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The Dark Side
TITLE DETAILS

The Dark Side

2006-06-20 · 84 min · ★ 10.0

Documentary

On Sept. 11, 2001, deep inside a White House bunker, Vice President Dick Cheney was ordering U.S. fighter planes to shoot down any commercial airliner still in the air above America. At that moment, CIA Director George Tenet was meeting with his counter-terrorism team in Langley, Virginia. Both leaders acted fast, to prepare their country for a new kind of war. But soon a debate would grow over the goals of the war on terror, and the decision to go to war in Iraq. Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and others saw Iraq as an important part of a broader plan to remake the Middle East and project American power worldwide. Meanwhile Tenet, facing division in his own organization, saw non-state actors such as Al Qaeda as the highest priority. FRONTLINE’s investigation of the ensuing conflict includes more than 40 interviews, thousands of pages of documentary evidence, and a substantial photographic archive.

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Production details

Directors
Michael Kirk
Production companies
FRONTLINE, Kirk Documentary Group, WGBH Educational Foundation (US)
Countries
United States of America
Status
Released

Top Cast

Will LymanWill LymanSelf - Narrator
Dick CheneyDick CheneySelf (archive footage)
George W. BushGeorge W. BushSelf (archive footage)
Richard ClarkeRichard ClarkeSelf - Dir. NSC Counterterrorism 1998-'01
Gary SchroenSelf - CIA 1970-2002
John McLaughlinSelf - Dpty. Director, CIA 2000-'04
Bob GrahamSelf - Senator (D-FL), Select Cmte. on Intel. 2001-'03
James BamfordSelf - Author, 'The Puzzle Palace'
Michael ScheuerMichael ScheuerSelf - CIA 1982-2004
Bob WoodwardBob WoodwardSelf - 'The Washington Post'
Ron SuskindRon SuskindSelf - Author, 'The One Percent Doctrine'
Charles BattagliaSelf - Bush-Cheney 2000 Transition
Steve CollSteve CollSelf - 'The New Yorker'
David KaySelf - Iraq Survey Group 2003-'04
George TenetGeorge TenetSelf (archive footage)
Richard KerrSelf - Fmr. Dpty. Director CIA
J. Cofer BlackSelf - CIA 1974-2002
Melvin GoodmanMelvin GoodmanSelf - Fmr. CIA officer
Frank CarlucciFrank CarlucciSelf - Fmr. Secretary of Defense
James MannSelf - Author, 'Rise of the Vulcans'

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