The truly fascinating documentary In Shifting Sands at first seems dated. It was made two years ago, before the current tragedy in Iraq, and the director is Scott Ritter, who is not a film-maker, until now, but who was chief weapons inspector for the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) in Iraq. Ritter is clearly angry about what happened in the period leading up to the original departure of the weapons inspectors, and he fills in the background events with clarity and precision, incorporating interviews with many people, including Iraqi officials like Tariq Aziz, and footage shot by the UNSCOM team.
Ritter\'s contention is that the inspectors were betrayed, that they were never allowed to fulfill their mission properly, and he sheets a lot of the blame to his boss, Richard Butler, who he believes is a pawn of the Americans. It\'s a highly provocative film which should certainly initiate a heated debate about what really happened in Iraq and, by extension, why we\'re now at war.
