Slow Burn: The Road to the Iraq War

Season 5: Bonus Episode 3
Content Locked for Slate Plus members

Selling the War on the Sunday News Shows

What it was like to produce interviews with guests like Dick Cheney and Bush administration officials.

Episode Notes

In this bonus episode, Slow Burn’s host Noreen Malone and producer Jayson De Leon discuss researching WMDs and the elusive Dick Cheney. Then we’ll hear an interview with Michelle Jaconi, a producer on NBC’s Meet the Press during the Bush administration.

Mentioned in this episode:
To Start a War by Robert Draper
Hubris by Michael Isikoff and David Corn
The Greatest Story Ever Sold by Frank Rich
Rise of the Vulcans by James Mann
Angler by Barton Gellman

Production by Chau Tu.

About the Show

In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq without provocation. Most Americans supported the war—as did most politicians and intellectuals, both liberal and conservative. Today, it’s universally considered a disaster.

Hosted by award-winning reporter Noreen Malone, the fifth season of Slow Burn explores the people and ideas that propelled the country into the Iraq war, and the institutions that failed to stop it. How did the Iraq catastrophe happen? And what was it like to watch America make one of its most consequential mistakes?

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Host

  • Chau Tu is the editor of Slate Plus.