Chris Higgins
Special Frontline Preview: “Obama’s War”
by Chris Higgins - October 1, 2009 - 3:32 PM

Longtime readers will know that I’m a fan of great documentaries, and the PBS series Frontline is among the best televised documentary content in the world. I just got a heads-up that their new season starts on October 13 with an episode called “Obama’s War,” about the situation in Afghanistan — sometimes called “the good war” (in comparison to Iraq) or, now, “Obama’s War.”

As a special preview, Frontline producers have released the initial 24 minutes of the documentary, online-only, for a limited time. The footage is intense, showing the Marines on the ground in Afghanistan under heavy fire from the Taliban. Have you wondered what the war in Afghanistan looks like? If so, have a look at this footage.

You can check it out here (WARNING: some graphic scenes of violence, and plenty of f-bombs dropped during combat):

There’s a little more material on Frontline’s “Obama’s War” site. See also: Documentaries I Like: Frontline, which includes links to full programs online.

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Comments (8)

  1. Why are they calling it “Obama’s War”? Sounds like it’s politically biased right from the start.

    posted by Craig on 10-1-2009 at 4:06 pm

  2. Because Obama campaigned on the notion that Afghanistan was a war he supported, and Iraq he did not.

    posted by Chris Higgins on 10-1-2009 at 4:08 pm

  3. Pretty silly to call it Obama’s war, considering he didn’t start it. However, he has been responsible for its escalation; did a similar naming thing happen in Vietnam?

    posted by Jan on 10-1-2009 at 4:39 pm

  4. Oh, and the other thing is that Frontline had a special called “Bush’s War” about Iraq. So, you know, it’s a reference.

    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/bushswar/

    posted by Chris Higgins on 10-1-2009 at 5:01 pm

  5. I thought Afghanistan was also “Bush’s war”. I actually remember it being the first war he engaged in.

    According to frontline’s logic, we must also be going through “Obama’s recession” right now. I can’t wait till Sarah Palin is President in 2013 and we have “Palin’s economic recovery”.

    posted by SimonCabron on 10-1-2009 at 6:29 pm

  6. Who cares whose war it is — they’re both bellicose warmongers and both very responsible for its expansion.

    posted by Jake on 10-1-2009 at 8:28 pm

  7. You are all missing the point entirely. It is all of our war, but these troops are the ones whose lives are on the line.

    God Bless.

    posted by Beau on 10-2-2009 at 1:29 am

  8. What a way to live day to day. knowing there could be a firefight at any second. Hard to imagine NOT coming back with PTSD.

    And then we’re expecting these brave men whom we’ve trained to kill, to do an about face and be PR people. It’s interesting yet tragic watching that marine (w. mustache) trying to communicate via the translator to the group of locals. He seems to be trying his best, but gets frustrated and probably winds up coming off the exact opposite of his intention/orders.

    To anyone thinking of watching the clips, it’s 20 min well spent, though a little depressing.

    posted by EV on 10-2-2009 at 10:44 am

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