No End in Sight

There are a million reasons to watch this documentary about the war in Iraq. As you recall, I'm not into "gotcha"-style journalism of the Michael Moore ilk. About Iraq, I've seen Frontline documentaries and CBC documentaries and I'm well past the "hey, somebody lied!" realizations.

However, I learned from No End in Sight. For example, I learned why experts with military combat experience, not to mention students of World War II, might have advised against disbanding the army.

Another thing I found fascinating, from a U.S./Canada perspective, is that so very few people with experience in the Middle East--the culture, the languages--were actually involved on the ground after the "war" was "won," during the rebuilding phase. The press secretary, for example, for the rebuilding effort had no foreign language skill.

In this country, any government position requires some French skills. Many positions require the ability to serve the public in French and English, both. And we're not even in Francophone Canada.

Ironic: Conservative America wants immigrants to the U.S. to learn English. However, when Conservative Americans "immigrate" to another country by bombing it, dismantling its infrastructure, and settling in for the duration to tell it how to run itself, they don't bother to bring any understanding of who they'll deal with.

Makes me wonder about the situation in Afghanistan.