NO END IN SIGHT (2007)

At this point, "No End in Sight" is an historical document. It happened in the past. There is nothing we can do about the mistakes it outlines. The war in Iraq is what it is and we will have to finish it in whatever way we can. I personally have never understood what "winning" this war meant. At the propaganda level, all wars throughout history are won or they are lost. At the human level almost everyone loses. And I don't live at a propaganda level. I don't care to do so.

I have a 13-year-old son and the odds are good that for most of his life he will live with the economic, political and social repercussions of a war that was waged for a lie by men who had only a movie's idea (more than likely a movie starring John Wayne) of what war is like; men whose ability to listen was seriously impaired by arrogance.

I don't believe that those repercussions will be positive. Estimates indicate that the war in Iraq may cost upward of $2 trillion. That's including many things like medical treatment and care for the wounded and the damaged. Hard costs are already at the $600 billion level. What could you do with $400 million per day?

"No End In Sight" recounts the story of the Iraq War from the point of view of men and women who served there throughout the early years and even before it became the focus of the military and economic energies of the United States. These are people from deep inside the military establishment, the Foreign Service establishment and the intelligence establishment. The most frightening impression is how the administration -- President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld -- chose to ignore the advise of seasoned professionals, not just about the initial invasion but at every step along the way in the so-called reconstruction period.

And they didn't just ignore the advice of their own people they also refused to listen to the Iraqi people, to consult with their leaders and to use what was offered them. In old-school, ugly American style they waltzed in with guns blazing, set up their own card game and began to reap what they thought were going to be the spoils. They didn't even bother to learn the language or to hire people who knew it.

The biggest blunder came when Paul Bremer, the man the administration appointed to manage the re-building of Iraq, issued the order to disband the Iraqi army and to turn the entire Bath Party, the political party of Sadaam Hussein, out into the streets.

These people, mostly men, in a culture where male pride is fragile, now with no occupation, with no money, already with no electricity and infrequent water, being unfocussed and apparently unwanted, began to fight amongst each other and against their ancient enemies, and suddenly, surprise, surprise, you had an insurrection and then a civil war. And the United States, with a hugely understaffed military, was unable to contain it.

The film came out in 2007 so it was before the time of "the surge." In terms of loss of life, "the surge" appears to be successful from a media standpoint. But one wonders how much damage has been done, how many enemies have been created, how big a hole has been dug, and how much longer the economy of this country must be drained to pay for a war that had no basis in immediate need and that was handled so incompetently that the quagmire became impassable.