Dear FRONTLINE,

I have just completed viewing Bushs War. I have NEVER felt compelled to actively comment on a documentary or film as I am doing now. It is 2:50 AM here in Oklahoma and I feel compelled to write this. I feel compelled to use words like: amazing, brave, superb or spectacularbut these and other words would not due your fine work on this film justice.

I am a once proud Republican with very little pride left. I feel embarrassed for our president who seems to have been on the puppet strings of Cheney and Rumsfeld from the moment the first plane stuck the twin towers. The apparent lack of vision and inner strength that was displayed by President Bush is astonishing. You have compelled me sir as no other has before.

Thank you sincerely for your eye opening film.

Eddie Landry
OKC, OK

Dear FRONTLINE,

Dear Frontline:

Thanks for putting together such a fine cinematic work. What you have done is history making and will be used in classrooms not 5 or 10 years from now. But will be used starting Monday of next week.

This is the reason why I donate to PBS! I'm impressed. Keep up the great history making programming.

Anthony Evans
Washington, DC

Dear FRONTLINE,

I believe that this film was wonderfully done and insightful. I, however, cannot share in the seemingly common belief that Geroge W. and his administration have conducted themselves in any disgusting fashion.

Viewing the film twice I can not find any war-mongering desires as they have been accused in other comments. I wonder why it is that nearly half of this country supports Bush's War?

However, Bush himself is the easy one to blame. There is support, from myself, and other mass populations of US citizens. I stand behind George W. Bush

Matthethew Holt
Springfield, Missouri

Dear FRONTLINE,

Thank you for providing good research and thought provoking reporting again. I am sorry that I come from the same city and state as [letterwriter] Jim Gordon, but Portland is nothing if not diverse. I would like to ask him, is the conversion of Muslims to Christianity that important? So important that we can side step the Geneva Convention?

I also want to ask, why is being Pro-UN bad? Should I instead want America to be the New World Order, like the first Bush wanted? My hat goes off to the UN and the blue helmeted Peacekeepers. America has taken a leave of absence from it's former "city on a hill" foreign policy, too long of an absence. Perhaps it's time we stopped waging war on ideas and inanimate objects and take care of some real problems.

Luke Biornstad
Portland, Oregon

Dear FRONTLINE,

I have opposed the current Iraq war from its inception.

I concluded three things from your two part program.

1. This really is Bush's war. He is 100% responsible for starting it, prosecuting it, and mishandling it. He is a businessman who repeatedly gambled with other peoples' money until he finally hit the jackpot. He has terrible judgment. This war never should have started, and he had every reason to know this. He incorrectly decided that the prospective benefits outweighed the risks. In the end, he made bad decisions.

2. The real question at the end of the day for the US is how this man was re-elected. His re-election will hopefully stimulate a substantive debate about how we pick our presidents. It is one thing that he won a tie with his family connections on the Supreme Court, however to have him re-elected given his performance in the first four years is very troubling. I really admire Barak Obama, but he keeps saying we have "monumental problems." No, we have a dummy for a president. And now we have a choice between another Clinton, McCain, and a guy who is very good, but who should honestly be running for governor of Illinois, not president. This will be the issue for the country in the next 20 years. If we don't deal with it, the problems won't just be monumental, but terminal.

3. I realise that as an anonymous American, I have no idea what is going on in Iraq specifically or generally. This is because our so-called leadership has no interest in the public being informed, and the press, due to incompetence, conflicts of interest, and an overload of information, is not able to report matters in an accurate and useful fashion.

Your show at least appears to try.

Thank you.

Leo Masursky
Tucson, Arizona

Dear FRONTLINE,

Like most of my peers, the situation has become so hopeless to me that I've ceased to keep up with what's going on with the war for several months.

I discovered Part 2 by chance while surfing the channels and I am now completely ashamed and stunned. I've emailed everyone I know and I hope they will watch it. Thank you for making this available. This IS democracy!

Los Angeles, CA

Dear FRONTLINE,

The question has been raised here as to why this documentary is entitled "Bush's War". It is quite obvious to me. President Bush is the one who selected his Cabinet members with the obvious input from Dick Cheney and others, of course. It is a shame that the President is such a poor judge of character that he did not recognize, or chose to ignore, the rivalries and power struggles going on around him. The responsibility for carrying out the war with Iraq along with all of the Administration's failed policies ultimately rest on him as President. "The buck stops here."

It was the President's responsibility to present verified, factual evidence and justification to the Congress and the people for the need to declare war on Iraq. The Congress cannot make informed decisions when presented with misinformation or partial facts. The Congress should have demanded more. As the American President, George Bush is sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution against all enemies both foreign and domestic. The President's job is to do so and, if approved by the Congress, execute the war in accordance with the nation's accepted conventions and moral standards. He does not have the right to bend the rules to meet his own agenda and neither does his Cabinet members.

"My country, right or wrong" is very prevalent in America. Personally, I have seen too much "wrong" coming out of Washington over the past several decade. It is past time for doing more things "right" and I am not referring to the right-wing.

Dennis Worlow
Fort Worth, Texas

Dear FRONTLINE,

This report should have been produced much earlier.

What America needs now is Part 3 of this series, the incredible suffering of the Iraqi people and the total destruction of their country. (I've read what happened to the population of Fallujah, which you totally overlooked.) Once again, it's all about the power brokers and not about the people.

You could also do Part 4 by covering the Winter Soldier hearings that were recently held and interviewing the soldiers and their families who have been destroyed by this senseless war and occupation.

Cathy Daunais
Fairbanks, Alaska

Dear FRONTLINE,

Monumental, unbiased, bipartisan, and impartial. Regardless of ones political bias, Frontlines reporting on Bushs War is an epic tale of history, fact, and a portal to our destiny. This two-part story should be mandatory viewing for the right to US citizenship. Bushs war is the best documentary, program, and/or chronicle I ever witnessed. Great job and please rerun every night for the next six months!

Mark Haugland
Phoenix, AZ

Dear FRONTLINE,

"Bush's War" is an outstanding summary of our misled invasion and disastrous occupation of Iraq. Some letter writers have criticized the title stating it should be "Cheney's and Rumsfeld's War," but President Bush is ultimately responsible for the decisions made ("I am the Decider"?). When the invasion began in March 2003, the existence of Saddam's Weapons of Mass Destruction was uncertain and a more conservative, prudent Commander-in-Chief would have required more conclusive evidencethan was available at that time. To claim we have a pre-emptive right to invade another nation on the basis of such shaky grounds (later shown to be false) is to let loose a dangerous precendent that undermines a moral position and stabilty for peace in the world. (If we can do it, then other nations can do it, too.) And, then to compound our difficulties, we mismanage the occupation and sanction harsh treatment (torture) of prisoners -- it will take years, probably decades if at all, to repair the damage to our reputation. Finally, to those few who think this program was unpatriotic or treasonous, how can you be so blind and deluded? It was done in the best of American traditions!

Robert Lock
Jackson, Michigan

Dear FRONTLINE,

Congratulations on a brilliant production! Sadly, this disabled veteran must agree with some of the critics about the title. It is not Bush's War...it is OUR war. Remember the old adage...when you are pointing a finger at someone else, one is pointing at you. WE put the despots in power, allowed them to lie to us without consequence, encouraged them to dismantle the balance of power, desecrate the Constitution, murder and torture, rob the treasury, and much more. And we did (do) it all in the name of, pick one: patriotism... protecting our freedom...the fight against terrorism...supporting our troops or helplessnes to do anything to stop it. All lies. As Ben Franklin said, "The man (or woman)who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either." We, the American people, are allowing this war to continue in our name with cost to life, liberty and financial security. By the by, is anyone paying attention to the disaster in waiting wih our long standing ally, Turkey? I'm not sure it can wait until we get a new commander in chief.

Brenda Johnson
San Antonio, TX

Dear FRONTLINE,

I've been watching FrontLine since the early 80's and I've appreciated your documentary efforts over the years. However, I was quite disappointed in how you ended this report on Bush's War. All serious reporting and analysis seems to end with the announcement of the new strategy, new SECDEF, and the surge. This ignored how the war has turned more positive over the last seven to eight months since the all the additional troops were fully deployed around June 2007.

Unfortunately, the decision not to cover and analyze the war until at least January 2008 opens your program to a possible suspicion of tendentious editing to avoid showing any positive news concerning the Iraq war. In many of your previous reports over the years you have been able to able to turn in a much better performance by concluding your reports with recent detail much closer in time to the broadcast date than you did here.

Bill Schmid
Wheaton, IL

Dear FRONTLINE,

To the producers:

While you are to be commended for a wide-ranging production of the build up to and execution of the war, I was troubled by the large amount of coverage of palace intrigue. While no doubt important, especially as it relates to the Rumsfeld/Cheney axis, I grew tired and bored with so much coverage on the battles within the White House. I should also add that discussion on how the press allowed itself to be bullied by the administration in general, and Rumsfeld in particular would have given this viewer the sense that some lessons were learned by the media.

Frederick Lazare
Houston, Texas

Dear FRONTLINE,

Again, excellent work. However, I do believe that two significant issues were not addressed.

1) What was the motivation for Cheney, Wolfowitz, and the other war advocates? You did an excellent job explaining the means they used to achieve their end, but did not address why these individuals were pushing so hard to go into Iraq and how they sold President Bush on the idea. I think this question is especially relevant since Dick Cheney predicted the sectarian mess and power struggles that have occured during his famous interview with from the mid 90s in which he defended the decision to limit Desert Storm to Kuwait.

2) How did Al Qaeda in Iraq form, how do they connect to Bin Laden, and, should the US withdraw, what are the direct National Security implications. Is it a realistic possibility that they will establish Afghanistan like training camps, or is Iraq's ethnic disposition such that they would just be another one of many groups in a power struggle.

Matthew C
NY, NY

Dear FRONTLINE,

Thank you for your program! As a mother of Sgt. Kurt Schamberg KIA May 20th, 2005, I can truly say that I am furious with the incompetence of our Administration, the in fighting between the DOD and the State Dept., as well as, the war mongering Vice President and Donald Rumsfeld. How arrogant of them to think that soldiers could be deployed for a month and return home without a cohesive plan to allow the Iraqis to live secure lives.

At every turn mistakes and misconceptions were replaced with even worse actions by our executive branch of government. When the Generals were asked to plan, their plans were disregarded by men who had never had wartime experience! Once again we have politicians trying to tell soldiers how a war should be fought!!! It did not work in Viet Nam and it won't work in Iraq.

These men and women are responsible for the deaths of 4000 soldiers plus the many thousands of injured soldiers returning from war. And who knows how many Iraqis have been killed by what seems to be the "whims" of our Presidents men!

For those who are arguing about "whose war it is..", in the end this war will be remembered as "Bush's War" he is supposed to be in charge and to bring all these men and women together to do what in the best interest for all Americans. If he was lied to and information kept away from him, President Bush should have taken charge and LED the country, the military and the executive branch. Not try to save face.

Now I have a dilemma! My son was a brave soldier serving our country. He believed in what he was doing. Here I am without my son, his future children and accomplishments and dreams. What am I supposed to think now?

Pam Lindsay
Gillette, Wyoming