Scott Ritter lectures Calgary

By Kelly Benedict

“We are sick, we are ailing, and we need to cure the disease of Bush-ism.”

Those were the words of former chief UN weapons inspector in Iraq, Scott Ritter. He lectured at the 2003 Dr. Irma Parhad Lecture and Roundtable at the University of Calgary on Fri., Mar. 14.

While admitting that he is not a media specialist, he feels that the media portrays the events of the Iraq Crisis as being simply black and white.

“When you turn on the TV today, what you get is a gross oversimplification of the state of the world today,” said Ritter. “The media presents the impending war as good versus evil.”

Ritter believes the problem with American media coverage of Iraq lies in two fundamental misrepresentations. The first is that Iraqi citizens are being dehumanized, a myth perpetuated by the media. The second is that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is using weapons of mass destruction, developed in response to the Iran threat, on his own people.

“The public repeats these myths like compliant parrots, perpetuating the thought of Iraq as an evil nation,” he said.

He also criticized the media for its pro-war stance.

“Peace has never been an option,” he said. “War is the only option discussed.”

Ritter acknowledges that it is tough to go against U.S. President George W. Bush and his war policies.

“If you challenge the U.S. government, you’re called a sympathizer of Saddam.”

Ritter, a former marine who fought for America in Iraq, has been labeled “Saddam’s American Apologist,” because he speaks out against the Bush administration. However, that does not stop his activism.

“I’m a firefighter in New York. Do you think I’m going to forget about what happened on September 11?” he asked. “I’m still an American citizen. I’m just not going to callously use these deaths to promote propaganda.”

Ritter believes that he has an alternative to war.

“If you choose the path of confrontation, it will lead you down a road to which there is no solution,” he said.

Ritter has put forward a “save face” mechanism for Bush. It is centred around the implementation of his “Six Points for Peace. The first and most important point is disarmament. The remaining five elements are focus areas that need to be addressed in Iraq: human rights, democracy, peace, economy, and diplomacy.

These points are terms that must be accepted by Iraq in order to work, they can’t be forced upon an unwilling nation. To the American media, it seems unrealistic that a villain such as Saddam would ever agree to any proposed solutions, said Ritter. However, the South African deputy foreign minister took Ritter’s six steps to Iraq in January 2003, and Hussein agreed to implement each of them.

“Should we accept his promise at face value? No. But should we give this a chance? Is it something that should be considered as an alternative to war? Absolutely,” he said.

The underlying message of Ritter’s lecture was that people should be more involved in the politics of their nation. Ritter believes that we have a responsibility to educate and empower ourselves.

“If you want to be a passive observer, you don’t deserve the title ‘citizen of a democracy.’ At the end of the day, Bush is my employee, and I will hold him accountable,” he said.