HW 30: "Citizen Soldiers and Global Warriors: Challenges of Iraq"- Scott Ritter

On November 8th, Scott Ritter, who is the former U.N. chief weapons inspector, spoke at Keene State College's Citizenship Symposium. The topic at hand was, “Citizen Soldiers and Global Warriors: Challenges of Iraq.” Scott was the U.N. weapons inspector for seven years and he also served in the Marine Corps for 12 years. Scott's speech started out with his definition of each part of the topic's title starting with "citizen." A U.S. citizen is determined by if a person is born in the U.S. or if they immigrated here. The rights of a citizen are written in our country's constitution, which is the "foundation" for Americans. The term soldier as defined by Scott with his pink face and loud, carrying voice, is a citizen who, "up holds and defends America against domestic and foreign affairs." Not only does a soldier protect the U.S. from other countries attacks but they are also defending us here at home. "Global" is the world as a whole, and a "global warrior" is someone who is "deployed in harms way" by the government. The problem with the global warrior is that the U.S. believes that it has control over the world and that America is the world. The United States government thinks it has the right to tell other countries what to do and how to govern themselves. The way in which we make sure that other countries follow in the path that we see fit for them is by the use of military. If a country does not comply with the rules that are set for them by the U.S, then the military will take necessary action in order to make the country do so. To me, the saddest part of the U.S. treating the rest of the world as inferiors is that when I go to visit another country, I am no longer seen in the same light I would have been if I visited 10 years ago. In the past, American citizens were generally accepted and respected by other countries. Today, however, the majority of the world's population hates and despises the U.S. I don't blame them and in fact I agree with them and to an extent I am ashamed to belong to a country that has done so much wrong to the rest of the world.