Pitt, William Rivers 1971-
Pitt, William Rivers 1971-
PERSONAL: Born 1971, in Washington, DC; son of Charles Redding Pitt (a politician). Education: Graduated from Holy Cross College.
ADDRESSES: Home— Cambridge, MA.
CAREER: Writer, editor, journalist, educator, political activist, and political commentator. Progressive Democrats of America, editorial director. Worked as a high school teacher for several years. Political analyst, Institute for Public Accuracy; former managing editor and senior writer, currently contributor, Truthout.org. Press secretary for the presidential campaign of Dennis Kucinich, 2004.
WRITINGS
(With Scott Ritter) War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn’t Want You to Know, Context Books (New York, NY), 2002.
The Greatest Sedition Is Silence: Four Years in America, Pluto Press (Sterling, VA), 2003.
Our Flag, Too: The Paradox of Patriotism, Context Books (New York, NY), 2003.
House of Ill Repute: Reflections on War, Lies, and America’s Ravaged Reputation, PoliPointPress (Sausalito, CA), 2006.
Author of blog Pitt Stop.
SIDELIGHTS: William Rivers Pitt is a left-wing political analyst and writer who has been outspoken in his criticism of U.S. president George W. Bush and the 2003 military invasion of Iraq. He is the editorial director of Progressive Democrats of America, and is a contributor to the liberal Web site Truthout.org.
In 2002, Pitt collaborated with Scott Ritter on the book War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn’t Want You to Know. Ritter, a former weapons inspector for the United Nations, claimed that Iraq had no nuclear weapons capabilities, and that a U.S.-led invasion was unnecessary and unjustified. His remarks took on extra significance because he had supported Bush in the presidential election of 2000. Ritter and Pitt clearly outline the positive and negative aspects of War in Iraq, and make it clear that there is no justification for the war based on Iraq’s alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction—Iraq has no such weapons, the authors state. In an interview on BuzzFlash.com, Pitt related his assertion that the War in Iraq and continued American presence in the Middle East has little to do with defusing weapons or installing democracy, but is instead centered around U.S. oil interests and the desire to increase American influence and control of Middle Eastern oil.
Pitt continues his criticism of the Bush administration and its policies in The Greatest Sedition Is Silence: Four Years in America, published in 2003. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly described Pitt as “an angry leftist” who airs his complaints about Bush and his administration, the media, and the influence of corporate oil interests on policymaking. The reviewer noted that many of Pitt’s remarks are “too far off-center and inflammatory for the majority of even those who oppose the president,” and stated that his extreme views undercut his “more salient complaints.” However, Ecologist reviewer David Mitchell observed that Pitt “does not shy away from confronting the issues” of American politics, media acquiescence to White House pressure, corporate scandals, disastrous public policies, continued erosion of privacy and personal liberty, and poorly justified military actions.
BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES
PERIODICALS
Ecologist, September, 2003, David Mitchell, review of The Greatest Sedition Is Silence: Four Years in America, p. 61.
Los Angeles Times Book Review, November 3, 2002, Andrew Cockburn, review of War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn’t Want You to Know, p. R3.
New Statesman, October 7, 2002, review of War on Iraq, p. 22.
Publishers Weekly, October 7, 2002, review of War on Iraq, p. 22; April 28, 2003, review of The Greatest Sedition Is Silence, p. 58.
ONLINE
BuzzFlash.com, http://www.buzzflash.com/ (September 25, 2002), “William Rivers Pitt, Essayist and Author of War on Iraq,” interview with William Rivers Pitt.
Truthout, http://www.truthout.org (January 2, 2007).*