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Season 20

Season 20

Frontline

2001
Episodes: 24

Episodes

Hunting Bin Laden

1. Hunting Bin Laden

September 13, 2001

For years this one man has taunted, threatened and frustrated the United States. But who is he? The U.S. government has tried to link him to nearly every act of Islamic terrorism against Americans in the 90s: from the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, to the bombings of U.S. military installations in Saudi Arabia, to the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa. [This is a post-9/11 update of an episode that originally aired on 4/13/1999.]

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2. Target America

October 4, 2001

Looking for Answers

3. Looking for Answers

October 9, 2001

Sunday night, as U.S. bombers and cruise missiles attack targets in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden released a videotape calling on Muslims worldwide to join his war on America. Next to bin Laden was his close association, an Egyptian named Ayman al-Zawahiri, a man who is certainly as important to the terror network as bin Laden himself. Tonight on FRONTLINE, the full story of these two men, the story of how the seeds of their hatred for America were sown not in Afghanistan but in two of the U.S.'s greatest allies in the Islamic world, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and the story of how they joined forces to pursue a common enemy.

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4. Dangerous Straits

October 18, 2001

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5. Trail of a Terrorist

October 25, 2001

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6. Gunning for Saddam

November 8, 2001

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7. Saudi Time Bomb?

November 15, 2001

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8. The Monster That Ate Hollywood

November 22, 2001

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9. An Ordinary Crime

January 10, 2002

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10. Inside the Terror Network

January 17, 2002

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11. Dot Con

January 24, 2002

57 min

In "Dot Con," award-winning FRONTLINE producer Martin Smith takes an inside look at the precipitous rise and fall of the Internet economy -- and examines the allegations that brokers at some of Wall Street's most prestigious firms manipulated the hot IPO market of the late 1990s. Wall Street, of course, would prefer to forget the past. But investors and investigators want to know: During the headiest days of the Internet bubble, did investment banks and venture capitalists betray the public's trust? Did "irrational exuberance" give way to fraud?

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12. Inside the Teenage Brain

January 31, 2002

American Porn

13. American Porn

February 7, 2002

Porn is one of the largest and fastest growing forms of media in the United States. The industry’s profits have skyrocketed as we become increasingly reliant on technology for our entertainment. Why has this happened, and will the trend continue?

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14. Roll Over: the Hidden History of the SUV

February 21, 2002

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15. Testing Our Schools

March 28, 2002

Battle for the Holy Land

16. Battle for the Holy Land

April 4, 2002

Requiem for Frank Lee Smith

17. Requiem for Frank Lee Smith

April 11, 2002

Modern Meat

18. Modern Meat

April 18, 2002

Did Daddy Do It?

19. Did Daddy Do It?

April 25, 2002

Terror and Tehran

20. Terror and Tehran

May 2, 2002

Muslims

21. Muslims

May 9, 2002

114 min

Muslims account for one-fifth of the world's population, but most Americans know little about their faith, Islam, which continues to be one of the fastest growing religions in the United States and around the world. What does it mean to be a Muslim today? Does Islam deserve its reputation as a patriarchal, authoritarian, and anti-Western religion? What is the role of Islam in movements for political and social change? FRONTLINE explores these and other questions in "Muslims," a special two-hour film examining the different faces of Islam's worldwide resurgence and the fundamental tenets of the faith. Reporting from Iran, Nigeria, Egypt, Malaysia, Turkey, and the United States, and drawing on the perspectives of leading scholars of Islam, this program tells the stories of Muslims struggling to define how Islam will shape their lives and societies.

The Siege of Bethlehem

22. The Siege of Bethlehem

June 13, 2002

Bigger Than Enron

23. Bigger Than Enron

June 20, 2002

57 min

In "Bigger Than Enron," FRONTLINE correspondent Hedrick Smith shines a spotlight on how the corporate watchdogs -- the bankers, lawyers, regulators, politicians, and above all, the accountants -- failed to prevent Enron and other scandals from happening. Through interviews with current and former SEC officials (including SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt and his predecessor, Arthur Levitt), Arthur Andersen executives (including former Andersen CEO Joseph Berardino), members of Congress (including Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut), investor advocates, and others, the report explores how the system of controls was eroded by conflicts of interest, as well as by congressional intervention that blocked efforts at protecting investors.

Shattered Dreams

24. Shattered Dreams

June 27, 2002

117 min

How the Israeli-Palestinian peace process begun at Oslo was derailed.

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