NO END IN SIGHT

For most Americans, following the tragic and utterly depressing ins and outs of the Bush Regime's mad rush to war in Iraq and their devastating and willful agenda of death and destruction, both by lethal weapons and gross incompetence, can get very overwhelming... very fast. First time film maker Charles Ferguson has written, directed and produced a documentary so powerful and so precise that 102 breathtaking minutes will catch most people up with most of what's gone down in Iraq in the last 4 years. This morning Mr. Ferguson will join us over at Crooks and Liars for an exclusive blog session. Please join us over there at 11am, PT (2pm back East).

The movie tells the unembelished story of what the Bush Regime has wrought in the Middle East through the eyes and through the words of reliable on-the-scene actors like Colin Powell's Chief of Staff, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, ex-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Ambassador Barbara Bodine, Bush's first Iraq "viceroy," General Jay Garner, as well as through the experiences of Iraqi civilian leaders and American military personnel in Baghdad. It is showing in NYC and DC now, opens throughout the L.A. area today and all over the country a week from today.

No End in Sight doesn't attempt to draw conclusions about whether the tragic melding of arrogance and ignorance-- Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and their cronies-- purposely created the chaos that has destroyed civil society in Iraq; the movie just documents that destruction in the most compelling way the medium of film can be used and leaves the conclusions to the viewer. The uniqueness of this film lies in Ferguson's ability to bring the viewer right into the space of the decision makers (if not The Decider). "The film," he explained, "is the first detailed dissection of the extraordinary way in which some of these decisions were made-- in secret, by a small number of men who had virtually no relevant experience and who either failed to consult with, or overruled, the people on the ground and the military."

I asked him if it had occured to him that Rumsfeld, Cheney, Bush and thge right clique of Neocon cheerleaders for war around them could have purposely destroyed Iraq. Was the chaos and sheer human misery the actual goal of the Bush Regime? In other words, a way of telling bad guys around the world, "Screw with us and there'll be nothing left of your country or even your family!" One watches the scenes of looting, the incredibly lame decisions and excuses for deBaathification, for the disbanding of the Iraqi military, for the unguarded munitions dumps, for the divide and conquer attitude that led directly to sectarian violence and civil war... I mean was this all on purpose? Or just gross incompetence?

Charles Ferguson told me it had indeed occured to him but that he rejected the premise. "These people," he said, "had incredible callousness towards the Iraqi people and the arrogance to think they knew what was best for the Iraqis. Let me add blindness, rigidity and ignorance. And incompetence, especially on Bremer's part."