Weapons, Rhetoric, and the Looming War with Iraq

If the Security Council, if the international community, falters now, at the moment of truth, and provides the Bush administration with a smokescreen of legitimacy by authorizing military force against Iraq, the forces of ignorance and fear which have paralyzed the United States since September 11, 2001, will prevail. If, however, the international community stands firm and supports the continued work of the inspectors in Iraq, without artificially imposed time lines, then President Bush would be running the risk of committing political suicide by going to war with Iraq unilaterally. In the game of high stakes poker that is American politics, this is a risk both he and his advisors may not be willing to take. As such, it is the duty and responsibility of all freedom loving people, around the world and in the United States, to stand up for the rule of law, and continue to oppose a needless war with Iraq.

-- Scott Ritter, speech delivered in Tokyo, February, 2003

(via war in context)