Scott Ritter: Playing Politics With a Ghost

from Truthdig:



Playing Politics With a Ghost
Posted on Aug 6, 2009

By Scott Ritter


Finding the remains of Navy Lt. Cmdr. Scott Speicher in Iraq provides long overdue closure for his family and comrades, but it also exposes the tireless exploitation of Speicher’s disappearance in 1991 by Sen. Pat Roberts, a staunch Republican from Kansas, who used it to demonize the regime of Saddam Hussein and to justify the case for the invasion of Iraq.

Roberts likes to remind people that he was once a Marine. And, as the saying goes, “once a Marine, always a Marine.” The senator, who wears his time served as a badge of honor, was commissioned in the Marine Corps in 1958 following his graduation from Kansas State University and left the service in 1962 with the rank of captain. As someone who went through the caldron that is Marine Officer Candidate School and had my skills further honed through the six-month Officer Basic School, I know that obtaining the title “Officer of Marines” is no small accomplishment, and I commend Pat Roberts for possessing the physical, moral and intellectual traits necessary to have earned that distinction.

The Marine Corps wasn’t in Robert’s blood enough to motivate him to make it a career, however, and after fulfilling his four-year service requirement, he left the service for employment in journalism and later as a politician. You wouldn’t know this if you were to pay a visit to his office in Washington, D.C., where he has built a veritable memorial to military service, with memorabilia and photographs proudly on display. One would have thought that the Marine Corps was Roberts’ life.

He certainly gives that impression, with his frequent use of the Marine Corps motto, “Semper Fidelis”—Always Faithful. He often uses it in speeches and loves to quote it when talking to other former Marines, as he did when addressing me when I testified before a joint session of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees in September 1998. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090806_playing_politics_with_a_dead_man/

Good article. For anyone who reads the whole thing.