2007-09-03
... go see the new documentary No End in Sight. Almost all of the on-screen faces are those of former Bush officials (State, Defense, and CIA). It's in the style of Jim Lehrer, not Michael Moore. Actual credit goes to Charles Ferguson, who has a PhD in political science from MIT, and is making his film debut, as writer, director, and producer. (Some years ago his company was acquired by Microsoft; the product was renamed FrontPage.)
The movie explains almost everything about the Iraq mess except:
- How we fix it or, if we don't, how we get out.
- The neocons' original motives.
The movie's take on #1 is that there is... no end in sight.
As for #2, one can only guess, and the movie barely tries. If they really did want to bring democracy to the Middle East, their lack of interest in post-conflict rebuilding is hard to believe, even for people who already think they're morons. Maybe they really thought conquering Iraq would put an end to Al-Quaeda. (The movie makes clear that the perpetrators knew Al-Quaieda and Iraq weren't connected.) Maybe the point was to funnel construction money to Republican contributors and, in Cheney's case, his employer. (More looting meant more construction.) Maybe they wanted to control the oil. Maybe they used the war to win an election. (In 2004, it worked; in 2006 it didn't. Probably not 2008, either.) Maybe it was just to finish what Bush Sr. couldn't. (Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz were all there for the Gulf War, too.) Maybe they wanted to kill Arabs.
My own guess is that Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz wanted to invade Iraq since before the 2000 election, and 9/11 gave them the excuse they needed and a country willing to go along with anything it was told. It was a combination of finishing what they couldn't finish last time and wanting to bring democracy to the Middle East. The other things, probably all true in some degree, were icing on the cake.
Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz indeed get most of the blame. Bush, as in so many things, gets the blame only for ignorance, stupidity, ineptness, and stubbornness. (And for empowering Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz.) Rice, Powell, and Tenet get the blame for going along and not speaking up. (A principled resignation or two in early 2003 might have helped.)
Anyone who voted for this gang in 2004 should be ashamed.