Many things do not last long in the minds of college students, but the message former United Nations weapons inspector Scott Ritter delivered here at Quinnipiac on November 14 should stay in the front of people’s minds.

Ritter spoke about what he saw while he was a U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq, and related what he saw to the Bush administration’s interpretation of the information. Ritter, who was in the Marines and part of Desert Storm is against the current Iraq War. Ritter said, “You cannot solve a problem unless you define the problem,” the current administration has not defined the problem,” Ritter said.

Bush said America went to war with Iraq to rid Saddam of weapons of mass destruction and facilities that made these weapons. Ritter oversaw the destruction of all these weapons and facilities. Ritter could see whatever he wanted in Iraq, “I am one of the few people who can say I had access to everything.” When Ritter went to the C.I.A. with a report that Iraq was disamed, he said that the C.I.A. created another 200 missiles, and the C.I.A. would not inform Ritter where they got the number. If the C.I.A is creating a number of missing missiles and the global community believes that Iraq is disarmed, then why did the United States go to war?

Ritter told the crowd the only reason Bush went to war with Iraq was to force a regime change. He said, “The policy was never disarmament, it was always regime change.” This appears to be more and more evident the farther away we get from those first bombs dropped over Baghdad. No weapons of mass destruction are turning up, only more body bags of American soldiers and innocent Iraqi civilians.

The United States has gotten itself into a bigger problem than it anticipated. A big question nowadays is an exit strategy for American troops in Iraq. If the United States removes troops, then Iraq will be left in the hands of war lords. The United States has put the Iraqi people in great danger and when the United States decides to remove troops, they are going to have to walk a tight rope to prevent the country from going into all out civil war.

Ritter believes an Iraqi Civil War is a forgone conclusion. The key to the exit strategy is the removal of troops in Iraq, but it does not solve the problem. This is what Ritter believes the plan for the United States should be. As soon as American troops leave, there will be great civil unrest.

Ritter left the crowd of students, professors, and members of the community with a hope for peace. He said the United States needs to get reacquainted with diplomacy, and that American needs to realize that we are only 280 million living in a world of billions. America needs to show to the global community that it can solve a problem peacefully. Ritter believes “America is a single nation capable of doing more good than any country or group of countries.” The United States has the chance to be a truly great leader in the world if we can use our endless assets wisely.