Regards, Ivan
Posted on 09/17/2002 1:34:03 AM PDT by MadIvan
Scott Ritter, the former United Nations arms inspector, has become increasingly irascible in his attempt to challenge America's case for going to war with Iraq.
His ill-temper was all too apparent yesterday when an interview on the BBC's Today programme on Radio Four turned into a long exchange of accusations with the presenter, Jim Naughtie, over who was "playing games".
Mr Ritter has become a hate figure in America, where he is increasingly asked whether he is a "traitor" for arguing that Saddam Hussein does not pose a threat and that his weapons of mass destruction have been largely destroyed.
But, as the weeks have gone by, he has turned from a sober dissident with a creditable record on hunting Iraqi weapons into something of an embittered anti-war activist.
The Telegraph's penchant for tasteful understatement continues - Ivan
Along the way, he has stunned his former boss at the UN Special Commission on disarming Iraq, Unscom, by publicly calling him a "liar".
Yesterday he called the Iraqi defector, Khidir Hamza, a "fraud" after the former nuclear scientist claimed that Iraq could have nuclear weapons by the end of the year.
Asked by Mr Naughtie whether "nobody seems to be telling the truth except you in your own mind", Mr Ritter replied: "Back off just one second, buddy. Don't start playing this game either. I have not been contradicted on a single point of fact in four years."If you want to play this game, then play fair, OK?"
They're coming to take him away, ha ha, they're coming to take him away - Ivan
He told the programme that America was exerting "an extreme amount of pressure" to bend the United Nations to its will.
"It's not a question of when America will go to war. We're already at war with Iraq; it's a question of when this war will enter a large-scale conventional conflict," he said.
Mr Ritter, a 42-year-old former US Marine, has undergone a remarkable political transformation since he led the UN inspectors in high-profile confrontations with the Iraqi government.
He resigned in 1998 complaining that the former Clinton administration was not tough enough on Saddam. But now that America is embarking on a campaign to oust Saddam he travels the world declaring that war cannot be justified.
He argues that Iraq's arsenal of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons has been all but dismantled by UN weapons inspectors; any missiles remaining are unlikely to work, and the stocks of chemical and biological weapons have degraded to the point of being useless.
"This is a war based on speculative rhetoric, not fact," he said.
Three French MPs found no evidence that Iraq is producing or developing weapons of mass destruction, in a visit to its former main nuclear plant, the official Iraqi News Agency reported.
They arrived in Baghdad at the weekend to visit sites suspected by Washington of producing such weapons.
Regards, Ivan
Anyone for Ostrich? ;-)
By losing it on our radio, he did substantial damage to the pacifists. He's making them look more 'round the twist than they appear already. ;)
Regards, Ivan
Three, mind you. And no evidence whatsoever. That should settle it. Now let's all relax and have a nice glass of Maginot...uh... What was that we were drinking?
(8 minutes 28 seconds, 16k RealAudio)
Not.
Regards, Ivan
He should stop talking on the radio for a while and carry one of these signs that the Marxists approve of.
Regards, Ivan
I'm surprised he hasn't been put into a rubber room before. He's suffering cognitive dissonance from having been around William Rivers Pitt. ;)
Regards, Ivan
Makes one wonder what his ($$$) bonus will be?
The Benedict Arnold Suite at Leavenworth, one hopes. ;)
Regards, Ivan
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