Osama Bin Laden’s escape from allied forces and the swift collapse of the Taliban left President Bush dissatisfied.
Initially resistant to the neoconservative argument to invade Iraq right away, President Bush felt himself increasingly drawn to the idea. The reasons were not only political, they were personal. “Bush developed a sense that there was unfinished business from the first Persian Gulf War in the early 1990s, that leaving Saddam in power had been a mistake,” recalled journalist Barton Gellman. “Bush was attracted to the idea of finishing something his father had left undone.”
Learn more about GEORGE W. BUSH, including where to watch the documentary: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/george-w-bush/
The latest addition to AMERICAN EXPERIENCE’s Peabody Award-winning series of presidential biographies, this two-part, four-hour look at the life and presidency of George W. Bush features interviews with historians, journalists and several members of the president’s inner circle.
Part One chronicles Bush’s unorthodox road to the White House. The once wild son of a political dynasty, few expected Bush to ascend to the presidency. Yet 36 days after the November 2000 election, Bush emerged the victor of the most hotly contested race in the nation’s history. Little in the new president’s past could have prepared him for the events that unfolded on September 11, 2001. Thrust into the role of war president, Bush’s response to the deadly terrorist attack would come to define a new era in American foreign policy.
Part Two opens with the ensuing war in Iraq and continues through Bush’s second term, as the president confronts the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina and the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression.
