Apr 03 2008

Ritter on war, media, more

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

A brief interview with intelligence community apostate and former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter yields some interesting stuff. As always, the man pulls no punches:

We are in a war: Over 4000 of our servicemen have died. And it’s not just Congress or the elected officials that failed to perform; it’s the entire nation collectively, from the president, the congress, the media and the people. So, yeah, I’m a little bit harsher in my critique, because I think the circumstances warrant it.

I think people need to recognize and understand that when you turn on TV [or] buy a newspaper, you cannot view this as a singular source of information upon which to base your own independent point of view – you’re getting propaganda.

It’s not fatal to a society to have a biased media. Take a look at England, where they have a plethora of newspapers, all of which possess strong bias: All you need to do is put on your bias filter, and you can get to the kernels of fact. Here in the United States, we try to pretend that there isn’t a bias – you know, that it is “All the news that’s fit to print,” that it is “Fair and Balanced.” That’s garbage, and we need to understand that.

And those are the soft blows. Not a long read, but a worthy one.

Check it out.

19 comments

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  1. SD: What’s your critique of the peace movement, in a nutshell?

    SR: There is no peace movement. I mean, “peace movement” implies a nationally based, viable entity that has the ability to impact policy. We have a loose-umbrella organizational structure that has a whole host of grassroots movements plugging themselves in. But it’s not a viable movement . . .

    If there was a real antiwar movement – for instance, like something equivalent to the NRA, or the “Right to Life” movements – politicians would be loath to turn their backs. But there is not going to be political fallout from the Democratic Party turning its back on the antiwar movement, because the antiwar movement is incapable of genuine, political power projection.

    I think this comparison is instructive. The left should take this as a benchmark of where it needs to be in terms of organization and discipline.

    Thanks for this, kes.

    • Mu on April 3, 2008 at 19:57
    • #

    . . . and thought of you.  Hope all’s well and thanks for this Ritter piece.

    Mu . . .

  3. This week my whole body aches from REALITY.

    Being an avid reader of Scott Ritter – who is almost always right – I can now add MIGRAINE to the list

    His points about IRAN are worth reading and re-reading as his accuracy rate is very high.

    Thanks for the essay

  4. His words about Iran, for sure, and the ones about the media not being the problem, so much as the lazy, uninformed consumers of its products (“the people of the United States”).

    All this bears repeating; and passing on; especially this

    SR: People need to wake up: We are at war with Iran, as we speak, today. These are war-like policies. We need to understand that a war with Iran is a broad-brushed endeavor. What’s going on right now in Iraq – the attempt of the Iraqi government at the behest of the United States to nullify the Mahdi Army – is seen by several analysts, myself included, as a precursor to a larger conflict with Iran . . . I think there is a real risk of military action against Iran prior to the Bush administration leaving office.

      (emphasis added by me)

  5. I wrote a diary on Scott Ritter back in February:

    It is about the War on Iraq, and definitely worth the read, as is the entire article:

    Ritter’s voice should be spread far and wide.

    Thanks for the update Kestrel!

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