Ex-weapons inspector and former Marine Scott Ritter is calling for regime change in Washington.
Aozotorp
(Note: Ritter has credentials, experience and balls, and he's standing tall
right in the face of the Chickenhawk Bush regime. Here's hoping the rest of
America wakes up soon. TB)
==================
Ex-weapons inspector and former Marine Scott Ritter is calling for regime
change in Washington.
By Jan Barry - (VIAW) Veterans Against the Iraq War
05/05/03
Scott Ritter may be the Bush reelection team's worse nightmare.
The former UN chief weapons inspector in Iraq and card-carrying Republican is
barnstorming America with a blunt message: George W. Bush's war on Iraq was
waged on a "bodyguard of lies."
"We need regime change, and we need it quick," Ritter told a gathering of peace
activists in New Jersey on Sunday. "George W. Bush does not have the right.to
represent the American people, if he told a lie. And he told a whopper."
That whopper, said Ritter, was claiming that the US government had evidence
that Saddam Hussein was hiding massive amounts of weapons of mass destruction
and that was why Iraq must be invaded. The facts, he said, are that "the
inspections worked. The United Nations did disarm Iraq."
"I want the president impeached because he lied to the Congress of the United
States," Ritter said. "He may well go out and tell another lie about weapons of
mass destruction" being found amid the rubble in Iraq. But, Ritter said, any
scheme to plant evidence would run afoul of professional soldiers like those he
served with in Gulf War I. "I can tell you, my fellow officers won't sustain
that lie."
Ritter is a former Marine major who worked as a weapons inspector for the
United Nations in Iraq from 1991 to 1998. These days he's an antiwar activist
on a mission to pacify Washington, DC.
"What happened in Baghdad last month was not in accordance with international
law. What happened in Baghdad last month was a west Texas lynching," Ritter
said at New Jersey Peace Action's annual dinner, where he was the guest of
honor. "President Bush is implementing a policy of imperialism."
Ritter said Americans who don't want the United States to go the way of all
empires - which, he said, die of indigestion - will have to fight an historic
political battle over the nation's future.
"We can't allow a bunch of neoconservatives to hijack America," he said. "It's
not a right-wing fraternity pin - the American flag - we own it, the American
people."
Ritter said he has been taking his blunt message to college campuses and other
forums around the country. And when anyone demands that he support the war in
Iraq, he replies: "What part of war do you want to support?" and describes in
graphic detail the hell hole of war.
Recounting the story of a Marine in a battle in Iraq, Ritter said that a
soldier is only one face of patriotism. "Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce
you to the other face of patriotism - the people of the United States. The
other face of patriotism is the American citizen who gets up in the morning"
and carries out the duties and responsibilities of citizenship.
"If you give up now, you are giving up on American democracy," he said.
Ritter urged the assembled peace activists to reach out to Republicans like
himself and raise the constitutional issues and uncomfortable facts that Bush
has run roughshod over. Among those facts, he said, is this glaring one:
"Bush was a deserter from his unit during the Vietnam War. He doesn't know what
it means to support the troops."
http://www.vaiw.org/vet/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=86
tscottme
Aozotorp <aozo...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20030506052958...@mb-m12.aol.com...
> From Tom:
>
>
> (Note: Ritter has credentials, experience and balls, and he's standing
tall
> right in the face of the Chickenhawk Bush regime. Here's hoping the
rest of
> America wakes up soon. TB)
> ==================
Ritter also has one or two arrests for picking up under-age girls,
$400,000 for making a PR film for Iraq, and the Iraqis carefully
detailed their efforts to bribe Ritter. Coincidence or not, Ritter's
tune changed from "they're hiding WMDs" to "they have no WMDs" at about
the same time. hmmm.
--
Scott
--------
Those who are wringing their hands over how the war on terrorism can
restrict our freedoms are often the same liberals who favored the loose
immigration laws that have put so many terrorists inside our borders,
thereby necessitating restrictions on everyone's freedoms in order to
deal with people who should not have been here in the first
place.---Thomas Sowell
Shaun Howell
wrote on 5/6/03 6:17 AM:
>
> Aozotorp <aozo...@aol.com> wrote in message
> news:20030506052958...@mb-m12.aol.com...
>> From Tom:
>>
>>
>> (Note: Ritter has credentials, experience and balls, and he's standing
> tall
>> right in the face of the Chickenhawk Bush regime. Here's hoping the
> rest of
>> America wakes up soon. TB)
>> ==================
>
> Ritter also has one or two arrests for picking up under-age girls,
> $400,000 for making a PR film for Iraq, and the Iraqis carefully
> detailed their efforts to bribe Ritter. Coincidence or not, Ritter's
> tune changed from "they're hiding WMDs" to "they have no WMDs" at about
> the same time. hmmm.
>
> --
> Scott
Not to mention that opposing a war
after it's been won seems somewhat dense...
Jack
some additional info showing that ritter has no credibility, just like
his boyfriend twerp. in this article ritter just slobbers over saddam
(much as donnie did):
from
http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2002/cyb20020910.asp#1
BEGIN QUOTE
After obligingly relaying how Iraq says it is only conducting
"peaceful research" on "medical" and "pharmaceutical" matters at a
facility U.S. intelligence pinpoints as dedicated to nuclear weapons
research, NBC News reporter Ron Allen in Iraq treated the claims of
former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter as credible.
On Monday's NBC Nightly News, Allen trumpeted Ritter's credentials and
recounted one of Ritter's absurd-sounding claims: "Today Iraq got more
ammunition from an unlikely American ally -- former U.N. weapons
inspector and U.S. marine Scott Ritter, leading his own tour to an
Iraqi military camp, a base where the U.S. believes Iraq has trained
terrorists. But Ritter, who says he is also an expert in
counter-terrorism, claims it's a base for hostage rescue training --
an example, he says, of how the Bush administration is making a case
for war that's not based on the facts. He's convinced the U.S. has no
reason to go to war."
Who exactly takes hostages in Iraq against the wishes of Saddam
Hussein?
FNC's Brit Hume recalled what Ritter said about Iraq in 1998, showing
how he's done a 180 on the threat posed by Hussein, a turnabout which
could be attributed, the Weekly Standard suggested last year, to
Ritter's collaboration with the Iraqi regime on a film.
In the morning on Monday, CBS's Jane Clayson at least challenged
Ritter when he claimed that Hussein has no interest in acquiring
nuclear weapons.
Allen checked in from Baghdad for the September 9 NBC Nightly News, as
taken down by MRC analyst Brad Wilmouth:
"Today Saddam Hussein's deputies aggressively counterattacking charges
this country still has weapons of mass destruction, and strongly
denying Iraq has the capacity to produce nuclear weapons. Senior Iraq
officials today take journalists to the outskirts of Baghdad for a
close up look at one of the country's most controversial nuclear
sites, the Tamuz reactor facility, heavily bombed by Israel in 1981
and again ten years later by allied warplanes during the Gulf War. The
Iraqi officials insisting scientists use the plant's four new
buildings for peaceful research -- medical, pharmaceutical --
dismissing charges by President Bush and Britain's Prime Minister
Blair that recent satellite photos show new building activity since
weapons inspectors left in 1998, raising suspicions about Iraq's
nuclear weapons capability. Iraqi officials say it is not true they
are conducting prohibited nuclear weapons activity."
Dr. Saeed Hassan al-Mousawi, Iraqi Foreign Ministry: "We've renovated
some buildings but for peaceful research and in areas which has
nothing to do with the nuclear area."
Over video of Allen walking with Ritter, Allen relayed Ritter's
claims: "The media tour -- the fifth this month of various plants --
part of Iraq's campaign to prove it is not building illegal weapons.
And today Iraq got more ammunition from an unlikely American ally --
former U.N. weapons inspector and U.S. marine Scott Ritter, leading
his own tour to an Iraqi military camp, a base where the U.S. believes
Iraq has trained terrorists. But Ritter, who says he is also an expert
in counter-terrorism, claims it's a base for hostage rescue training
-- an example, he says, of how the Bush administration is making a
case for war that's not based on the facts. He's convinced the U.S.
has no reason to go to war."
Ritter: "If there's a time and a place to go to war, I'll be there.
I'll fight that war. But I'm not going to go to war based upon a
fabrication."
Allen concluded: "Ritter also warning a punishing attack seems
inevitable unless Iraq lets inspectors back and proves it has no
weapons of mass destruction. But Iraq continues to allow, continues to
refuse to allow those inspectors back in until the U.N. agrees to a
comprehensive deal, including a timetable for ending 12 years of
economic sanctions, conditions the United States still finds
unacceptable as the standoff moves closer to war."
NBC at least followed up with a piece from Andrea Mitchell about
evidence of Hussein's quest to obtain nuclear capability.
During the panel segment on Monday's edition of Special Report with
Brit Hume, FNC viewers saw the text on screen for what Ritter believed
just four years ago.
-- Ritter on August 28, 1998: "Iraq retains the capability to launch a
chemical strike."
-- Ritter on August 30, 1998: "Six months is a very reasonable time
scale for Iraq to resume weapons capabilities...If people do not
change course, the end result will be that Iraq will be able to retain
these capabilities."
In a piece in the November 19, 2001 Weekly Standard, "Saddam Hussein's
American Apologist: The strange career of former U.N. arms inspector
Scott Ritter," Stephen Hayes suggested a reason for Ritter's change of
heart:
"Ritter was welcomed back to Baghdad in July 2000, with the blessing
of Saddam Hussein. The reason for his trip? To produce a documentary
film, 'In Shifting Sands,' that would chronicle the weapons-inspection
process and, he says, 'de-demonize' Iraq. The 90-minute film, which he
says he is close to selling to a broadcast outlet, was produced with
the approval of the Iraqi government and features interviews with
numerous high-level Iraqi officials, including Deputy Prime Minister
Tariq Aziz.
"U.S. intelligence officials and arms control advocates say Ritter has
been played -- perhaps unwittingly -- by Saddam Hussein. 'If you're
Scott Ritter,' says one arms expert, 'the former 'cowboy' weapons
inspector, kicked out by Saddam Hussein, you're not going to get back
into Iraq unless Saddam Hussein invites you and wants you there.'"
Hayes recalled Ritter's concern about the danger posed by Iraq
expressed as late as the end of 1998: "All inspections stopped in
December 1998. That same month, in an article written for the New
Republic, Ritter again warned of the continuing Iraqi threat, this
time in much greater detail. 'Even today, Iraq is not nearly
disarmed,' he maintained. 'Based on highly credible intelligence,
UNSCOM [the U.N. weapons inspectors] suspects that Iraq still has
biological agents like anthrax, botulinum toxin, and clostridium
perfringens in sufficient quantity to fill several dozen bombs and
ballistic missile warheads, as well as the means to continue
manufacturing these deadly agents. Iraq probably retains several tons
of the highly toxic VX substance, as well as sarin nerve gas and
mustard gas....'"
For the Hayes piece in full:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/content/public/articles/000/000/000/524dplvk.asp
Ritter appeared via satellite on Monday's The Early Show on CBS. Jane
Clayson set up the segment noted by MRC analyst Brian Boyd:
"American Scott Ritter is a former United Nations weapons inspector in
Iraq. He's been critical of the U.S. position, he's actually in
Baghdad this morning. Mr. Ritter, good morning. I'd like to ask you
first up what your reaction is to this report from the International
Institute of Strategic Studies that says Iraq could assemble nuclear
weapons within a few months."
Ritter was condescendingly dismissive: "Well, what an absurd statement
to make..."
Clayson challenged him: "You say it's absurd, but let's look at the
evidence. What about Iraq's recent tests of ballistic missiles, and
you know this report over the weekend that Iraq has made several
attempts to buy several thousand aluminum tubes that would be used to
enrich uranium and create nuclear weapons. Is there any doubt in your
mind that Saddam Hussein would love to get his hands on a nuclear
weapon?"
Ritter: "Yeah, there's all sorts of doubt. You just come to Baghdad
and take a look at this city and take a look at this country and
understand what war would mean to these people, because any effort by
Iraq to reacquire weapons of mass destruction would be used by the
Bush administration to go to war. Saddam Hussein and the government of
Iraq knows that weapons of mass destruction especially nuclear weapons
are a suicide pill for them and that if they get caught even trying to
think about reacquiring weapons, we won't be talking about war, we'd
be at war. So, you know, let's not talk about aluminum tubing for
highly enriched uranium. This is ridiculous, that tubing has to go
into a factory, that factory needs to be operational, and if it's
operational it would be detected. So rather than talk about the tubes,
let's talk about the factory."
Clayson pointed out: "You haven't been to Iraq in four years and
Secretary of State Colin Powell says you are no longer 'in the
intelligence chain,' so how can you be so certain that Saddam Hussein
doesn't have or soon will have nuclear capabilities?"
Ritter became insulting: "Well, first of all, I acknowledge I'm not in
the intelligence chains, especially the American intelligence chain.
Frankly speaking, given the quality of intelligence that American
provided the weapons inspectors for seven years, I wouldn't want to be
in that intelligence chain. Because invariably it was inaccurate,
almost certainly misleading and was politically motivated almost all
the time..."
END QUOTE
Aozotorp
>
>Aozotorp <aozo...@aol.com> wrote in message
>news:20030506052958...@mb-m12.aol.com...
>> From Tom:
>>
>>
>> (Note: Ritter has credentials, experience and balls, and he's standing
>tall
>> right in the face of the Chickenhawk Bush regime. Here's hoping the
>rest of
>> America wakes up soon. TB)
>> ==================
>
>Ritter also has one or two arrests for picking up under-age girls,
Really? I seem to remember that anytime that there was a politcal challenger
to the Established regime on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation, that
challenger was accused of child abuse!
>$400,000 for making a PR film for Iraq, and the Iraqis carefully
>detailed their efforts to bribe Ritter. Coincidence or not, Ritter's
>tune changed from "they're hiding WMDs" to "they have no WMDs" at about
>the same time. hmmm.
>
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/05/05/1051987658018.html
Baghdad's plan to influence Ritter
May 6 2003
Iraq's intelligence services bought gold jewellery that they planned to give to
the wife and daughter of Scott Ritter, a filmmaker and former weapons
inspector, in a project to encourage him to work closely with Saddam Hussein's
regime, according to documents The Sunday Telegraph has discovered.
The documents, found in the bombed headquarters of Iraq's intelligence services
in Baghdad, say the cost of the presents was approved at the highest level to
try to develop "strong relations with them [Mr Ritter's family] that affect
positively on our relations with him".
The documents say the gifts should be offered via an intermediary, Shakir
al-Khafaji, an Iraqi-American businessman and associate of Mr Ritter.
The documents, which are signed by the then director-general of Iraqi
intelligence, purport to reveal close links between Mr al-Khafaji and Iraqi
intelligence, and suggest that the regime was making available substantial
funds to offer him. Mr Ritter and Mr al-Khafaji said they received no gifts or
money.
The papers referred to the "Scott Ritter Project" and were found in a file
"Hosting in hotels 1997-2000", which held details of Iraqi intelligence guests.
They were in the same folder as reports of a visit to Baghdad in 1998 by an
envoy of Osama bin Laden disclosed in The Sunday Telegraph.
Mr Ritter formed a partnership with Mr al-Khafaji to finance the documentary
Shifting Sands, which, according to Mr Ritter, "proved" that Iraq did not have
weapons of mass destruction.
In 2001, Mr Ritter said none of Mr al-Khafaji's funding came from Saddam's
regime. Of the $A630,000 film budget, he said his payment was $67,000.
He said he had Mr al-Khafaji checked by CIA "sources" through a friend who was
a reporter.
There is no suggestion in the documents that money or benefits were paid to Mr
al-Khafaji.
Mr Ritter said officials had offered a gold bracelet for his wife and to
finance the film. He said he rebuffed the attempts and filed reports to the FBI
and US Treasury.
The Telegraph, London
Shaun Howell
aozo...@aol.com wrote on 5/6/03 1:29 PM:
>> Ritter also has one or two arrests for picking up under-age girls,
>
>
> Really? I seem to remember that anytime that there was a politcal challenger
> to the Established regime on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation, that
> challenger was accused of child abuse!
>
Aozotorp accidentally posted this before he finished typing, and expressed
his resentment that he's unable to score with jailbait... BTW, twerp, why do
you keep bringing up this old chestnut about child abusing injuns? This has
absolutely NO baring on the topic and it's like comparing a foreign policy
matter to being beaten up in 6th grade...(a regular occurance for you).
Aozotorp
OOOO = Such an unbiased source = Much Like Fox news = facts are not even
considered!
Shaun Howell
aozo...@aol.com wrote on 5/6/03 6:47 PM:
>> some additional info showing that ritter has no credibility, just like
>> his boyfriend twerp. in this article ritter just slobbers over saddam
>> (much as donnie did):
>>
>> from
>> http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2002/cyb20020910.asp#1
>>
>
> OOOO = Such an unbiased source = Much Like Fox news = facts are not even
> considered!
>
From to king of bias laden cut and paste posts. Too funny...
Vanilla Gorilla (Monkey Boy)
alt.fan.art-bell:
>I seem to remember that anytime that there was a politcal challenger
You can't even remember *yesterday*.
--
V.G.
"THis was is easy -------------------- NONE"
"Hawkeye" solves the eternal mystery, in message-ID: <NVpaa.6189$Xo3.9...@news20.bellglobal.com>
(This sig file contains not less than 80% recycled SPAM)
Sarcasm is my sword, Apathy is my shield.
tscottme
> >
> >
> >Aozotorp <aozo...@aol.com> wrote in message
> >news:20030506052958...@mb-m12.aol.com...
> >> From Tom:
> >>
> >>
> >> (Note: Ritter has credentials, experience and balls, and he's
standing
> >tall
> >> right in the face of the Chickenhawk Bush regime. Here's hoping the
> >rest of
> >> America wakes up soon. TB)
> >> ==================
> >
> >Ritter also has one or two arrests for picking up under-age girls,
>
>
> Really? I seem to remember that anytime that there was a politcal
challenger
> to the Established regime on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation, that
> challenger was accused of child abuse!
>
>
ALBANY, NY, Jan. 21 - The June 2001 arrest of former U.N. weapons
inspector and Delmar resident Scott Ritter has made many headlines this
week. Ritter faced misdemeanor charges for trying to solicit an underage
girl for sexual acts. But the effects of his arrest ripple far beyond
it.
<snip>
Colonie police arrested Ritter -- whose full name is William Scott
Ritter Jr. -- as part of an internet sex crime sting. The police
department cannot comment on the arrest, because all records on the case
have been sealed.
Colonie police released this mugshot of Ritter following his arrest in
June 2001.
However, NewsChannel 13 reported in June 2001 about the arrest of a
39-year-old William Ritter of Delmar on charges he tried to lure a
16-year-old girl he met on the Internet to a Burger King in Menands.
According to police, the intent of that meeting was so that she could
watch him perform sexual acts on himself.
The underage girl turned out to be an undercover police officer
posing online as a minor.
Ritter's attorney, Norah Murphy, confirms her client was arrested
in June 2001, but will not discuss the details of the case because the
records have been sealed.
However, that might not have been Ritter's first brush with the
law. According to the Albany Times Union, two months before that
arrest, Ritter tried to meet a 14-year-old girl he chatted with online
and was instead met by police officers. The newspaper reports that he
was released without being charged.
NewsChannel 13 spoke with Ritter on his cell phone Tuesday. He
offered no comment on the story.
The 41-year-old former Marine served as a weapons inspector in Iraq
in the 1990s. He has been an outspoken critic of President Bush's plans
for war against Iraq.
--
Carl R. Osterwald
<Noorey...@radio.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 06 May 2003 20:59:36 -0800, "Vanilla Gorilla (Monkey Boy)"
> <vgor...@pobox.alaska.net> wrote:
>
> >On 06 May 2003 18:29:46 GMT, aozo...@aol.com (Aozotorp) wrote in
> >alt.fan.art-bell:
> >
> >>I seem to remember that anytime that there was a politcal challenger
> >
> >You can't even remember *yesterday*.
>
> Too bad your red bloody ass makes you remember your face stuck to the
> bathroom floor.
plonk
-=-=-=-=-
"The Entities' message for the day is that they are space
colonists from Sirius, who initially had settled on the
Red Planet Mars, before moving on to our Earth."
-- Kansan1225 on window pane again.
Jack
the Twerp's new boyfriend is a child molester? why am I not
surprised. Twerp, explain yourself.
tscottme
Jack <heavyf...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:c8e41214.03050...@posting.google.com...
>
> the Twerp's new boyfriend is a child molester? why am I not
> surprised. Twerp, explain yourself.
It gives Twerp a chance to wear his schoolgirl uniform.
Aozotorp
Und den der Federales got interested and Scott is still walkin free = How
come?????
Shaun Howell
aozoc...@aol.com wrote on 5/7/03 6:21 PM:
> Und den der Federales got interested and Scott is still walkin free = How
> come?????
>
Tell twerp the girls weren't white and THEN he'll be outraged.
Vanilla Gorilla (Monkey Boy)
alt.fan.art-bell:
>On Tue, 06 May 2003 20:59:36 -0800, "Vanilla Gorilla (Monkey Boy)"
><vgor...@pobox.alaska.net> wrote:
>
>>On 06 May 2003 18:29:46 GMT, aozo...@aol.com (Aozotorp) wrote in
>>alt.fan.art-bell:
>>
>>>I seem to remember that anytime that there was a politcal challenger
>>
>>You can't even remember *yesterday*.
>
>Too bad your red bloody ass makes you remember your face stuck to the
>bathroom floor.
Your ignorant post was blocked by WorldNet. Could you please resend
it? Thanks.
tscottme
>
> Und den der Federales got interested and Scott is still walkin free =
How
> come?????
Because he got the Ted Kennedy treatment.
Aozotorp
>Aozotorp <aozo...@aol.com> wrote in message
>news:20030507192153...@mb-m17.aol.com...
>>
>> Und den der Federales got interested and Scott is still walkin free =
>How
>> come?????
>
>Because he got the Ted Kennedy treatment.
>
>--
>Scott
Like you????