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I listened to Scott Ritter for about half an hour last night on Atlanta Forum. He is an intelligent and articulate speaker and he makes some good points about when and why we should send US troops into war.

However, I noted that there was a constant "edge" to his voice as he talked about the USA. I interpreted it as almost a revulsion. He must have sensed it too because he felt the need to remind everyone that he had been proud to be a Marine at one time every so often.

At one part, when he stated that the UN sanctions had "cost the lives of 350,000 to 500,000 people", he stopped and repeated it several times. Slower and slower, to force everyone to concentrate on it (and perhaps believe it). The message was clear: the UN (and by proxy, the US) has somehow heartlessly killed 200 times as many Iraqi civilians as the US lost on 9/11 already. Never mind that Saddam probably spent billions on weapons and palaces that could have easily fed and treated his people.

My gut conclusion: Ritter was turned by the Iraqis.

Ritter is right about one point. The sanctions are immoral. The sanctions were imposed because the US Presidents in the 1990s would not remove Hussein due to the sacred cow of non-interference. The only people they hurt are the Iraqis.

The proper course of action would have been to remove Hussein. A less proper course (but still morally better than sanctions) would have been to remove all the restrictions and simply let Hussein prove his full malignancy once more.