Good lord

I just watched Frontline's Losing Iraq and I am embarrassed. In 84 minutes, Frontline covers the debacle in depth, from the taking of Baghdad to ISIS's recent territorial gains. The details make no one look good. And there aren't even any cheap shots. The documentary doesn't mention the failure to find WMDs and says almost nothing about Abu Ghraib.

I supported the start of the war. Or I at least didn't oppose it like I should have. My feeling at the time was that opposition was led largely by opponents of war itself who wouldn't support even a just war. And yes, many of the opponents were simply anti-war in general. But this was a war even the staunchest hawks should have opposed.

The war killed and maimed many innocents and weakened America militarily, economically and diplomatically and I feel stupid for having supported it. The war can't be undone. What can I do as an American to make sure we don't pull something like this again? I don't know. I am changed by it. I hope the country is changed by it too.

Frontline is one of the highest quality TV shows out there. I remember a few years back some asserted that PBS was no longer needed, since several cable channels, such as The Learning Channel, Discovery, and the History Channel, started providing quality educational programming. But sadly, these channels have become mostly crap since then. Dirty Jobs and Mythbusters are some excellent exceptions, of course.