‘Frontline’ Details Past Terrorism

As the country plunges ahead with its new war on terrorism, “Frontline” pauses tonight (9 p.m. KCET, 10 p.m. KVCR) to offer a sobering reflection on another time in our recent history when such rhetoric was employed--only to see a lack of resolve and cohesive policy within the government stymie the effort and, in the view of many, stimulate U.S. enemies to ever-bolder acts of destruction.

The documentary, called “Target America,” focuses on the presidency of Ronald Reagan, whose election in 1980 was fueled in part by the perception that Jimmy Carter had been inept in responding to the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran, and who then had to respond to his own terrorist attacks against Americans in Lebanon.

Reporters Jim Gilmore and Peter Taylor lay out the details of an administration that couldn’t agree on how to respond to terrorism then or in the years to come, trying a number of approaches--diplomacy, covert actions, illegal arms deals with Iran, law enforcement, military action--but never with a long-term strategy.

The lesson for U.S. enemies, former National Security Advisor Robert C. McFarlane says here, was “that the American people can be traumatized by terrorism, that it can create pressure on the government. That we were not in the 1980s well equipped in terms of power or political understanding to deal with it. And so they have continued to use it, and they’ve expanded their networks and their capabilities.”

“Frontline” notes that many of the Bush administration officials now tackling terrorism--from Vice President Dick Cheney to Secretary of State Colin Powell to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld--were also involved in the government then. We can only hope they learned lessons too.