No End In Sight
The American Occupation of Iraq: The Inside Story from the Ultimate Insiders
McGill University (Montreal)
Tuesday February 5, 2008
Screening begins 19h30
Venue: Arts W215
USA / 2007 / 102min
A candid retelling of the events following the fall of Baghdad in 2003 by high ranking officials such as former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Ambassador Barbara Bodine (in charge of Baghdad during the Spring of 2003), Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell, and General Jay Garner (in charge of the occupation of Iraq through May 2003) as well as Iraqi civilians, American soldiers, and prominent analysts.
The film examines the manner in which the principal errors of U.S. policy - the use of insufficient troop levels, allowing the looting of Baghdad, the purging of professionals from the Iraqi government, and the disbanding of the Iraqi military - largely created the insurgency and chaos that engulf Iraq today. How did a group of men with little or no military experience, knowledge of the Arab world or personal experience in Iraq come to make such flagrantly debilitating decisions?
The people, issues and facts behind the Bush Administration's decisions and their consequences on the ground are examined to provide a powerful look into how arrogance and ignorance turned a military victory into a seemingly endless and deepening nightmare of a war.
94/100 on the Tomatometer.
Written and Directed by Charles Ferguson.
Distributed by Metropole (Montreal).
