"I fought in the [Gulf] war. Americans died in the war. I was told by my government in April 1991, in a UN Security Council resolution the United States sponsored, that Iraq was going to disarm. ... I've poured my heart and soul into disarming Iraq, and this means I was wasting my time. It means we lost the Gulf War. ... The whole world should be shamed by this."
Scott Ritter, ex-chief UN inspector tracking down Iraqi arms, in a Washington Post interview published Aug. 27, 1998--a day after he resigned to protest US efforts to interfere with planned inspections.
Biden's Wisdom ...
"[I]n terms of whether the secretary of state has no more to consider than you do as the arms inspector-you didn't get in, 'Didn't get my job done; get me in! ... Scott Ritter, I'm ready to go!' That's not how it works. ... I respectfully suggest, Scott-Major-I respectfully suggest they have responsibilities slightly above your pay grade ... to decide whether to take the nation to war. That's a real tough decision. That's why they get paid the big bucks. That's why they get the limos and you don't. ... Their job is a hell of a lot more complicated than yours."
Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), in a Sept. 3, 1998, Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, held to examine Ritter's charges about Administration duplicity.
... And McCain's Rejoinder
"Some of us who fought in another conflict wish that the Congress and the American people had listened to someone of your pay grade, ... and perhaps there wouldn't be quite so many names down on the [Vietnam Memorial] Wall."
Sen. John McCain (RAriz.), a Vietnam veteran, addressing Ritter at the same Senate hearing.