Bush & Obama

Bush’s War and Obama’s War were structured differently but were both informative. However, neither of them provided a definitive answer as to how long the United States can expect to be involved in that shitty mess in the Middle East.
Personally, I believe Bush’s War more effectively grabbed the attention of its audience. I credit this to the beginning of the documentary when audio and visual flashbacks to the September 11th Attacks slowly appeared on the screen. As horrific as those flashbacks are for Americans, it is difficult to turn away at times. The main reason we cannot stop watching is because we want answers, mainly on when this war will be over. Well, Bush’s War failed. For example, one former speech by then- President George W. Bush was shown and all we heard was “This is going to be a long war.”
As is the case with many documentaries over American wars (particularly Vietnam), this one made excuses. Yes, of course we were caught off guard by the 9-11 attacks; but couldn’t Rumsfeld put aside his differences with the CIA in order to preserve the well-being of his country? Obama’s War was even worse when it came to this. By the end I felt like they were blaming the entire thing on the uncooperative Pakistani government.
I thought both Frontline documentaries were impersonal. Unlike Fog of War, the interviewees never looked directly in to the camera, thus making what they were saying difficult to believe. The way Obama’s War was presented did not keep me as interested as Bush’s War. As I already mentioned, Bush’s War began with scenes that were difficult to stop watching. Obama’s War began with actual troops in combat, but that does not evoke emotion like 9-11 scenes. The combat scenes were not extremely graphic, which is what keeps many people interested. It looked like something we see on the news all the time except that the word ‘fuck’ wasn’t censored.
Overall both documentaries failed to give me an idea of when this war will finally come to an end. Honestly, the documentaries made the current war and the Vietnam War seem even more similar. Our own government officials cannot agree on decisions that need to be made quickly, the citizens of Afghanistan are not cooperating, Pakistan’s government is not cooperating, so on and so forth it goes. When will it come to an end? There is no way to tell, as Obama’s War and Bush’s War made clear.