BBC:

A former UN weapons inspector is facing charges of unlawful sexual contact with a minor after being caught in an online sex sting, court officials have said.

Scott Ritter, an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq, is alleged to have exchanged sexual messages with a police officer posing as a 15-year-old girl.

How can a man who opposed a morally wrong war be a perv? How can the universe do us like that? It just ain’t right. Still, the size of Ritter’s crime (if indeed he committed a crime) is way, way, way smaller than Bush’s.

Charles Mudede—who writes about film, books, music, and his life in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, the USA, and the UK for The Stranger—was born near a steel plant in Kwe Kwe, Zimbabwe. He has no memory...

24 replies on “Say It Ain’t So, Scott Ritter”

  2. News flash: the geography of morality involves islands, endless seas, stratospheric peaks, abyssal depths, and everywhere in between.

    Still, the fundamental unfairness of the universe means that while Ritter may serve time for his transgressions, Bush (sadly) will likely not.

  3. This is, as I recall, the second time that Ritter has managed to get himself ensnared by one of these sting operations. All due respect to the man for being one of the few people to call bullshit early and often on the “WMD” hoax in Iraq, but with regards to his personal life he appears to be the dumbest motherfucker on the face of the planet, and I’m not going to shed any tears for him.

  5. It really is ridiculous that an adult can be charged with a crime for sexily chatting with another consenting ADULT, even if that adult honestly believes he’s chatting up a minor.

    These sorts of sex stings are nothing more or less than entrapment. If any crime was committed, it was committed by the police officer doing the entrapping.

  10. http://www.petertatchell.net
    /age%20of%20consent
    /consent%20at%2014.htm

    “CONSENT AT 14 –

    OutRage! advocates an age of consent of 14 for everyone, both gay and straight. PETER TATCHELL argues that young people have a right to make their own sexual choices without being victimised by the law.

    It’s all very well for the lesbian and gay community to call for an equal age of consent of 16, but what about the sexual rights of those who are younger?

    A third of lesbians and two-thirds of gay men have their first same-sex experience before the age of 16, according to research by Lesbian London magazine (1992) and Project Sigma (1990).

    These under-age lesbians and gays, and their partners, are treated as criminals by the law. Consenting lesbian sex with a girl under 16 is punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment. The maximum sentence for consensual gay male sex with a boy under 16 is ten years for touching, kissing, sucking or wanking, and life imprisonment for anal sex. These penalties apply where one partner is under 16 and the other is over 16, and also where both partners are below the age of 16. This legal barbarism doesn’t protect young people; it victimises them.”

  13. Charles,
    Bush’s Crime? Bit of stretch partner. You do realize Pres. Obama enlisted former Presidents George W. Bush & Bill Clinton to solicit funds for the horrific earthquake in Haiti. I am fairly certain Mr. Obama doesn’t believe Mr. Bush a criminal.

    Mr. Ritter and you dub the 2nd Iraq War a crime. Fine. But, right now, Mr. Ritter has far more worries than Mr. Bush who is about to render a service to Pres. Obama for the Republic of Haiti. BTW, I have some empathy for Mr. Ritter. He was caught in a sting. I am wary those operations. Hopefully, he’ll sort it out.

  14. Sargon @13 wrote:
    “I am always baffled why so many men Gay and Straight so deeply desire the attentions of individuals half their age.”

    Getting the attention of someone young (and presumably hot) makes older guys feel as though they’re still hot and desirable and not just old and creepy.

    The whole thing is a fucked up mind game, for both the younger and older participants. Yes, the ego is to blame, but in truth, the ego is just the big scary face and is actually controlled by the man behind the curtain: The penis.

  17. What if the police officer posing as a 15 year old girl was actually a 15 year old girl inside the body of a police officer…struggling to get out?

    Are there any operations in Sweden for a policioletomy?

  18. This post reminds me of Dominic’s “how could Maine voters be pro-pot but anti-gay marriage?” question.

    Same Idea: “but they’re on OUR TEAM!! wha tha fahh?”

    people aren’t so easy to lump into groups as it turns out.

  22. Anyway I am always baffled why so many men Gay and Straight so deeply desire the attentions of individuals half their age.

    I’ve never chased after women much younger than me, but I once had a woman 11 years younger pursue me and that was very flattering. So those guys who really go after much younger women (or men) are probably seeking that ego-stroking.

    I’m actually more baffled by why younger people would be interested in much older people (although with younger women and much older men it’s often about the money.)

  23. @13: Anyway I am always baffled why so many men Gay and Straight so deeply desire the attentions of individuals half their age.

    I have always had a fondness for 22 to 25 year old men. This is getting a little creepy as I approach 40, but it’s nowhere near as creepy as when I was 12.

  24. These kinds of things never really sat right with me, it feels too much like entrapment. It’s like law enforcement assumes 15 year old girls are all over the internet desperate for the next guy 2-5 times her age to ask to come over. At the same time though you can’t feel bad for them, at least not the extreme ones, where they bring things like condoms and alcohol. He’s not a fighter, he’s a lover?

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