David Hackworth praises Scott Ritter

[mainer]

By David H. Hackworth



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 – including the pre-Iraq War NBC analyst David Kay, who reported WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) behind every Iraqi sand dune – blew it big-time when it came down to the awesome arsenal that Saddam had supposedly squirreled away.



Ritter, the United Nations’ chief weapons inspector in Iraq until 1998, took us all on – virtually alone, against incredible odds – stating, “Iraq is not a threat to the U.S.,” and begging the American people to take charge and not “sit back and allow your government to go to war against Iraq ... (without all) the facts on the table to back this war up.”



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 “fascist,” and once again a few years later when he rattled the military-industrial complex by daring to declare that “War is a racket.”



http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=Hacks%20Target%20Homepage.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=52&rnd=810.5892205092845

[Torgo4]

1. That's Why I Read Hack!

Agree or disagree, and with me it's usually 70-30%, he's got the balls to admit when he's wrong, and will even recommend corrective action.

Compared to which "infallible" Administration?

:toast:

[KharmaTrain]

5. Well said...and Cheers

I have had my disagreements with Col. Hackworth in the past (most notably in the 90's) and his criticism of the military under Clinton, but he's been one of the few bright lights in the dark, byzantine world of the military.

Hack's been spot on with his assesments of what is going on in Iraq and has been one of the most objective observers. I just wish he and Scott were more visible on the mainstream media...but maybe it's not their time, yet.

[Terwilliger]

2. kick

[Brian Sweat]

3. Why would Butler get in trouble for calling Il Dookie a fascist.

Mussolini was a fascist and proud of it. He almost invented fascism.

[Bandit]

4. I can only imagine it is because military officers are not to be political

in any manner. That means not saying anything in public as a representative of the US about any political leader. It is against UCMJ

[RamboLiberal]

6. Read this DU thread from yesterday about coup planned

against Roosevelt by some rich Repugs who tried to recruit Smedley Butler to overthrow the government. Butler was certainly of the ilk of Hackworth. I trust those kind of military men in my government as opposed to boot-licking Powell.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1100606

[FlashHarry]

7. Honor

Hack admits he was wrong, unequivocally. Boy, wouldn't it be nice if politicians were able to do the same?

[JasonDeter]

8. I emailed all of NBC asking them if they were having Ritter on

to apologize to him for the slanderous way they treated him pre illigal Iraq war. I doubt if they do, they would have to have a conscience to see a need to apologize.

btw heres the email addys if anyone else wants to:

[e-mail]
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