The documentary film „No End in Sight“ (2007) deals with the American occupation of Iraq with focus on the two-year-period after the invasion in march 2003. It is a debut of director Charles G. Ferguson, a political scientist and software developer born 1955 in San Fransico. „No End in Sight“ won a number of awards in 2007 and 2008: among them the Special Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival 2007, the Best Documentary Award at Toronto Film Critics Association Awards 2007, the NYFCC Award of New York Film Critics Circle 2007 and the NSFC Award ‘Best Non-Fiction Film 2008′ of the National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA. The Film got an Oscar-nomination 2008 in the category Best Documentary.

Main parts of the film consist of interviews with members of ORHA (Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance) and CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority ) authorities of the initial occupation in Iraq, including many former Bush loyalists, disappointed in their later experiences. „No End in Sight“ touches several aspects of Bush Administration´s planning, emphasising certain deep mistakes made by the administration.

According to the film, the small number of troops sent to Iraq was an effect of Donald Rumsfeld’s estimation in contrary to positions of Colin Powell and generals of the U.S. Army, who had requested a double troop number. The lack of law and order in Bagdad after the invasion and missing security powers to protect main buildings in Bagdad from destruction are seen as a consequence of this deep mistake at the beginning, followed by misdeterminations made by L. Paul Bremer, the head of the transitional government in Iraq, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA).
The film criticizes Bremer´s first official executive order, which implemented the so-called “De-Ba’athification”. By this order of the CPA, members of Ba’ath Party were considered as disloyal and were banned from holding positions in the new government. „No End in Sight“ discusses this decision, claiming that a lot of banned persons – among them many teachers – were unpolitical and their only reason being a Ba’ath Party member under Saddam Hussein was the fact that those positions were maintainable for Ba’ath Party members only. Bremer´s second official executive order finally destroyed Bagdad´s chances for a peaceful government change. Bremer disbanded all Iraqi military forces, which made a half a million young Iraqis unemployed. With his second executive order, Bremer turned against the advice of U.S. Army which preferred the Iraqi troops kept, this way helping to maintain order in Iraq. Disbanding the soldiers made many young people turn to a militia force, pillaging huge army depots as a result: weapons that later on have been used against the new government forces in Iraq.

Those three main mistakes (too small number of troops, Bremer´s first and second executive order) are shown as fundamental causes of Iraq´s government and army collapse and disruption. As an auxiliary result, Iraq´s neighbour Iran arises as a profiteer from the Invasion in Iraq, which left Iran now as a powerful country in the region.

Among the interviewed persons are: Colin Powell´s former chief of staff, Lawrence Wilkerson, Jay Gardner (Director of ORHA in 2003 before being replaced by Bremer), ORHA and CPA staff member Paul Hughes, four journalists and book auhors, the authors and political scientists Smantha Power and Marc Garlasco, Bagdad Ambassador Barbara Bodine, the former State Department deputy secretary Richard Armitage, the former chairmen of the NIC (National Intelligence Council), Robert Hutchings and several members of the U.S. Army.

The film got very positive reviews in the New York Times, the Time Magazine, the New York Post and the Village Voice. In addition to the mentioned film awards, in 2007 „No End in Sight“ won the following awards (all in the category „Best Documentary / Best Non-Fiction“): Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, San Francisco Film Critics Circle, Florida Film Critics Circle Awards and the Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards.