And all of it so easily preventable

Okay, so I saw No End in Sight last night (god bless the Laemmle!) and it was really fucking well done. First of all, because it’s about the whole war: the lead up, the occupation, the insurgents, and the cost in lives and dollars. Secondly, in spite of its ambitious subject matter, the film itself never feels like a shallow or cursory exploration.

The people who participated in the invasion and occupation who agreed to be interviewed for this documentary are clearly there because the failures of our government have cost them dearly. They were invested in success, both personally and professionally, and they want to understand and explain, if they can, how it all went so wrong.

Clearly, the blame for the insurgency and the collapse of the rule of law in Iraq belongs squarely on our heads.

First of all, because we never imposed martial law. And after the Iraqi army surrendered, our forces were under orders NOT to act as police or law enforcement officials.

“Fine,” you say, “let the Iraqi police enforce order.”

Except, of course, there were no Iraqi police in the days and weeks following the surrender. We told them to put down their guns and go home. We didn’t allow them to do their job, and yet we refused to do their job, either.

As a consequence, the subsequent looting of their capitol broke the spirit and the hearts of the Iraqis, and became the first large brick in the wall that now irreparably separates us and keeps us from winning.

Think about it. If an invading force took over our country, let’s say for a well-intentioned reason, like, for instance, ridding us of a leader that was a danger to us and to the world at large? Try to imagine that.

Imagine that the US armed forces surrendered to that army, and all the civilian law enforcement officials disbanded, even though our former leader, as a last “fuck you,” to us and to them, had emptied all the jails of criminals. Imagine that the invading army stood idly by while our most beloved institutions were looted, largely by those same common criminals. They stood idly by while thieves carted off Stuart’s painting of George Washington, and the Star-Spangled Banner flag, and the hat Lincoln was shot in, and even the freakin’ Spirit of Saint Louis.

Then they burned down the National Archives, and our precious Declaration of Independence, and our Constitution, and our Bill of Rights, and our Emancipation Proclamation were all gone forever.

While they stood by, doing nothing.

And then the guy who was in charge of their army went on tv, called us “Henny Penny,” and laughed at our losses and made fun of our misery.

Saying that we were just upset about a bunch of vases in a museum.

And then, while they refused to enforce the law, or claimed that their numbers were insufficient to do so, they disbanded our army completely and permanently. Hundreds of thousands of pissed-off and heavily-armed men and women, now unable to support their families, were told that they were no longer needed, even though huge stores of munitions lay all around our cities, completely unguarded.

And every single member of our former leader’s political party were told that they could no longer work for the government in any capacity at all, not even as a teacher or librarian, for the rest of their lives.

Sure, we’d be happy to be rid of our former leader, but how long do you think we’d remain grateful? How long would our good will last, as we suffered through month after month after month of no utilities, no security, and the installation of new leaders who encouraged the denial of our rights, depending on what political party we belonged to?

Okay, that last part we’re already experiencing now, but you get my point.

We would be rioting in the streets. We would rise against the forces of oppression and neglect, and assert ourselves.

Or, we would try. Mostly we would fail, because we are too fat and too scared and too selfish. Our Budweiser-swillin’, McDonald’s-snarfin’, Croc-wearin’, monster truck-drivin’ asses would try to fight the power, but because that would be too difficult, we would mostly be left to fight each other. Democrats would kill Republicans because of the crimes committed against them while the former leader was in power, and Republicans would kill Democrats because they were unhappy about being driven from power. Evangelical Christians would be killed because it was their faith’s fundamentalism that allowed the former leader to control us, Evangelicals would kill those of other faiths because, well, because some asshole would rise up and tell them that God wants them to.

And even those that were actually capable of fighting the occupying forces would not be able to make any real headway. They would take their beloved guns and their stockpiled ammo and make their way, like so many plump, waddling baby ducks, through the barricaded neighborhoods toward the centers of occupational power. But they would be gunned down on the streets before they could even do more than take out a few innocent civilians along the way.

Why? Because their numbers would be insufficient. Because the enemy would be more powerful. Because their position would have been given away by their bulky fluorescent rubber footwear.