Amazing that in a country where Michael Jackson goes on trial this man walks free.

I think Riter was aware that as bad as they had it they'd have it worse under the boot of the American occupation.

It is distasteful to raise Scott Ritter's legal problems regarding Internet chatting with persons of an illegal age, but useful nonetheless when considering the strange turn he took.

I remember his testimony before the Senate committee regarding allegations that the Clinton Administration was being oddly negligent about allowing the Hussein regime to get some sort of warning about impending visits by arms inspectors, or else not being ruthless about violations by the Iraqis of inspection protocols. I recall that he claimed that the Iraqis were cheating on the terms of the armistice, that we couldn't be confident that the inspections were doing any good. I recall that he was a hero to a lot of people who took exception to Clinton's lazy (to be kind) stewardship of the national interest.

And then, after dropping out of sight for a couple of years, he returned, singing quite a different tune.

I think Ritter's change is explained in light of the charges he apparently faced regarding persons of a certain age. It is my belief that he was being blackmailed, and is being blackmailed even today, given his steady insistence on a story which is in direct contradiction to what he had to say before.

It's almost scary to be from Detroit anymore, and not for the obvious reasons. If you look at anything bad that has happened in the last 10-15 years there is always a Detroit or suburban Detroit connection to it.

I think the government needs to start looking more closely at what is going on here.