Frontier Justice: Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Bushwhacking of America [Paperback]

Scott Ritter (Author)

Book Description

Series: Politics in Context | Publication Date: July 2003

Frontier Justice exposes the fraudulent manner in which President Bush and Company's new scheme of world domination has been sold to Congress and the American people, especially through the "Big Lie" about the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. A former Marine intelligence officer who served in the 1991 Gulf War and led U.N. weapons inspection efforts in Iraq until his resignation in 1998, Ritter dissects this myth and reveals how Bush carried out the international equivalent of a west Texas lynch mob, forcing his own brand of frontier justice in the Middle East.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It's no surprise that a book by Ritter, the outspoken former U.N. weapons inspector, would be controversial. Ritter first made headlines in 1998, when he resigned as a weapons inspector because of the inefficacy of the inspections, the failure of which he now blames on all parties involved-Iraq, the U.S. and the U.N. But the bulk of this book is devoted to the events of the past year, most notably his criticism of the U.S. war in Iraq. Before the war broke out in March, Ritter-widely considered to be a hawk for publicly blasting Richard Butler, the leader of the U.N. weapons inspections team-became an antiwar activist, even appearing before the Iraqi Parliament to appeal for peace. And in this book, he explains that in the past year, he's become involved in a group known as SAVE! that advocates solving problems "by adopting a non-threatening posture." But mostly he attacks President Bush's administration for the war: in light of the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, he contends, it's clear that the president launched the war on the basis of a lie. But Ritter's tone becomes tiresome: his references to "Ranger Bush and his west Texas lynch mob" may be amusing at first, but not after the umpteenth use. And when Ritter argues forcefully that Bush is worse than Hitler, even reasonable critics of the war may not want Ritter as their spokesman.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 209 pages
• Publisher: Context Books; First Printing edition (July 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893956474
• ISBN-13: 978-1893956476
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,323,260 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

68 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The book by which history will be decided, July 26, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Frontier Justice: Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Bushwhacking of America (Paperback)

Scott Ritter uses effective and compelling prose in this well-written book to dismantle Bush's justifications for war. Harnessing his considerable knowledge of Iraq's WMD programs and capabilites, Ritter proves himself to be perhaps the most objective, qualified American to speak to whether Iraq was a legitimate threat or not, as well as a surprisingly strong author.

Because I was aware of the points Ritter was articulating in the months leading up to war, the fact that no Weapons of Mass Destruction ever turned up has been no surprise to me. The one issue that had continued to confuse me was the apparent "flip flop" that Ritter seemed to make between 1998 (when he implied Iraq WAS a threat) and now. Ritter deals with this issue head-on, detailing the differences (from an inspector's perspective) between a technical threat, and a practical one.

Ritter's wordsmithing is thankfully sharp, making the inherently-complex subject matter highly readable. A couple of chapters dealing with the background to the conflict slow the pace slightly, and Ritter's late-chapter comparison of Bush to Hitler's[] ambition strikes me as overkill in an otherwise level-headed analysis.

Nonetheless, this book is highly recommended to anyone on either side of the ideological aisle who wishes to hear from an informed source on the issue of Iraq's WMD.

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tough Presentation, Eye on the Ball, July 15, 2003

By 

William Hare (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Frontier Justice: Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Bushwhacking of America (Paperback)

Scott Ritter writes and talks like the no-nonsense ex-Marine he is. Since his viewpoint is anti-militarism in the Bush preventive war context, his enemies are indeed frustrated that they cannot dismiss him as a lily-livered pacifist in the way that the right seeks to dispatch military critics from Vietnam to the present.

A former weapons inspector in Iraq, Ritter tells the unvarnished truth without any political spin about that troubled Middle East nation and what was really happening during that critical period when inspectors attempted to analyze just what was occurring in that nation. He has been consistently vindicated in his claims that the weapons of mass destruction argument, which was the cornerstone of the pretext for invasion, is false. Ritter warned before America invaded that it was getting into a quagmire of Vietnam magnitude. Events have proven that claim valid. Compare the statements of Ritter regarding weapons of mass destruction and Iraqi military capability alongside those of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Powell and clear differences emerge. The reports of the latter have been sketchy and lacking in substantive foundation. Ritter, conversely, has been vindicated as U.S. troops have become bogged down in a bottomless pit with no end in sight. For the first time, poll figures reveal that Americans believe the current price being paid in loss of life and injury to be unacceptable.

Ritter's conclusion in this timely work is, apropos his style, straightforward, directly to the point. When the subject of regime change is broached, Ritter believes that it needs to be achieved right here at home. Regime change begins with new American leadership with the vision to see the entire picture rather than deal in tawdry image creation and spin control.

33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book - Ritter understands what defines patriotism, October 27, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Frontier Justice: Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Bushwhacking of America (Paperback)

Despite the attempts at assasinate his character during 2003-2003, Scott Ritter has been proven correct about Iraq and its lack of WMD. He is correct that we the citizens and the Congress are culpable for beleiving the Big Lie. Right-wingers will certainly try to disparage this book, but in today's climate loyalty to political party seems to take precedence over loyalty to country and to the U.S. Constitution. IMO, Scott Ritter is trying to stand up for the enlightend ideas and principles that founded our nation, and his book was a refreshing read of what has gone wrong, and what we need to do to fix things in 2004. Regime change at home, no more Big Lies.

Not only does Ritter painfully point out that the details showing that the Iraq invasion was a war of aggression, and as such illegal under International Law, but he successfully articulates that the US under this administration is looking very much like the earlier periods of fascism in Germany and Italy (mid-late 1930s). As an American I find these parallels repugnant, but an objective analysis of the facts suggest we are in fact following in those same footsteps.

Indeed, the neoconservative quest for "global dominance" will never happen, and may ultimately lead to economic failure of the US. The founding fathers were absolutely adamant that the US reject the temptation of Empire - as the histories of Empires all end the same way: Military overextension and subsequent economic decline. It's time to revisit the real meaning of the Constitution, the wisdom of the founding fathers, and the ideas and principles that founded our great nation.

As Ritter points out, simply waving the American flag and loving America is not enough - democracy requires active participation of the citizenry. Regrettably, Ritter is right 'America is going through a crisis of gigantic proportions. It is a struggle for the ideological soul of the nation. Bush and his posse have set a course for the future that dramatically departs, in words and in action, from the values and ideals set forth by our nation's founders." (page 201)

FYI to the media: During WWI, Teddy Roosevelt - a true conservative, and a species of politicians that is now all but extinct once said - "To annouce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." (page 8)

As pointed out by Ritter, Bush and the radical neoconservatives are the real traitors to both the American public and the ideas for which our country has stood for since the 1770s. Indeed, the US will quickly become an internaitonal isolated, bankrupt, and Authoritarian nation if this group of ideologues is not removed during next year's elections. Thank you Mr. Scott Ritter, for helping others understand that patriotism means - to protect the ideas espoused in our Constitution, from enemies both foreign and domestic - you are an American patriot.

I highly recommended this book for open-minded individuals (that includes *true* conservatives who care about our country and disavow the madness of the PNAC doctrine).