Posted on 12/25/2004 7:14:06 PM PST by coffee260
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/826857/posts
Report: Former U.N. Inspector Scott Ritter Arrested in Internet Sex Sting (AP)
AP-Fox News ^ | 1/21/03 | AP
ALBANY, N.Y. — A former U.N. weapons inspector was arrested in 2001 during an Internet sex sting operation and was under investigation for a similar incident months before his arrest, according to published reports.
The arrest of Scott Ritter, 41, who served as a weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991-98, was first reported by The Daily Gazette of Schenectady on Saturday.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/826220/posts
THE OFFICIAL "KEEP UP WITH RITTER STORIES" THREAD (All stories here)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/826186/posts
Court ordered Scott Ritter to attend counseling for sex offenders
WTEN.com (Albany, NY) ^ | January 20, 2002
Delmar Weapons Inspector in Hot Water
(updated: January 20th, 5:50pm) The spotlight is back on former UN Weapons Inspector and Delmar native, Scott Ritter. But it's not over Iraq instead its over charges he talked with an underage girl on the Internet.
The Daily Gazette broke the story over the weekend. The paper says Ritter was arrested in June of 2001 after having a sexual conversation on the Internet with someone he "thought" was an underage girl. The girl turned out to be an undercover investigator.
Sources tell NEWS10 that Ritter contacted what he thought was a teenage girl on the internet for the purpose of a sexual interlude not once, but twice within a three month period back in 2001. Ritter also underwent court-ordered sex offender counseling from an Albany psychologist.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/827827/posts
Ritter admits it: 'I was arrested': [Blames Republicans for being a scummy pervert]
The CNN interview featured a series of non-committal answers, as evinced by this exchange between Ritter and the host:
BROWN: Did you ever go into an Internet chat room looking for teenage girls to have a sexual encounter of any sort with? How about that?
RITTER: Aaron, again, have I to respectfully reply by noting that I am obligated legally not to discuss matters pertaining to a
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Can you tell me, under what provision of what law are you referring to?
RITTER: Well, Aaron, you know I'm not a lawyer. And have I sought legal counsel on this. And I'm strictly abiding by legal counsel.
BROWN: So, I can dance around this a thousand ways and you're not going to tell me why you were arrested at that Burger King on that day in June. Is that right?
RITTER: Aaron, I will respond the same way, this way, until Sunday. I was arrested in June 2001, charged with a Class B misdemeanor. I stood before a judge and the case was dismissed. The file was sealed. And I certainly wish you and everyone else would respect that.
BROWN: OK. Again, I'm not going to beat my head against the wall. If you don't want to talk about it, you don't want to talk about it.
Let's talk about the ramifications of it. It is my view, and, certainly I think as far as this program is concerned, and I think others, that you are, in a sense, radioactive, that these charges, I would submit, until they're responded to, will keep it that way.
But, in any case, in this moment, for the moment, nobody cares what you think about Iraq. You think that's why this stuff was leaked?
RITTER: Well, I have no way of knowing why this happened. But the effect is obvious. I was supposed to be on an airplane yesterday flying to Baghdad on a personal initiative that could have had great ramifications in regards to issues of war and peace.
I wish people would keep the eye on the ball here. It's about war and peace. It's about the potential of conflict with Iraq, many thousands of Americans dying. And whether you agreed with me or disagreed with me on the issue, there's no doubting – and you can't rewrite history – I was a very effective voice in the anti-war effort in the campaign to keep inspectors on the ground.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: What is stopping you from going to Baghdad?
RITTER: Well, look, what's stopping me is the reason why I'm sitting here before you, Aaron.
If I went to Baghdad and tried to talk responsibly about issues of war and peace, this issue would have come up. And it would have been a distraction and it would have actually been a disservice. There are people in Baghdad right now pursuing the initiative that I started. And I want to give them every chance of success. I don't want to provide any distractions.
BROWN: Well, one way or another, I hope all this stuff gets cleared up and you can get back to talking about the issues you care about. But, again, I'm not quite sure how that's going to happen.
Hersh was behind that too huh??
Chrissy Matthews had a field with that also if I recall correctly
No. The book The Real Jimmy Carter didn't mention Ritter. Not that I remember anyway, and I just read it about 2-3 weeks ago.
Ritter needs his passport jerked or don't allow this enemy of the people of America back into the United States!
I believe the picture is becoming clearer.
When it really matters he gives America's enemies an audience to spew their hatred.
I am behind on these Saddam articles; which order should I read them in to catch up with you guys???
And did I miss any other ones?
(P.S. I hope you all had as good a Christmas as I did!)
"Hersh was behind that too huh??"
His name turned up. I thought I remembered a connection with the "yellowcake" issue. The Post #38 article appeared during the Capitol Hill Blue / Novak /Joseph Wilson threads.
Interesting that this article provides a Ritter / Hersh connection.
Good Christmas here, too, Howlin!
I don't know that there is an order to catching up on the Saddam articles. He's like the Clintons and Soros in that information on him is like a gigantic spider web.
Keywords "Saddam" or "Iraq" don't link everything. Perhaps his trial will provide structure to the info.
ping- another thread relating to Mandela, Ritter and Carter
I'm in catch-up mode too, just start anywhere and test out the keywords for fun
Thanks for the link, piasa!
Yes, very interesting. That connection goes in some interesting directions in light of recent CIA-vs.-Bush developments--for instance:
Seymour Hersh, who used [Robert] Baer as a source for his reporting on the CIA in the New Yorker, describes him as having been "perhaps the best on-the-ground field officer in the Middle East.". . .There's another kind of politics, though -- politics with a capital P -- that messed up the CIA, and Baer doesn't seem to grasp the difference and why it's important. In fact, it makes no sense to complain about "politics" driving the agency when the CIA is essentially a political tool. Its job is to advance the political goals of the United States, which during the "golden days" when Baer first came to work for the agency meant prosecuting the Cold War. It was a time when the need for and purpose of the CIA seemed perfectly clear, but even before the Cold War ended, the public had begun to question some of its activities, and rightly so. It was Seymour Hersh himself whose 1974 New York Times exposé of the agency's spying on U.S. citizens first began to erode its credibility.
OFFENSE AND DEFENSE New Yorker 3-31-03
There were reports last week that Iraqi exiles, including fervent Shiites, were crossing into Iraq by car and bus from Jordan and Syria to get into the fight on the side of the Iraqi government. Robert Baer, a former C.I.A. Middle East operative, told me in a telephone call from Jordan, “Everybody wants to fight. The whole nation of Iraq is fighting to defend Iraq.
What Went Wrong The C.I.A. and the failure of American intelligence 10-1-01
At the same time, the D.O. has been badly hurt by a series of resignations and retirements among high-level people, including four men whose names are little known to the public but who were widely respected throughout the agency: Douglas Smith, who spent thirty-one years in the clandestine service; William Lofgren, who at his retirement, in 1996, was chief of the Central Eurasia Division; David Manners, who was chief of station in Amman, Jordan, when he left the agency, in 1998; and Robert Baer, an Arabic speaker who was considered perhaps the best on-the-ground field officer in the Middle East. All left with feelings of bitterness over the agency's procedures for running clandestine operations.
Seymour M. Hersh The Literature of Intelligence: A Bibliography of Materials, with Essays, Reviews, and Comments J. Ransom Clark, Vice President for Administration-Muskingum College-New Concord, Ohio 43762
Hersh, Seymour M. "Saddam's Best Friend: How the C.I.A. Made It a Lot Easier for the Iraqi Leader to Rearm." New Yorker, 5 Apr. 1999, 32 ff. [http://jya.com/cia-aoe.htm]- dead link
This is a lengthy review of the use by U.S. intelligence of UNSCOM inspectors for espionage purposes. Much of it is a reiteration of the opinions of Scott Ritter, and of accusations against Steven Richter, who headed CIA's Near East Division.
Change of Commanders Washington Post 1998 UNSCOM-Ritter-Butler-UN-Clinton Admin.
Ritter, Scott. Endgame: Solving the Iraq Problem Once and for All. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999.
Former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter had predicted a U.S. defeat. South Africa's News24.com had quoted Ritter as saying, "The United States is going to leave Iraq with its tail between its legs, defeated. AIM ........he worked in the old Soviet Union as a "disarmament specialist," where he met Marina Khatiashvili, a young woman from Soviet Georgia who would later become his second wife. She served as a Russian-supplied "escort" and translator, and reported to the KGB.
Fighting Words Washington Post 10-21-02 Scott Ritter History
Scott Ritter: How the British Spy Agency MI6 Secretly Misled A Nation Into War With Iraq Democracy Now 12-30-03
Look, Amy -- I’m sitting on a wealth of data. You could interview me for a year, and I would come up with something new and dramatic every time you talked to me. Why didn't I pick that particular piece of data? Which piece of data do you want me to pick out of my seven-year experiences of weapons inspector which was very detailed and involved, multifaceted operations around world?
Bad Press National Review 10-11-04
At the same time, the D.O. has been badly hurt by a series of resignations and retirements among high-level people, including four men whose names are little known to the public but who were widely respected throughout the agency: Douglas Smith, who spent thirty-one years in the clandestine service; William Lofgren, who at his retirement, in 1996, was chief of the Central Eurasia Division; David Manners, who was chief of station in Amman, Jordan, when he left the agency, in 1998; and Robert Baer, an Arabic speaker who was considered perhaps the best on-the-ground field officer in the Middle East.
You're welcome!
Couldn't resist Googling the CIA guys together which resulted in an interesting site and a couple of additional names. Already had info on Larry Johnson from the tiff with Brit Hume.......just had to find it.
Intelligence websites Sponsored by Universities/Educational Institutions:
Ex-Intelligence Operatives who may appear in the Press-Critical of the CIA
Douglas Smith, 31 years clandestine service
William Lofgren, Retired Chief of the Central Eurasia Division, retired in 1996
David Manners, Chief of Station in Amman, Jordan, retired in 1998
Robert Baer, writing a book Published by Crown on CIA experiences. Arabic speaker, considered best on the gound field officer in the Middle East. Resigned in 1997, won the Career Intelligence Medal. Worked for Clarridge in CIA CTC.
Reuel Marc Gerecht, served nearly a decade in the CIA’s Near East Division.
Larry Johnson, A volatile former CIA counterterrorism officer named Larry Johnson yesterday accused the CIA of engaging in a "public relations battle" at the expanse of Mr. Spann's family who, he suggested, are now "at risk" as a result. Mr. Johnson spoke on the PBS News Hour: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/fedagencies/July-dec01/cia_11-29.html
Googled Gerecht and he was right here:
Reuel Marc Gerecht: The Struggle for the Middle East Weekly Standard FR 12-27-04
See No Evil (Part 2) Robert Baer Saturday January 12, 2002
Extract:
Side stories such as this stoked my curiosity about the oil lobby and, particularly, an NSC staffer I'd had dealings with, Sheila Heslin, so I began calling around Washington to see what the deal was. Heslin's sole job, it seemed, was to carry water for an exclusive club known as the Foreign Oil Companies Group, a cover for a cartel of major petroleum companies doing business in the Caspian. The deeper I got, the more Caspian oil money I found sloshing all around Washington. If it had been just a matter of money or even political corruption, I might have been able to walk away from all I had learned about big oil, the White House and the NSC. Elective politics always breed a certain amount of nastiness. What I couldn't get around, though, was this: every time I turned over a new rock, there was something even nastier underneath. (Rand Beers mentioned)
And Larry Johnson: Fox pundit lashes out at Brit Hume
The resignation of Rand Beers from the National Security Council is giving off plenty of sparks. Just before the Iraq war began, Beers quit as one of the government's top counterterrorism officials. He's now joined John Kerry's presidential campaign and went public this Monday in a Washington Post page-one profile, in which he branded the White House's Iraq policy an "ill-conceived and poorly executed strategy." That, apparently, was too much for Fox News Channel anchor Brit Hume, who on air accused Beers of having falsely testified under oath about Colombian terrorists training at al Qaeda's Afghan camps, reports our David E. Kaplan. Now Hume is the one being attacked–by former Fox analyst Larry Johnson, who served with Beers at the State Department and insists Beers acted with the best intelligence then available. "You impugned Rand's integrity on your show by suggesting that he lied and had to correct his lie," Johnson wrote Hume in an E-mail titled "Reprehensible." He added, "Have you no shame?" In his response, Hume suggested that Johnson be "more careful in writing late-night messages based on what you imagine someone to have said." Johnson replied by citing the transcript and sending the exchange around town. "You are starting to sound like Bill Clinton trying to define 'sex'," wrote Johnson. Read it all here, in reverse order:
Narco News Commentary: Beers' deposition, in full.
That Johnson-Beers-Kerry connection is interesting.
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