TV REVIEW : ‘Frontline’ Indicts U.S. Gulf Policy Gap

With the world, literally, at the brink of war, public television stations tonight will air a “Frontline” special report that makes it clear that the evolution of U.S. policy in the confrontation with Iraq has had all of the clarity of vision of a raging desert sandstorm.

Preview copies of the documentary distributed to reviewers were understandably disjointed. Beginning and ending segments were not even included because of the quickly changing nature of the situation. Nevertheless, the program creates a clear impression, primarily through the eyes of journalists covering the evolving story, that President Bush’s policy-making process in the Persian Gulf crisis has lurched from phase to phase without the articulation of a single, underlying objective or consistent political philosophy.

The documentary, narrated by Hodding Carter, focuses on the various--sometimes contradictory--rationales offered by the White House for the escalating series of American positions in the gulf. It poses a chilling question: Did all of this get to the point it has through a fundamental misreading by George Bush, the prep-school President, of the street-wise Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq?

The program is an analysis of a process of American policy-making that has evolved so rapidly since the middle of last July that it has often seemed impossible to know what objectives for U.S. involvement the White House would articulate--and when.

In some ways, “Frontline” sets up Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) as the most rational skeptic of the quickly-evolved array of people questioning the rush to war. The program creates the unmistakable impression that war is about to break out--perhaps today--even though the highest leaders of the United States still have not delineated or articulated a consistent, rational policy to prevent it.

The “Frontline” air times for tonight are: 8 p.m. on Channels 28 and 15, and 10 p.m. on Channel 50.

In addition, PBS has scheduled a 90-minute companion program, “The Agony of Decision,” anchored by former TV news executive Fred Friendly. It is scheduled tonight at 7 on Channel 24, at 9 p.m. on Channels 28 and 15, and at 11 p.m. on Channel 50.