SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER -- Rule of law or renegade? Iraq crisis will tell, ex-inspector says

Ritter said he believes in this case President Bush is using the war to control the American people, who, when Bush was elected, failed to give him a mandate.

Now, Ritter said, Bush has fallen back on the far right constituency that helped him get elected and "they have hijacked America's foreign policy for their own ideological ends."

"This is a frontal assault on American democracy," Ritter said. "The Bush administration is getting ready to define what America is for decades to come.

"Are we in fact a democracy based on the rule of law based on the Constitution, respectful of international obligations as set forth in international agreements and treaties? Or are we an imperial power?"