The Salvador option - (Scott Ritter just can't shut up)

Aljazeera ^ | 1/28/05 | Mikey_1962

[Mikey_1962]

By any standard, the ongoing American occupation of Iraq is a disaster.

The highly vaunted US military machine, laurelled and praised for its historic march on Baghdad in March and April of 2003, today finds itself a broken force, on the defensive in a land that it may occupy in part, but does not control.

The all-out offensive to break the back of the resistance in Falluja has failed, leaving a city destroyed by American firepower, and still very much in the grips of the anti-American fighters.

The same is true of Mosul, Samarra, or any other location where the US military has undertaken "decisive" action against the fighters, only to find that, within days, the fighting has returned, stronger than ever.

And yet, it now appears as if the United States, in an effort to take the offensive against the fighters in Iraq, is prepared to compound its past mistakes in Iraq by embarking on a new course of action derived from some of the darkest, and most embarrassing moments of America's modern history.

According to press accounts, the Pentagon is considering the organisation, training and equipping of so-called death squads, teams of Iraqi assassins who would be used to infiltrate and eliminate the leadership of the Iraqi resistance.

Called the Salvador Option, in reference to similar US-backed death squads that terrorised the population of El Salvador during the 1980s, the proposed plan actually has as its roots the Phoenix assassination programme undertaken during the Vietnam war, where American-led assassins killed thousands of known or suspected Vietcong collaborators.

[churchillbuff]

anyway he said they were not cooperating,"""

Obviously, they weren't cooperating. But as we now know, they didn't have WMDs. Yes, that seems inconsistent -- Why did Saddam make like he had something to hide? Maybe to keep his standing in the Arab world, make em think he was packin' nukes.

[Nice50BMG]

Scott Ritter is Lee Harvey Oswald with a Laptop.

[Brig_Gen_George_P_Harrison_CSA]

I realize that Ritter, a self-promoting man, toots his own horn and played both sides of the issue. He obviously enjoyed the limelight and maneuvered himself to stay in it as long as possible. For that reason alone, his word should never have been the basis of the strategic assessment of Iraq's capabilities.

With regard to the intelligence reports that were created by the various agencies and sent up the chain, we'll likely never know what happened exactly. Too many agendas at work - and as Mr. Ritter demonstrates through his personal actions, there are lots of agendas at work -, too many butts to cover. All I can say is that lessons ought to be taken from what happened and used to adjust the intelligence-gathering system. I could go on about this, but it's nothing that hasn't already been said before.

[Kewlhand`tek]

google is a good friend MR. RITTER: Mr. Chairman, with all due respect, I cannot speak on behalf of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Nuclear disarmament issues in Iraq are their purview. But what I can say is that we have clear evidence that Iraq is retaining prohibited weapons capabilities in the fields of chemical, biological and ballistic- missile delivery systems of a range of greater than 150 kilometers. And if Iraq has undertaken a concerted effort run at the highest levels inside Iraq to retain these capabilities, then I see no reason why they would not exercise the same sort of concealment efforts for their nuclear programs. http://www.ceip.org/programs/npp/ritter.htm so either he is lying now(which he is) or he was part of the bad intel.

[Kewlhand`tek]

i agree with calling off the WMD search in "iraq" they probably have better intel and know saddam packed it up.

[lilylangtree]

Ritter talking out the part of the anatomy that's 3 feet below his head again. Sheesh!

[Peach]

Gee, if Saddam didn't have WMD then why were trucks pulling stuff out the back door of buildings when UN inspectors showed up at the front door?

If Saddam didn't have WMD why did he play games with the UN inspectors?

If Saddam didn't have WMD he certainly miscalculated. He could have just told the UN that the inspectors could come back, have full access, and avoided a war.

What a mistake he made.

[massgopguy]

"The French tipped off the Iraqis about when we (UNSOM) were going to show up at every oppotunity." - Scott Ritter WRKO 1.29.03

I take notes.

[hchutch]

And look at what it took to bring down Pablo Escobar:
Perseguedos por Pablo Escobar: The People Persecuted by Plabo Escober.

It was quite efficient at decimating the infrastructure of the Medellin drug cartel. Probably a good model for use against terrorist groups, too.

[Peach]

I'd forgotten that one! Thanks for posting that. You should re-post it in big, bold letters.

Churchillbuff acts like the only reason we went into Iraq was WMD. He forgets what the actual congressional resolution said which also cited Saddam's ties to terrorists and, I think mentioned AQ, specifically.

This is a link with hundreds of articles which shows how Saddam supported Al Qaeda for over a decade, something even the Bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee acknowledged.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1327993/posts

[rdcorso]

Scott The Molester Ritter has been one of the biggest critics of America throughout this war.He's been calling for America's defeat so loud that he is afraid of any other outcome.He knows the death squads can be real effective and that scares him.He would rather see America embarrassed and defeated than see himself come out the loser.It's too late for that because no matter what the outcome is Scott Ritter will be remembered as a lowlife pig who stabbed his country in the back over a few hundred thousand dollars.

[NCCarrs]

Wasn't Gulf II just a resumption of hostiles from Gulf I, where we went to war to kick them out of Kuwait. Saddam failed to comply with UN Resolutions requiring his confirming he destroyed all WMDs. Iraq chose, with help of French and other European stalewarts, to play cat and mouse through 90s. It was only after 9/11 did we finally get feed up with Saddam's waiting to confirm, 100 %, that he destroyed all banned weapons as defined during ceasefire that halted hostile actions of Gulf I.

[Peach]

Exactly.

[struggle]

>>> He was accused of child molestation. If he had been convicted, he'd be in jail right now.

I stand corrected. However, we'll never know, since his files are sealed.