War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know

Rating:
Summary: How about a few facts?
Review: Ritter alleges expertise in the field of WMDs. In that light, his statements in this book are baffling.

Hussein used mustard agent and others against Kurds and Iranians in the 1980s. As of 1998, Hussein did have WMDs, and everyone, including Ritter, says so. Since then, there are two possibilities--either Hussein destroyed them or he did not. Proving a negative is always tough, which is why governments keep track of research and documents--to "prove" they were destroyed. Ritter and Pitt, however, take the approach of "Who cares? After 5 years his chemicals would be decayed and worthless."

An interesting theory. Yet the US still has undecayed stockpiles of VX at Newport Chemical Depot, Indiana, manufactured before 1968. It has stockpiles of mustard gas from WWI at Fort Rucker, still surrounded by a safe zone after 80 years. No one knows how to dispose of them safely.

Quoting from a recent article: 12/9/04

Subject: EOD Guys at Dover

DOVER, Del. A suspected blister agent in a World War I-era shell found near Bridgeville injured three members of a military explosives disposal team at Dover Air Force Base this week, prompting an investigation by the Army's chemical weapon center in Maryland.

(snip)

In light of that, the statement that, "Chemical weapons would decay within five years," is hard to grasp. Ritter allegedly is an expert in this field, so he certainly should know this. When queried about this, Pitt declined comment.

With the current discoveries of large numbers of aircraft and tanks being dug up in the Iraqi desert, buried against Saddam's imagined future return to glory, the case for the existence of WMDs is still very much open.

I do hope Pitt and Ritter are correct. WMDs not in Hussein's hands are even worse than ones under his control, and Bush has taken a big bite of something that might bite back. In that light, "War On Iraq" helps neither side of the debate, by Pollyanna-izing a serious issue.

Does Hussein still have WMDs? No, he's in custody. Does Iraq still have WMDs unaccounted for? Yes. Do they actually exist? No one knows.

Further investigation is called for, by all parties.

The book isn't well written, is clearly unfactual in the above and other areas, and, as has been noted by others, lacks a reference or bibliography. It might have been more honest to market it as fiction. It's merely a crass attempt to cash in on fear and make a few bucks, only aimed at the left instead of the right. There's certainly no answers here, and Ritter is either incompetent or a liar. That makes me wonder about the entire inspection program.