SCOTT RITTER SAYS THAT “WAGING PEACE” IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN TRUTH:

[TIME] You’ve spoke about having seen the children’s prisons in Iraq. Can you describe what you saw there?

[Ritter] The prison in question is at the General Security Services headquarters, which was inspected by my team in Jan. 1998. It appeared to be a prison for children — toddlers up to pre-adolescents — whose only crime was to be the offspring of those who have spoken out politically against the regime of Saddam Hussein. It was a horrific scene. Actually I’m not going to describe what I saw there because what I saw was so horrible that it can be used by those who would want to promote war with Iraq, and right now I’m waging peace.

Typical. We saw the same unwillingness to discuss such things from those who defended the Soviet Union, Pol Pot, and many other evil regimes. Usually in the name of a “peace” that really meant “surrender.”

As Tony Adragna notes, though some people are saying that Ritter is being “demonized,” the truth is that he’s doing it to himself.