`FRONTLINE' LOOKS AT THE ENEMY WITHIN.

Byline: David Kronke Television Critic

`Frontline's'' latest reports on the war on terrorism, both here and in Iraq, call to mind the immortal words of Pogo, Walt Kelly's comic-strip 'possum: ``We have met the enemy, and he is us.''

Tonight's installment, ``The Enemy Within,'' examines the vexing difficulties involved in locating terrorist sleeper cells tied to al-Qaida, thanks to the rafts of misinformation that pour into intelligence offices. Nonetheless, reporter Lowell Bergman (the former ``60 Minutes'' producer who was the subject of the film ``The Insider'') notes that there are ``no known sleeper cells'' in the U.S., according to intelligence sources (then again, consider their track records).

Instead, authorities chase anything that fails to pass an arcane sniff test, such as the Florida jokers who had a plan to blow up the Sears Tower -- once they located some bombs and some boots -- and a case in Lodi, where an ice-cream truck driver was accused of being in league with al-Qaida.

Next week, in ``The Lost Year in Iraq,'' reporter Jim Gilmore and producer/director/writer Michael Kirk examine the year between ``Mission Accomplished'' and when Ambassador Paul Bremer handed over sovereignty to the Iraqi people in a hasty, muted ceremony before bolting the joint.

Gilmore and Kirk play the whole ordeal out for you in handy televised form in what would play as high comedy were the results not so tragic.

American troops allowing looting following the fall of Baghdad may have signaled the beginning of the problems: As American Ambassador to Iraq Barbara Bodine notes, ``You could probably do a DNA chain to the insurgency.''

Then, there's the Coalition Provisional Authority, whose acronym, CPA, was said to stand for ``Can't Provide Anything.''

Bremer's first two decisions as head of the CPA were uniquely disastrous -- the de-Baathification of the country (removing from power all those in the Baath Party) and dismantling the Iraqi military, leaving 300,000 armed men unemployed. Three days after the military was dissolved came the first major attack on the Airport Road, one of Baghdad's most strategically important thoroughfares.

Both documentaries suggest that the challenges facing our country and the world are too serious to be dispensed with by scattershot schemes. Sober focus is necessary if we're to clean up the mess before us.

David Kronke, [phone]

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THE ENEMY WITHIN/THE LOST YEAR IN IRAQ - Three stars

What: ``Frontline'' reports on the war on terrorism here and abroad.

Where: KCET.

When: ``Enemy,'' 9 tonight; ``Lost Year,'' 9 p.m. Oct. 17.

In a nutshell: Solid reporting; grim conclusions.

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Photo:

no caption (scene from ``THE ENEMY WITHIN/THE LOST YEAR IN IRAQ'')