Iraq – Rumsfeld's War – Interview with Lindsey Graham

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PBS Frontline – A military lawyer (JAG) during the Persian Gulf war, Sen. Lindsey Graham (South Carolina, R.), calls military lawyers “the conscience of the military.” He says the JAGS have been marginalized in recent years and he has introduced an amendment to increase their authority and independence. In this interview, he discusses the early clash between military and civilian lawyers over rules of treatment and interrogation at Guantanamo and how Donald Rumsfeld dealt with the feud. And he outlines in this interview how harsh interrogation techniques of Taliban and Al Qaeda detainees at Guantanamo “migrated” to Abu Ghraib where Iraqi detainees were being held, supposedly under the terms of the Geneva Conventions. But with no military lawyers at Abu Ghraib to advise its commanders, Graham tells FRONTINE it’s another example of the price being paid “for executing a great war plan and a pretty poor occupation plan.”

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US Marines – Marine Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company

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SeaPower – During Operation Iraqi Freedom, a small, ill-equipped, yet elite unit of Marines fanned out across Iraq, attached to U.S. Army 3rd Infantry Division, British Commandos and Marine Task Force Tarawa. The 46 men of 2nd ANGLICO, one of the Marine Corpsí Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Companies, were at the forefront of battle in every major battlespace of the war.

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Iraq – Rumsfeld's War – Interview with James Mann

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PBS Frontline – In his recent book Rise of the Vulcans – The History of Bush’s War Cabinet, James Mann detailed the intertwined relationships and intellectual disputes of six advisers to George W. Bush who have shaped the administration’s foreign policy: Rumsfeld, Rice, Powell, Wolfowitz, Cheney and Armitage. Here in this interview, Mann details who they are, how they think and operate, and the larger context to their story: the ideology and idealism of the neo-conservatives in the Bush administration up against the “realists” more moderate views on war and foreign policy. Commenting on the latest turn taken in their battle, Mann says, “After September 11, all through the war with Iraq, the neo-conservatives won the argument. But with the violence, with the chaos, Iraq didn’t turn out the way they expected. And the result is that the neo-conservatives who were really ascendant on Iraq policy are now in decline.”
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US Navy – Small Company Races For Place On Navy's New Ship Program

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SeaPower – The effort to develop and build the Navyís novel Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) is a classic clash of industrial titans. To foster competition and restrain costs, the serviceís ship procurement chiefs have pitted teams of contractors headed by Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics in a contest for possibly $12 billion in orders and a major foothold in the world market for advanced shallow-water warships. Out of the limelight, however, a lesser-known contest is shaping up that over the long term could prove vital to the Navy. Small companies are racing to win a spot on the LCS, bringing with them innovations in technologies such as power systems, communications and intuitive software.

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Iraq – Rumsfeld's War – Interview with Robin Wright

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PBS Frontline – Robin Wright, the Washington Post’s diplomatic correspondent, has reported on the Middle East for almost two decades and is the author of four books, including Sacred Rage: The Wrath of Militant Islam and Flashpoints: Promise and Peril in a New World. In this interview, she discusses how the Islamic world has viewed Saddam Hussein and U.S.-Iraq relations over the decades and the unintended consequences of America’s invasion of Iraq. Addressing the larger picture, she says the U.S. has “profoundly” misread what was happening in the Middle East and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the ’80s and ’90s.

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