The Dark Side (2006)
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.
Director: Michael Kirk
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Will Lyman as Self - Narrator |
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Dick Cheney as Self (archive footage) |
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George W. Bush as Self (archive footage) |
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Richard Clarke as Self - Dir. NSC Counterterrorism 1998-'01 |
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Gary Schroen as Self - CIA 1970-2002 |
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John McLaughlin as Self - Dpty. Director, CIA 2000-'04 |
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Bob Graham as Self - Senator (D-FL), Select Cmte. on Intel. 2001-'03 |
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James Bamford as Self - Author, 'The Puzzle Palace' |
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Michael Scheuer as Self - CIA 1982-2004 |
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Bob Woodward as Self - 'The Washington Post' |
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Ron Suskind as Self - Author, 'The One Percent Doctrine' |
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Charles Battaglia as Self - Bush-Cheney 2000 Transition |
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Steve Coll as Self - 'The New Yorker' |
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David Kay as Self - Iraq Survey Group 2003-'04 |
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George Tenet as Self (archive footage) |
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Richard Kerr as Self - Fmr. Dpty. Director CIA |
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J. Cofer Black as Self - CIA 1974-2002 |
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Melvin Goodman as Self - Fmr. CIA officer |
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Frank Carlucci as Self - Fmr. Secretary of Defense |
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James Mann as Self - Author, 'Rise of the Vulcans' |
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George H. W. Bush as Self (archive footage) |
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Michael Delong as Self - Dpty. Cmdr. CENTCOM 2000-'03 |
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Condoleezza Rice as Self (archive footage) |
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Colin Powell as Self (archive footage) |
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Donald Rumsfeld as Self (archive footage) |
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Tommy Franks as Self (archive footage) |
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Paul Wolfowitz as Self (archive footage) |
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Kenneth Pollack as Self - National Security Council 1999-'01 |
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Carl Ford as Self - Dir. State Dept. Intel. 2001-'03 |
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Gary Berntsen as Self - CIA 1982-2005 |
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Tyler Drumheller as Self - Chief, CIA European Div. 2001-'05 |
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Lawrence Wilkerson as Self - Chief of Staff, State Dept. 2002-'05 |
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Daniel Benjamin as Self - National Security Council 1994 - '99 |
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Dana Priest as Self - 'The Washington Post' |
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John O. Brennan as Self - Dpty. Exec. Director, CIA 2001-'03 |
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F. Michael Maloof as Self - DoD 1982-2004 |
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Vincent Cannistraro as Self - Fmr. CIA officer |
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Sam Ervin as Self (archive footage) |
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Richard Nixon as Self (archive footage) |
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John Yoo as Self - Legal Counsel, DOJ 2001-'03 |
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Mark Garlasco as Self - Def. Intel. Agency 1997-'03 |
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W. Patrick Lang as Self - Fmr. Def. Intel. Agency officer |
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Paul Pillar as Self - National Intel. Officer 2000-'05 |
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Dennis Hastert as Self (archive footage) |
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Joseph Wilson as Self - State Department 1976-'98 |
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Robin B. Wright as Self - 'The Washington Post' |
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Patrick Fitzgerald as Self (archive footage) |
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Andrew Card as Self (archive footage) |
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Yoweri Museveni as Self (archive footage) |
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Scooter Libby as Self (archive footage) |
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L. Paul Bremer as Self (archive footage) |
| Directing | Michael Kirk | Director |
| Writing | Michael Kirk | Writer |
| Production | Michael Kirk | Producer |
| Production | Jim Gilmore | Producer |
| Editing | Steve Audette | Editor |
| Production | Mike Wiser | Producer |
| Camera | Ben McCoy | Director of Photography |
| Sound | Steve Lederer | Sound |
| Production | Colette Neirouz Hanna | Production Assistant |
| Sound | John E. Low | Original Music Composer |
| Camera | Jeff Kleinman | Additional Photography |
| Sound | Keith McManus | Sound Assistant |
| Editing | Mandy Minichello | Assistant Editor |
| Sound | Jim Sullivan | Sound Mixer |
| Crew | Chris Fournelle | Post Production Supervisor |
| Production | Louis Wiley Jr. | Executive Producer |
| Production | David Fanning | Executive Producer |
| Sound | Martin Brody | Music |
| Sound | Mason Daring | Music |