Documentary Film Of The Day - No End In Sight...

I have been waiting a long time for this baby to come out on DVD. When you live in an area where they only screen movies like Mr. Woodcock or Good Luck Chuck, waiting for DVD releases comes with the territory.

This one was well worth the wait. For all of you that find Michael Moore's antics a little off-putting, this film offers a very clinical, sober analysis from those who were on the inside of exactly what the mistakes were regarding the invasion of Iraq. Rather than focus on the deception and bullshit that led us into war, the movie primarily deals with the lack of planning and poor judgment that took place once we were in Iraq. The first issue discussed is the apathy on the part of the White House and Defense Dept. towards the looting and lack of security in the early days. This security vacuum was filled by the local militias.

De-Baathification was the next. By firing everyone holding a government job, from ministry officials down to schoolteachers and janitors, thousands of people were left jobless. Many of these people were Baathists out of necessity (they needed to work) rather than out of a loyalty to Saddam.

Finally, the decision to disband the Iraqi Army. According to the film, this was a decision made by a small group of people inside the Defense Dept. who had no combat training and hadn't even been to Iraq. It was a surprise to many and went against the conventional wisdom of people inside Iraq. It left tens of thousands of Shiites and Sunnis unemployed. These are the people who knew where unguarded ammunition caches were - the ones who eventually joined the insurgency, again out of necessity.

I would like to see some sort of government response to the facts presented in this movie. The fact that it will never happen should be troubling to us all. This level of incompetence continues to go unchecked and we as participants in this "democracy" should be furious.