America's high-tech weapons won big battles in Afghanistan and Iraq; now the U.S. is betting that even higher technology can win the war on terror.

An unmanned spy plane spots a group of terrorists driving a car and fires a deadly salvo from the sky. "Smart bombs" zero in on a target, pinpointing a specific floor in a specific building. Real-time images and reports stream in from the front line, giving commanders an all-seeing eye on enemy troops. In this hi-tech battlefield, electronic intelligence allows U.S. commanders a huge advantage to streamline their forces and minimize casualties both to civilians and their own ranks. That was the vision of the "smart war" that drove the planning of U.S. campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. But as America mobilized its war on terror, things didn't turn out quite as planned. In an exclusive collaboration with New York Times television reporters, NOVA investigates the impact of advanced technology on President Bush's war-fighting machinery. With fresh analysis of key battles in the Iraq conflict, the Times' reporters pose searching questions such as: are expensive hi-tech weapons all that it takes to defeat elusive enemies such as terrorists and civilian militias?