John O'Neill, The man who knew.

With the 3rd anniversary coming up I thought I would repost this. Please click of source.

I missed this first time round. There's an interesting book out by Murray Weiss of the New York Post which looks at O'Neill's life.

He appears to have been a very colourful character. It's very sad that he got out of the second tower quickly and was talking to his loved ones on his cell phone - on and off - for about half an hour, in between helping people. Yet he still died.

PBS, in their liberal/misguided fog, nailed one.

I keep telling people that Frontline is NOT the unremitting platform of leftist spin that it was years ago. I don't know quite what happened, or why, and of course the lib-spin will reemerge from time to time, but over the last few years they have done many very excellent documentaries.

In addition to The Man Who Knew, they also did one on Robert Baer, possibly the best Middle East agent of the last couple decades, probably the only Western intelligence agent to ever operate within the Bekka Valley, and who solved the Beruit Embassy bombing of '83 (Terrorfat did it on Iran's orders). Battle for the Holy Land was very fair to the Israelis, explaining in detail the rational for their "targeted killings," the political/judicial process of vetting targets, and highlighting IDF professionalism. The War Behind Closed Doors, about the origin of the doctrine of "preemption," was likewise very fair to Wolfowitz and the "neocon" hawks (and I say this as an advocate of that ilk). What else? Oh, yeah, their Muslims, although not without a few flaws, was worlds better than the shamlessly hagiographic PBS doc Mohammed: Legacy of a Prophet, and included many experts freepers would respect. Finally they did a whole series of docs on Iraq, and never shyed away from exposing the brutality of Saddam or his lies.

Here's the blurb on their new season, from their homepage. Sure, we can question whether they will treat these subjects fairly, but what other televised venue is treating them at all, in a probing, in-depth manner? It just isn't PC, for instance, to focus too much on sleeper cells, reminding people that there are murderous traitors in our midst:

FRONTLINE's new season launches on Oct. 9 with "Truth, War, and Consequences," a 90-minute report examining why the U.S. went to war in Iraq, just how well the U.S. planned for the post-war occupation, and what the prospects are for peace. Are we building democracy in Iraq? Or have we created a failed state that will breed the terrorism we went to war to defeat? Featuring interviews with key players, in Washington and Baghdad, in charge of planning the war and securing the peace, the report will also include exclusive footage of U.S. raids on suspected Baathist insurgents, looted nuclear sites, and skirmishes between Iraqis and U.S. soldiers.

And on Oct. 16, FRONTLINE and The New York Times join forces to investigate the battle against terrorism here at home. In "Chasing the Sleeper Cell" -- the first in-depth examination of a major, ongoing domestic terrorism case involving Al Qaeda operatives and U.S. citizens they trained -- we investigate the real story behind the group that U.S. intelligence called "the most dangerous terrorist cell in America." How effective are the FBI and the CIA? And are their new tools the right ones to contain the threat at home?

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