See Peace Campaign with
Scott Ritter
[The following article is publshed with permission of the author, David
Hackworth. It was originally published at SFTT.org]
Calling Maj. Ritter
By David H. Hackworth teagles@hackworth.com
February 9, 2004
Like it or not, Maj. Scott Ritter had it right all along.
Most of the rest of us, from the president to his key advisers, such as Cheney,
Rumsfeld, Powell, Rice, Wolfowitz and Tenet, to the majority of Congress and
to most of the talking heads Ð including the pre-Iraq War NBC analyst David
Kay, who reported WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) behind every Iraqi sand
dune Ð blew it big-time when it came down to the awesome arsenal that Saddam
had supposedly squirreled away.
itter, the United NationsÕ chief weapons inspector in Iraq until 1998, took
us all on Ð virtually alone, against incredible odds Ð stating, ÒIraq is not
a threat to the U.S.,Ó and begging the American people to take charge and
not Òsit back and allow your government to go to war against Iraq ... (without
all) the facts on the table to back this war up.Ó
As per his reputation on training fields and battlefields, this granite-jawed
former Marine stood his ground and never flinched. He reminds me of another
two-fisted, tell-it-like-it-is Marine, Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler, the recipient
of two Medals of Honor, who was almost drummed out of the Marine Corps twice:
Once in the 1930s for calling Benito Mussolini a Òfascist,Ó and once again
a few years later when he rattled the military-industrial complex by daring
to declare that ÒWar is a racket.Ó
Ritter, too, took serious punishment from his critics Ð and instead of doing
proper due diligence or asking hard questions, the media quickly piled on.
It was not FoxÕs finest hour when that network gleefully painted him as a
21st-century Benedict Arnold Ð not that he had many prime-time advocates anywhere
else. Even CNNÕs usually evenhanded Paula Zahn said to Ritter six months before
America unleashed its miscalculated military solution on Iraq, ÒPeople out
there are accusing you of drinking Saddam HusseinÕs Kool-Aid.Ó
Eighteen months later, Ritter has not only survived the relentless ridicule
and all the scurrilous attempts at character assassination, heÕs clearly been
vindicated. And by one David Kay, who dismissed RitterÕs prewar analysis with:
ÒEither he lied to you then or heÕs lying to you now. ... HeÕs gone completely
the other way. I cannot explain it on the basis of known facts.Ó
Ritter doesnÕt come close to buying KayÕs present-day convenient conclusion
Ð now spun into a pre 2004-election pass-the-buck revisionist chant Ð that
our $30 billion-a-year spook op goofed. Ritter says, ÒItÕs the old story of
people going-along-to-get-along who put their careers ahead of their country.Ó
Ritter doesnÕt let President Bush off the hook, either: ÒHe should rightly
be held accountable for what increasingly appears to be deliberately misleading
statements made by him and members of his administration regarding the threat
posed by IraqÕs WMD.Ó
I asked Ritter if he felt totally exonerated. ÒI would feel a lot better
if there were a way to reverse the hands of time,Ó he told me, Òso that people
would have paid more attention to what I said in the past, and we didnÕt find
ourselves caught up in this ongoing tragedy.ÓÊ
What a shame that the president and his platoon of letÕs-get-Saddam neocons,
Congress and the CIAÕs Tenet didnÕt listen to the man-in-the-know when he
cautioned: ÒU.S. and Iraqi casualties will be significant. ... We canÕt go
to war based on ignorance.Ó
But go to war we did. And now weÕve filled more than 530 body bags, medevaced
thousands of soldiers, caused thousands more to be psychologically scarred,
created tens of thousands of Iraqi casualties and stuck ourselves dead center
in an ever-deepening tar pit.
For sure, people in high places need truth-tellers like Ritter to keep them
straight. Had Bush talked to Ritter before opting for pre-emptive war, Bush
might have been convinced to rearrange his options, and we might not be in
this mess.
Evaluating intelligence calls for an open mind and sound judgment. Both were
AWOL in our political leadership because of a preconceived agenda or an attack
of yellow belly-itis that interfered with standing tall.
In either case, itÕs time for a reckoning.
My recommendation: Put Ritter on the WMD intelligence probe. We can count
on him to tell us the straight skinny, just as he tried to during the fevered,
frenzied days of the dance to war.
David Hackworth (http://hackworth.com),
one of the most highly decorated veterans in the US, is an author or co-author
of many best selling books and a syndicated columnist for King Features (Defending
America).
Page created February 11, 2004 by Charlie
Jenks
