Rating: 
Summary: Good Case Study in Rhetoric and Propaganda
Review: Written in collaboration with former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter, War on Iraq parallels "Target Iraq" (by Norman Solomon) in its attempt to "debunk the key arguments" for war. Rivers describes the main arguments proposed by the Bush administration and refutes the credibility of each one. Instead, he offers a grim picture of the dangers posed by an invasion, including increased terrorist activity and heavy casualties. Like Target Iraq, Rivers' book has an explicit political purpose-what he calls "citizen campaigning" in the "tradition of Thomas Paine." If Pitt is correct in his assertions, virtually every reason cited in support of a war in Iraq is untrue, misleading, or at best secondary; the primary motives are never explicitly stated to the general public. Assuming Pitt is correct, the Bush administration's media campaign for the Iraq war is clearly the most deceptive and coercive in recent history. As such, it is a fascinating (if disturbing) case study in the use of propaganda and rhetoric to generate public support for a questionable brand of foreign policy.
Rating: 
Summary: Scott Ritter's 15 minutes
Review: I'd like to give Scott Ritter the benefit of the doubt that he began this anti-war crusade in good faith, but any sensible person that reads this book would immediately become skeptical. The timing, the glaring lack of logical thought, and the completely unsupported arguments he puts forth leads the reader to believe he has just fallen in love with hearing himself talk. This guy is embarassing himself and not contributing to solving any problems, especially the problems in Iraq. Enjoy your fifteen minutes Scott, but just remember you have to live with yourself after everyone else has stopped listening. Try Ken Pollack's The Threatening Storm, instead.
Rating: 
Summary: essential information to know about war on Iraq
Review: This thin volume, the bulk of which is the transcription of a phone interview between Pitt & Ritter, provides a very informed understanding of this war which to Ritters is "the dumbest idea I've ever heard of." The book starts with background information for this war, going back many U.S. Presidents leading to the 2nd Bush administration. In the interview, both sides of why America should wage war & why not are weighed. It is opinionated, but not dogmatic.As for the review about dope & sex, if it were true, it would have nothing to do with war commentary anyway.
Rating:
Summary: I Want to Know More
Review: Scott Ritter has not created a reputation for being a friend to people on all sides of the current issue of the Iraq War. If you support the war then chances are you do not like the author and would discount everything he says as untruthful pro Iraqi propaganda. If you disagree with the Bush administration on the war then this book will further confirm your positions. As I tend to agree with the later I found this book to be interesting and helpful. The most important parts of the book were his comments on the supposed stockpiles of chemical weapons that Iraq has their shelf life, and the overall inspection process. He also has a no spin way of describing the people in the Bush administration that have seemed to be pushing for this war for the past few years. If you on the fence on this topic then you can learn from this book but if your mind is made up in support I would not expect you would enjoy the book. My only issue with the book was the scope or length of the book. With such a large topic as this there are so many additional items to include getting the book up over 70 pages. I do not want to sound like I am complaining just because of page numbers, but we could have been given a bit more info, for example how did the Iraqi military use chemical weapons in the past, what about the mustard gas that they used so much of during the Iran - Iraq war, more details on exactly how they went about hiding items and how the UN found them. You get my point. Overall the book was good and informative.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent and Informative
Review: A friend in Spain recommended this book to me (apparently it has been published in 15-20 languages) and I am so glad that he did. War on Iraq is completely eye-opening and answers a lot of questions that I have had. I urge anyone having any interest in the war on Iraq to buy this book!
Rating:
Summary: The most important book you can read
Review: READ THIS BOOK! This is the most important you can read about why we shouldn't be in Iraq and why this war is the stupidest thing we could be doing right now. Read it and tell a friend about it.
Rating:
Summary: They wanted war for years and finally got it
Review: Although the was has started and we can now only hope it ends soon and very few people are killed, it would have been nice if our President and his Administration would have told us the whole truth. It would also have been nice if they would have actually tried to avoid war through diplomacy. Maybe it never would have had to happen if we had known: 1 - Saddam had unacknowledged permission from the Reagan Administration to use the gas against Iran, because the U.S. viewed Iran as the bigger threat. We know he used it, and did not care or even reprimand him. We even continued to give him weapons and finacial aid for years afterward. In 1990, a senatorial delagation led by Bob Dole visited Saddam and basically told him to ignore and not to worry about the growing questions being raised by the U.S. media about Saddam and terror. Of course, once he invaded oil rich Kuwait, we finally turned against him. 2 - Iraq did not kick out the UNSCOM weapons inspectors in 1998. President Clinton and the U.N. pulled them out when the U.S. decided to bomb Iraq during "Operation Desert Fox." 3 - Saddam and Osama bin Laden are not on friendly terms. One could even say that they are enemies. Bin Laden hates Saddam because Saddam has persecuted the Shiite Muslims (Bin Laden's religion). Also, Saddam will not give Al Qaeda any weapons of mass destruction that he may have because Al Qaeda would probably use them againt the Sunni Muslims and Saddam's Baath party. He will only give weapons of mass destruction to Al Qaeda is he thinks that he will lose power and or die. 4 - How can our declared goal of bringing democracy to Iraq be believable when we prop up dictators throughout the Middle East and support military dictators like Musharaf in Pakistan, who overthrew a democratically-elected president? 5 - President Bush cited the UN Resolution of 1990 as the reason he could not march into Baghdad, while supporters of a new attack assert that it is the very reason we can march into Baghdad? There are more, but you can get the book and read them yourself. Highly Recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Psycho babble
Review: This is one of those tracts that booksellers would loathe to have on their shelves because it can be read in half an hour without having to pay a cent. First of all, the events that have thus unfolded whilst we're in the midst of Gulf War II makes nonsense of the many claims in this book. What happened to the Ritter of EndGame? To remove Saddam or not to remove Saddam now? Apart from not being able to make up his mind one way or the other, this tract reads like he has a major axe to grind. Leave it on the shelf.
Rating:
Summary: Scott Ritter is extremely biased on this topic
Review: I will not be reading this book.
Scott Ritter has shown a very passionate bias to the
Bush administration. I haven't heard a lot of facts from him
so much as OPINON. If you want his OPINION, then buy this
book. If you want facts about what is going on with inspections
in Iraq then read something by Richard Butler.
Rating:
Summary: Waste of money
Review: A waste of money. Just ones of those books where the authors see things the way they want to see them.
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