NO END IN SIGHT ... IS RIGHT
Last week, I finally got a chance to see the documentary No End in Sight: Iraq's Descent Into Chaos. For those of you who may not know, this is generally considered the best documentary on the subject of the Iraq War as it focuses purely on the policy decisions surrounding the topic and pretty much has no political agenda. In fact, it is my understanding that Charles Ferguson -- the writer, director, and producer of the film -- even supported our initial invasion.
I consider myself fairly informed on such matters, so I was prepared to be underwhelmed by the film. And for the first 10 minutes or so, that was kind of the case (PBS's The Dark Side covered much of the same ground). As the movie went forward, however, I found it to be entirely fresh. And its approach was 180 degrees from many docs in the same realm.
You see, most of what we read appropriately looks at the bad players (Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Cheney, etc.), but this one actually focuses more on the good-hearted people who tried their darnedest to push aside all the political noise and make Iraq work despite the impossible odds. And it was truly heart wrenching to hear stories about how the amazingly incompetent Bush administration blocked them at every turn. I dare you, for example, to watch it and not have some respect for Jay Garner.
For what it's worth, I think conservatives should really watch this thing. Because unlike say ... a Michael Moore film ... if you thought invading Iraq was the right thing to do, you can see who screwed up your world view (and how) without feeling a sense of bias.
Anyway, I don't want to ruin the experience for anyone, so I'm not going to go into the details of the film. But I will just say that L. Paul Bremer might be the most horrible person in the universe.
Labels: jay garner, no end in sight, paul bremer
posted by Trekking Left @ 12:37 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
Is this some special issue film or can you get it at the Blockbuster?
The Blockbuster and the Netflix both have it.
Interesting to hear -- I watched about the first 10 minutes, and was thinking, yeah I know this already. Guess I'll keep going, then!
Clusterf@ck is a term invented by military men, and that is exactly what the PTB strive for in Iraq.
Clusterf@ck is a good term to describe Iraq for sure. And the movie walks you through the series of events that made it that way.
I saw the movie when it was showing here, I think at the Fiesta 5.
It was an exercise in dealing with frustration for much of the movie. At the time I hadn't heard much about the film, but it would have been an eye-opener regardless.
To watch people, good people, hard-working people, SMART people who were initially charged with turning things toward the better in Iraq, get rebuffed so that stupid decision after stupid decision could be made by the higher-ups is disheartening to say the least.
The film isn't really about whether we should have or shouldn't have. I took away more about the policies after we were already in. And, from someone who opposed the war from the get-go, I have to say that after hearing some of what these people have to say, I almost feel like they could have pulled it off and rebuilt Iraq into a healthy democracy with a thriving free-market economy long before now.
F_ckers.
I appreciate your review of the film without giving too much away. Although, I'm not enticed to discover the worst person in the universe, I bet such a review would draw the 'reality' crowd in droves. That could be a very good thing.
eight santa barbara - Well said. I had many of the same feelings as you when viewing the film.
Noelle Aguayo - Yes, discovering the worst person in the universe was sad indeed :)
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