Helped destroy
the old world order.

Some might call him

The hannibal
or attila of roman myth,

A robespierre to
the old french order,

Lenin to czarist russia,

Even a modern hitler
to the british empire,

Which came to its end
in his wake.

Bin laden was gone.

But what would
the United States do now?

Still tormented

By its demons,
it turned its gaze

Fully to china
as a new threat

And persisted in
treating russia

As an old one,
as well as maintaining iran,

North korea and venezuela
as regional threats.

Seeking to find
a more efficient,

Leaner form of warfare,
obama in 2012 announced...

First used for surveillance
in vietnam, the drone,

When equipped with missiles,
was now becoming

The modern face of warfare

And obama's weapon of choice.

He personally began selecting
those on the kill list.

Prior to 9/11, the united
states had opposed

Extra-judicial targeted killing
by other nations,

Condemning israel's
targeting of palestinians.

But by 2012, the air force
and c.I.A. Were deploying

A 7,000 drone armada,

Used mostly in afghanistan,
iraq and pakistan.

Obama expanded its usage

To yemen in 2009,

Where there were fewer
than 300 militants.

By mid-2012,
that number had increased

To over 1,000,
as a steady barrage

Of u.S. Drone attacks

Outraged yemeni citizens.

By 2012, obama added

Gaddafi's libyan supporters,
islamic rebels

In the philippines

And somalia
to the drone list.

The repercussions
of this style of warfare

Are yet to be experienced.

The number of civilian
casualties of these attacks

Are fiercely contested
by the u.S. Government

And several human rights
organizations.

When the judge
asked the pakistani-born
"time square bomber"

How he could risk killing
innocent women and children,

He replied that u.S. Drones
were regularly

Killing women and children
in afghanistan

And pakistan.

The cat was certainly
out of the bag.

And by 2012,

More than 50 countries,
some friendly

And some hostile
to the u.S.,

Had purchased drones.

Israel, russia, india
and iran claimed

To have mastered
manufacturing lethal ones.

But the most dynamic program
was china's.

As with the nuclear bomb,
a new arms race was on.

Bush had continued

Clinton's expansion
of nato bases closer to russia,

Breaking his father's promise
to gorbachev.

Obama expanded nato
to albania an croatia.

And despite abandoning
500 bases in iraq,

The obama administration,
in addition to an estimated

6,000 bases in the u.S.,
is maintaining

Close to 1,000
overseas bases

That span the globe.

The u.S. Had,
by late 2007,

Gained a military presence,

According to stanford's
chalmers johnson,

In 151 of 192
u.N. Member nations.

In 2008, africom,
based in germany,

Was added
as a sixth command responsible

For growing u.S. Military
presence in africa.

Southcom, based in miami,

Was reorganized in 2010

To increase u.S. Military
presence in latin america

With bases
and surveillance systems,

Counter-drug
and counter-insurgency
programs targeting...

"...As seen in venezuela."

The fourth fleet
was reactivated in 2008

For the first time since
world war ii.

The navy now has
10 carrier strike groups

Patrolling
international waters.

Announcer:
America's navy,

A global force for good.

Stone: In 2011,
the u.S. Sold an astonishing

78% of the world's arms.

During the bush years,

Pentagon spending
more than doubled

To 700 billion dollars.

Although the real
pentagon budget

Blurs into secret functions

And different departments
of government,

By 2010,
according to the national
priorities project,

The u.S. Actually spends
an estimated...

...On military,

Intelligence
and homeland security--

A full spectrum dominance
of land, sea, air,

Space and cyberspace.

In November 2011,

Secretary of state clinton

Threw down the gauntlet
on china, writing...

Calling this...

She meant a substantially
increased military
involvement

In the asia/pacific region
to contain china.

Beginning with the opium wars
in the 19th century,

China has been
humiliated time and again
by stronger foes--

Britain, japan, russia.

It fought
the u.S. To a standoff

In korea
in the early 1950s.

China is a proud nation--

The world's
second-largest economy.

A hybrid--
part state-owned,

Part-capitalist--
it has replaced the u.S.

As asia's main trading partner.

But in 1996, chinese leaders
were humiliated again

By u.S. Nuclear
missile-rattling

During another confrontation
over taiwan.

And with its economic interests

And shipping lanes to protect,

It set out
to modernize its military.

In 2012,
the pentagon estimated

Chinese expenditures
of $160 billion.

But given the secrecy
of the chinese system,

The real budget is
unknowable at this time.

Although it has only
one foreign base,

Its hard line over
disputed oil, gas

And mineral-rich islands

And territories in the east
and south china seas

Have escalated tensions

With its regional neighbors.

Internally, the government,

Communist in name only,

Remains politically backward--

Determined at any cost

To modernize,

And brutally willing

To stifle dissent
where its one-party rule

Has been questioned.

Western democracies,

While doing business
with china,

Have condemned
these policies

To little avail.
But more ominously,

China has again attracted

The wrath of china-bashing

American hard-liners

Whose animosity dates back

To the mccarthy era.

A new face-off is
in the works.

The u.S. Has returned to asia,

Seeking new alliances,

Re-balancing its fleet,

Deploying its top
stealth war planes

To bases within
striking distance

Of china by 2017.

It has strengthened
military alliances

With china's neighbors,

Particularly japan,
south korea,

Taiwan, and the philippines,

Sending 2500 marines
to australia--

The first long-term
troop increase in asia

Since vietnam.

The chinese were deeply angry

Over the obama administration's

New arms sales of some

$12 billion to taiwan
in 2010 and '11.

They have accused the u.S.

Of seeking
to encircle them.

The fear of the u.S.

By others
cannot be underestimated.

As the late conservative
political scientist

Samuel huntington
acknowledged in 1996,

Huntington's voice:
The west won the war
not by the superiority

Of its ideas, values
or religion,

But rather by
its superiority

In the application
of organized viole

Westerners often
forget this fact.

Non-westerners never do.

Stone:
Progressive china experts

Fear the u.S. Is
once again employing

Truman's 1946 playbook
with the soviet union

In an attempt
to contain china.

The same situation
exists once again

With western revulsion
for china's internal policies.

But this time,
holding $1 trillion
in u.S. Treasury bonds,

The chinese could imperil
the u.S. Economy

In ways the soviets
never could.

Historian alfred mccoy
delineated the real stakes

When he wrote, "as early
as 2020, the pentagon hopes

To patrol the entire
globe ceaselessly,

Relentlessly,
via a triple canopy
space shield

Reaching from stratosphere
to exosphere,

Driven by drones
armed with agile missiles."

The triple canopy should be
able to blind an entire army

By knocking out
ground communications,

Avionics
and naval navigation.

But as mccoy cautions,
the illusion of technological
invincibility

And information omniscience
has failed arrogant nations
in the past,

As the fate of germany
in world war ii

And the u.S.
In vietnam attest.

With tragic irony,
mccoy reminds us

That the u.S.'s
"veto of global lethality"

Might be an equalizer
for any further loss

Of economic strength,

And that the u.S.'s "fate
might well be determined

By which comes first in this
century-long cycle:

Military debacle
from the illusion
of technological mastery,

Or a new
technological regime

Powerful enough to perpetuate
u.S. Global dominion."

But as a popular series

Of "star wars" movies shows,

A nation dominating the world
with its technology

Will soon become a tyranny...

Rise, my friend.

...That will be hated
by those who are tyrannized.

China may become
the first new empire

To emerge in this
nuclear-armed world,

But an empire modeled
on the u.S.

Or british versions
would be a disaster.

The great han chauvinism

Would be no better than
american exceptionalism.

Former defense official
joseph nye observed that

The dominant powers'
failure to integrate

The rising powers
of germany and japan

Into the 20th-century
global system

Resulted in two
catastrophic world wars.

History must not be allowed
to repeat itself again.

The chinese must shun
the american example

And the u.S. Must
reverse course.

Henry wallace
worried that if

The u.S. Treated
the soviets so badly

When the u.S. Was riding high
economically and militarily,

How would the soviets
treat the u.S.

When and if
the situation was reversed?

It never happened,

But this race to the bottom,
he understood,

Would have no winner.

As we close out this series

We must
ask ourselves humbly,

"in looking back
at the american century,

Have we acted wisely
and humanely in our relations

To the rest of the world?

A world in which the richest
few hundred or thousand

Or couple thousand
have more wealth

Than the poorest
three billion?

Have we been right
to police the globe?

Have we been a force for good,
for understanding, for peace?"

We must look
in the mirror.

Have we,
perhaps in our self-love,

Become the angels
of our own despair?

The claims of victory
in the second world war

And justification
for the atomic bomb
dropped on japan,

Though aimed
at the soviet union,

Were the founding myths
of our domination

And national
security state.

And the nation's elites
have benefitted from that.

The bomb has allowed us to win
by any means necessary,

Which makes us--
because we win-- right.

And because we are right,
we are therefore good.

Under these conditions

There is no morality
but our own.

As secretary of state
madeleine albright said,

"but if we have
to use force,

It is because
we are america;

We are
the indispensable nation."

Because we can
and have threatened
humanity with the bomb,

Our mistakes are forgiven

And our cruelties justified

As benignly-motivated
aberrations.

But domination
doesn't last.

Five major empires
have collapsed

In the lifetime of a person
born before world war ii:

Britain, France,
germany,

Japan
and the soviet union.

Three more empires earlier
in the 20th century:

The russian,
austro-hungarian

And ottoman.

If history is a barometer,

The United States' domination
will end as well.

We wisely resisted

Becoming a colonial empire

And most americans would deny
all imperial pretensions.

Perhaps that is why we cling
so doggedly to the myth

Of american exceptionalism--

American uniqueness,
benevolence, generosity.

Maybe in that fanciful notion

Lies the seeds
of american redemption,

The hope that the United States
will live up to that vision

Which seemed
within grasp in 1944

When wallace almost
became president

Or 1953 when stalin died

With a new u.S. President
in office,

Or j.F.K. And khrushchev
in 1963,

Or bush
and gorbachev in '89,

Or obama in 2008.

History has shown us

The curve of the ball
could have broken
differently.

These moments will come again
in a different form.

Will we be ready?

I think back
to franklin roosevelt

On the last day of his life
cabling churchill...

Roosevelt's voice:
I would minimize
the soviet problem

As much as possible,
because these problems,

In one form or another,
seem to arise every day

And most of them
straighten out.

Stone:
Calming down

The situations that occur,

Letting things happen

Without overreacting,

Seeing the world through
the eyes of our adversaries:

This way lies
in sharing in the needs
of other countries

With true empathy
and compassion,

Trusting a collective will
of this planet

To survive
the coming period,

Ending the threats
of nuclear annihilation
and global warming.

Can we not surrender
our exceptionalism

And our arrogance?

Can we not cut out
the talk of domination?

Can we stop appealing
to god to bless america
over other nations?

Hard-liners and nationalists
will object,

But theirs has proven
not to be the way.

A young woman said
to me in the 1970s,

"we need to feminize
this planet."

I thought it strange then,

But now I realize
there's power in love--

Real power in real love.

Let us find a way back
to respect the law--

Not of the jungle,
but the law of civilization--

By which we first came together
and put aside our differences

To preserve the things
that matter.

Herodotus wrote
in the fifth century
before christ,

"the first history
was written in the hope

Of preserving from decay

The remembrance of what
men have been."

And for that reason
the history of man

Is not only one
of blood and death,

But one also of honor,
achievement,

Kindness, memory

And civilization.

There is a way forward--

By remembering the past.

And then we can start,

Step by step like a baby,

Reaching for the stars.

J.F.K.:
For in the final analysis,

Our most basic common link

Is that we all inhabit
this small planet,

We all breathe
the same air,

We all cherish
our children's futures,

And we are all mortal.

( theme music playing )