Ritter, a former marine officer, stressed that he is a soldier who loves his country and has served it proudly, and he would do it again without hesitation if the country faced a legitimate threat. He staunchly supports the US troops currently in Iraq just as he vehemently opposes the war. "When it comes to Iraq," he said, "there was no threat to the United States. It was all about getting rid of a political problem. When the Bush administration came to power, it came with an ideology that says that the United States can act unilaterally and militarily for whatever reasons it chooses," he said. "If you want to support the troops, do so by bringing them home now," he urged.
Ritter said that again and again the administration would have us believe that we are building a better Iraq, but in fact conditions are worse now than before the US invaded. "Iraq is devolving not evolving," he said. "It is imperative that we never forget how we got into Iraq. We went to war on a lie, end of story," he said.
Mr. Ritter was invited to speak at the Town Hall by the West Hartford Citizens for Peace and Justice. That organization is composed of residents of West Hartford and surrounding towns who have come together in opposition to the USA Patriot Act and the war in Iraq. Since forming, they have evolved into a grass roots organization dedicated to promoting public dialogue on issues of peace, justice and democracy.
"We invited Mr. Ritter [to speak] because we think he is an extremely eloquent voice in the anti-war community," said Kathy Huxe, the group's publicity coordinator. "Our goal is to have some percentage of this audience, people who have been on the fence about this war or who are supportive of this administration and the war, realize where this country is going. I think that each day more and more are seeing this administration for what it is - not honest and not in touch with reality," she said.
State representative Andrew Fleischmann, served as moderator of the program. "When I was asked I told them I would be honored to do so," said Fleischmann. "Mr. Ritter is someone who has had the courage to speak truth to power at a time when that has taken a lot of guts," he said. "The Bush administration has played on people's fears of terrorism and managed to create a false link between the war on terror and the war in Iraq," he said.
"We're spending trillions of dollars on this war that would better be spent on domestic issues," said West Hartford resident Win Heimer. "We need to have a change in congress. We need to elect a democratic congress to put a check on this president's uncontrolled power," he said.