Posted on 03/09/2005 8:03:43 AM PST by areafiftyone
Former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter said Tuesday that January's historic election in Iraq, which set off a wave of democratic reform throughout the Middle East, was fixed.
Claiming he was vindicated when the U.S. failed to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Ritter insisted that the election results were changed using a "secret recount" held three days after the vote.
"It's as obvious as anything," the former weapons expert told WWRL Radio's Steve Malzberg and Karen Hunter.
Ritter maintained that in initial election results, the Shia majority won nearly 60 percent of the vote, giving them control of Iraq's National Assembly without having to form a coalition with any other group.
However, said Ritter: "Suddenly there's a government-ordered lockdown of the votes, while there is a secret recount - not a public recount - this wasn't Florida where you had people checking chads - this was a secret recount where American troops were escorting ballot boxes into undisclosed locations to be counted by [interim Prime Minister] Allawi's government."
Ritter told Malzberg that the secret recount dramatically changed the political landscape, with the Shia vote dropping to 48 percent and Allawi's government picking up nearly ten points of support, from 4 to 13 percent.
So why didn't Allawi just award himself a majority?
"You don't want to cook it so that no one will believe it," Ritter explained. "You cook it so that the Shia cannot have a majority in the National Assembly, so that there will not be a democratically elected theocracy."
Ritter also claimed that the White House has already approved plans to attack Iran within the next four months, explaining, "In October of 2004 the president reviewed the Pentagon's plans for military operations against Iran in June 2005 and he signed off on them."
Ritter said the administration is laying the groundwork for an attack in case the U.N. Security Council fails to back economic sanctions against Tehran - the next step in the U.S.'s bid to get the Iranian government to abandon its nuclear weapons program.
Scott Ritter is now a columnist for Al Jazeera.
Get Steve Malzberg's exclusive NewsMax.com column emailed directly to you at www.newsmax.com/malzberg.
lol
How fitting.
Hurry along now, Scottie, your date will be out of Middle School soon.
Bump for later...
Does this guy ever just look at himself in the mirror and wonder how the heck he became such a joke?
I think the heat got him, or was it money.
Why does anyone give this convicted pedophile and Saddam Patsy any air time at all! It is obscene to mention his name.
Apparently Newsmax thinks his rantings are important
Al Jazeera: Home of the Whoppers.
Just what is up Scott Ritter's ass anyway? What is the source of his angst?
It's clear he sold his soul to Satan, and it's just as clear his soul remains bought.
Regards, Ivan
"Scott Ritter is now a columnist for Al Jazeera."
Does Al Jazerra know or care that the infidel columnist they have on staff is also a pervert?
Call me cynical, but I think it's a career for him - he can use his unique position to generate quite a comfortable living by soaking up the excess cash of left wingers. He can be taken seriously by muesli and New York Times crowd and have his ego as well as his wallet inflated. In time, he has probably learned to believe his own lies are the truth, and the truth are lies, thus we don't see any trace of conscience coming to the fore.
Regards, Ivan
Hmmm, there must be a shortage of gullible teen girls for Ritter to be spouting off again.
OK Scott. Your evidence of this is???????????????????????
You know, after the Burger King deal, I thought: "Well, Saddam plied him with girls and that's why he's defending him." But he keeps going and going.
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