How about 4:00 in the afternoon?

All you political junkies out there following the U.S. Presidential race know about the famed 3AM commercials run by Hillary against Obama. The ones implying Obama has no experience while Clinton touts hers and McCain’s experience. Those commercials disturbed me because of the implication. I asked myself what does “experience” mean?

Well - as I have said in previous posts I had the opportunity to see Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector, the other night and through the magic of Youtube, you can too. Here are 15 mins of Scott Ritter: Post one and Post two and finally, below, the third clip.

In this final installment, Scott Ritter asserts that the U.S. government knew in mid 90s there was NO “NBC” threat (Nuclear, Biological or Chemical). He goes on to relate that this data was ignored by the government because it did not feed the perception of a non-compliant Iraq and one needing regime change. He discusses fabrication of data and most importantly says he briefed Clinton’s staff as well as Senator John Kerry personally on his assessment in Iraq.

The implication here is that Hillary Clinton was given a counter-argument prior to her support for the war. Got that? A counter view point.

Have a listen

Look, I don’t know if what Ritter said is true, or exactly what Ritter briefed the Clinton staff, when it happened or if it happened, if Clinton simply chose to ignore it for whatever reason. I don’t know.

I do know that Ritter has a particular axe to grind with the Clintons and after 1998 he resigned as a weapons inspector. So when would he have briefed Clinton’s staff? Here are a couple of Scott Ritter interviews and you can see what I mean. Znet or Truthdig.

But this is about “experience” right? What exactly does that mean?

Here is my “experience.” As we observe the 5-year anniversary of our Iraqi invasion ask yourself where were you 5 years ago - not physically but mentally?

I remember sitting in a restaurant with a colleague who asked me what I thought about Iraq. I said definitively that the pending war with Iraq is wrong.

This person said something that still sends chills down my spine - “Well - I guess the government must know something we don’t.” I asked why that must be the case and listed all kinds of examples - ranging from Agent Orange or Gulf War syndrome effects on veterans, cigarettes, Gulf of Tonkin, whatever else came to my mind.

My colleague smiled, changed the subject and continued to eat her lunch.

Ignorance is bliss indeed. I would add costly.

Happy Anniversary