Charles Ferguson's documentary No End in Sight details the gross incompetence pervading the management of the Iraq war by the Bush administration. It's a sobering account, but one that I think everyone should see. This is, after all, our government, and we should be informed as to what can happen when we don't keep a watchful eye.
Writer/director/producer Ferguson is not a filmmaker or journalist by trade. He is an MIT educated political scientist, and has been a consultant to the White House and the Pentagon, among others. He was originally a supporter of the war. In other words, he is no Michael Moore.
Nor are his interview subjects left-wing activists, anti-war types, or "Bush haters". They are people directly involved with the Administration and the war, including military and civilian leaders on the ground in Iraq, career analysts, and officials as high up as former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.
The picture these people paint is staggering in what it reveals about the administration's naivete, incompetence, fantastic beliefs, and above all, an unwillingness to even hear anything that didn't fit into its narrow, impossible vision. Nothing is really new, but the presentation, the credibility of the interviewees, and the lack of sensationalism make for a comprehensive account of the myriad (and avoidable) errors perpetrated by Bush and co., which is simply stunning in the breadth of the consequences.
The film's assertion that this debacle of a war was pursued by a tiny group of policy makers (which may or may not have included the president), with no military experience, shunning the advice of those who did, is deeply disheartening. It's almost impossible to comprehend the damage done by a few ill-informed, ideologically driven people. Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith and Condoleezza Rice have seriously undermined democracy, rule of law, and national security, and the consequences of their (and our) misadventure in Iraq will be felt for a long time.
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