No End in Sight: Intellectual "shock doc"

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ****½

The ever-charming, always good for a jest-at-the-expense-of-the-dead Donald Rumsfeld leads off Charles Ferguson's No End in Sight, one of the best of the umpteen Iraq documentaries so far. Rummy makes a statement that, if any justice still prevails, should come back to haunt him and his "Decider" for the rest of their wanton lives. The movie--which covers the inane and terrorist-producing lack on the part of the Bush administration of any intelligent plan for what might happen once its fake "Mission Accomplished" occurred--treads relatively new ground among the Iraq docs. It speaks with people from whom we've not heard much: Jay Garner, the man originally in charge of post-invasion Iraq; Ambassador Barbara Bodine; Richard Armitage, Deputy Secretary of State; and many more. What these people tell us, without mincing words but also with more pain, shock and regret than anger (the latter has undoubtedly already been spent), results in a very nearly air-tight case for the war being run about as badly as possible.

Ferguson, a political scientist, member of the Council on Foreign Relations and former software entrepreneur, is clearly a very smart man, managing to compile a wealth of information and then edit it into an understandable whole. These are talking heads, yes, but what they are saying are things we have not heard before--particularly from the people who, though underlings, were present at the creation of what may be America's greatest mistake. Many were (and for all I know still are) members of the Republican Party during the time of the current administration, so I don't think the charge of foul play and a stacked deck can be leveled as easily here as with some other docs.

The people on top of the manure pile--Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Paul Bremer (who took charge of Iraq from Jay Garner and, almost immediately, made the worst mistakes possible), Condoleezza Rice and Paul Wolfowitz among them--who get no hearing here. Some were asked but--perhaps wisely--refused to speak on record. So Ferguson had to rely on published interviews, while seeking out the second and third string. An intelligent decision, this, as it is usually these people who must immerse themselves in the actual work to be done and can see the results, or in this case, with just about every unintended consequence imaginable. Unintended to all except those who knew something about Iraq, its culture, history, its religious factions. Of course, none of these people were listened to because their opinions went counter to what the administration planned.

Among the underlings whom Ferguson has corralled into speaking for the administration, I suspect that a certain Walter Slocombe, senior adviser for national security and defense, may most regret his screen time. What he has to say is genuinely shocking, and his delivery, done with a grin and shrug, is equally so. Did these people have so little understanding--so little caring--of what it takes to go to war, to run a country (even if it is not our own but one that we have "conquered") that they could move ahead so blindly and stupidly? See the riveting No End in Sight, decide, and weep. Then read Garret Keizer's angry but thoughtful article Specific Suggestion: General Strike in last month’s Harper's magazine, October '07.