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August 10, 2007 4:00 AM PDT
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How do you judge whether your documentary is a success?
Ferguson: I don't think it's any one thing. First of all, I would like the film to have an impact on the way Americans think about this war and the question of how to handle Iraqi policy now going forward. I hope the film has an effect on the policy community with regard to that question as well, not just American public opinion, but there is material in the film that isn't generally known yet, even to people who have been following this.
There was a screening of the film for two dozen senators in Washington D.C. about 10 days ago. I was there and I was quite struck at the numbers of senators who were quite shocked and surprised by some of the things in the film...This is not the last time that the United States will go to war. I hope that the next time Americans think about using military force, people who have seen the film will have absorbed the lessons that war is not a video game and that if you don't plan and think very carefully, terrible things will happen.
I think that there is some evidence that the film is having an effect. Just last night I learned that Sid Blumenthal just posted an article for the Salon Web site in which he says that the White House is becoming afraid that the film is going to have a substantial effect and that (for U.S. Deputy Secretary of State) Richard Armitage's appearance in the film is going to lead to other senior administration officials to speak out.
Has it been difficult to balance your academic and policy background with your role as the maker of a film for the general public?
Ferguson: There were times when I felt the tension between my policy-wonk self, the person who had written a 454-page-long Ph.D., (and) trying to make a 102-minute film. But I would say on balance, my background in this case helped a lot...I had studied issues like this for a long time. The other thing that proved to be helpful was getting people to speak with me. It helped that I was credible to them in their world.
You made a conscious effort to keep partisan politics out of the film, right?
Ferguson: Yes. I tried very hard to do that. So, for example, the film does not take a stand on the question of whether or not there was a good case for using military force to remove Saddam Hussein. Personally I feel it's an issue about which reasonable people can disagree. On the one hand, Saddam turned out not to posses WMDs...But one could also argue that if it had been done differently, it could have worked, and Saddam was without question a genocidal, ruthless, horrific dictator and he had previously tried to develop nuclear weapons and his regime was being contained only by economic sanctions that were causing enormous damage to the Iraqi people.
I wanted the film to be absolutely about what had in fact occurred. Not about what should have occurred, who was right and who was wrong, but what actually took place. Most of the people in the film, by the way, are Republicans.
How did you stay safe in Iraq? Were you intimated by that part of the filmmaking?
I'd like to think that I wasn't intimidated but I certainly was very aware of it. When you're in Iraq, at least the experience I had, is that you're incredibly tense the entire time. You're incredible alert, you're always on, you always have to look at everything and access everything quickly, you're constantly aware that everything you do has to be done with security in mind. You never make appointments over the telephone with the real time of your appointment. You say you're going to meet someone at 10 and you show up at 9:30. You try to make sure your bodyguards' families aren't in the Baghdad area because if they are, they can be kidnapped...
I stayed safe by trying to be prudent. You travel either high profile or low profile, and I did both. If you travel high profile, which you have to do, for example, when you're filming--when you have cameras there's no way you can hide what you're doing and who you are--I had 8 to 10 guards with automatic weapons and three armored cars.
You could have just retired and played golf.
I'm not that kind of guy.
What lies ahead for you? Do you want to make more films?
Ferguson: The process of making the film was one of the most remarkable, fulfilling, moving, amazing experiences I've had in my life. It was just an extraordinary thing. And if the world lets me, then I'm going to continue making films.
Do you ever have any regrets about leaving technology?
Ferguson: Sure. It's fascinating, and in some ways the technology world is kind of a video game. It's an enormous amount of fun, a lot of smart people cooperating with each other, competing with each other. It's fun to test your wits against other smart, ambitious people. It's fun to do something cool and make money from it. Those are all great things. And I do sometime have regrets about not doing more in the technology world than I am. I still try to keep my hand in a little bit. But of course, making a movie like this, there's no way you can really be serious about the technology sector.
Can you offer any observations about the technology industry today and how it might compare to the days before the bubble burst?
Ferguson: I don't spend a lot of time on it. I do still have friends who are in the sector and very active in it. My impression is that this is different from the bubble and much more real, and I'm actually heartened by a lot of what I see. Of course there are some companies that aren't going to work out and there is still hype in the world, no question about that, but I think something real and quite substantial is happening now. 
See more CNET content tagged:
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filmmaking
comment that most Americans don't or won't read was particularly true. it's a really sad commentary on the so called "biggest, freedom-lovingest democracy' on the planet. the remark about the shocked senators shows that they didn't know what was going on in the first place (since they were totally lied to) and still don't. your comment about putting together teams was good. without a team you'll never leave the ground.
comment that most Americans don't or won't read was particularly true. it's a really sad commentary on the so called "biggest, freedom-lovingest democracy' on the planet. the remark about the shocked senators shows that they didn't know what was going on in the first place (since they were totally lied to) and still don't. your comment about putting together teams was good. without a team you'll never leave the ground.