The Boston Phoenix
5-11 May 2000
Features
Human rights Irrationality and Iraq
by Laura A. Siegel

Scott Ritter led the United Nations weapons-inspection team in Iraq until he
quit in August 1998, claiming that the United States was using the team to
spy on Saddam Hussein. His experiences in Iraq have left Ritter convinced
that UN sanctions against Iraq should be lifted. As the Phoenix went to
press, Ritter was scheduled to testify before Congress on this topic May 3.
He spoke with the Phoenix last week.

Q: If sanctions continue, is war inevitable?

A: Absolutely. Innocent people are going to continue to suffer for two or
three years, but eventually there will be a moral and economic imperative
for the rest of the world to begin doing business with Iraq. Trade will be
uncontrolled. Iraq feels threatened [by Iran, Syria, Israel, and Saudi
Arabia].  Iraq is not going to sit there in the face of an Iranian threat.

Q: Should sanctions be lifted without further disarmament?

A: Disarmament has already occurred. I don't believe the intent [of the UN
resolution] was to get the world tied up in a hunt for nuts and bolts and
pieces of paper. Iraq has no long-range ballistic missiles, no warheads that
could go on these missiles, no means of producing chemical, biological, or
nuclear weapons. That doesn't mean they can't reconstitute them -- which is
why it is very important to get a viable weapons-inspection program back in
Iraq.

Q: You wrote, "When it comes to Iraq, a politics of irrationality reigns
supreme." Why?

A: It began in the 1980s -- we were supporting Iraq blindly against the
Iranian threat. Once Iraq invaded Kuwait, it threw the Bush administration
for a loop. How to respond? Demonize Saddam Hussein. Hussein was suddenly
called the Middle Eastern equivalent of Adolf Hitler. But [when Iraq left
Kuwait] Saddam Hussein was still there -- it was like we'd lost. The US
became focused on how to get rid of Saddam.

Q: So should we give up on getting rid of him?

A: Getting rid of Hussein is illegal as hell. People talk about "rogue
states" -- what defines them as "rogue states"? Total disregard for
international law.  We have shredded the fabric of Iraqi society. The only
good news is that Iraq is ready to rebuild.  You want to get rid of Saddam
Hussein? Lift the economic sanctions. The expectations of regrowth are so
high that Hussein . . . will have to privatize. You're basically talking
about turning power over to the people, [which will create] a viable middle
class, [which will lead to] democracy.

Q: Why hasn't the press covered this more?

A: If these were Serbian white kids or Jewish white kids dying, Americans
would be repulsed.  We're a society that seems to feel the price of life is
cheaper in Iraq than in Europe or America.  It's not newsworthy unless you
can get the candidates and the president to talk about Iraq. That's the last
thing anyone wants to talk about, because you can't defend what we're doing.