What is the deal with Scott Ritter?

Self | Self

[Clifdo]

It occurred to me as I listened to him that oh boy, that old boy found himself a female companion when he was over there - guess where his allegience lies now? Love, Do

[Warren]

Ritter was spotted late at night dumping an odd looking pod into the back of a refuse truck.

[Warren]

Ritter was spotted late at night dumping an odd looking pod into the back of a refuse truck.

[bvw]

Anyone castigated by Joe "Smiley" Biden has my respect, yet I think Ritter gravely underestimates the human spirit of invention and resourcefulness even in the hell that is Iraq.

Essentially we have trapped a mean rat in a corner, and that rat must somehow bite back -- he cannot scurry or give up. That rat is Saddam and we've given him no recourse but to chase nonconventional terror techniques of bite-back. We've given him the time, we've given him and Iraq the constant re-motivation to persue war by other means.

Iraq is like a vat of anthrax a'brewing -- no light, no air, just distilled meaness a'waiting its chance to blossom.

[AfghanAirShow]

I just hope nobody is giving Ritter any current intel or other sensitive information today. He ain't acting right IMO, and he was investigated by the FBI some years ago when he was an inspector for sharing sensitive info about Iraq with other governments.

[denydenydeny]

There is a very relevant article about Ritter in last week's print edition of the Weekly Standard. I'll try to post excerpts tonight.

[drstevej]

$$ Ka-Ching $$ ?

[LaGrone]

He's definitely left the reservation. Who has the goods on this idiot?

[Shermy]

Who's he on the take for? Is he, e.g., an "analyst" for a "think tank" or institute that is a front for Iraq?

[ClancyJ]

Ritter has some agenda. He forgets that it was at least 3 years ago that he inspected anything and he still claims his information is up-to-date. He and that former ambassador to Iraq sound like Iraqis - they should give up their citizenship and go join Iraq.

How dumb do they think we are to believe that they are the authority on what Iraq has or does.

[Mr. Jeeves]

After the Biden "Scotty Boy" incident, somebody must have threatened him. He is talking like a DNC spokesman now.

[Yankee]

I heard him on a show recently, mouthing the tired liberal complaint, that the sanctions are killing the children of Iraq.

I guess he's "grown', that favorite word of the Left, which is applied to people that seemingly lose the capacity for rational thought.

[AfghanAirShow]

"Anyone castigated by Joe "Smiley" Biden has my respect, yet I think Ritter gravely underestimates the human spirit of invention and resourcefulness even in the hell that is Iraq."

The thing that bothers me most is how sure of himself he sounds when he says, unequivocally, that Iraq has no WMD. How would he know, since there are no inspections and he hasn't been there as an inspector since '98? Tonight on Fox with John Gibson he mentioned as an aside that he was in Iraq a year ago -- which begs the question, if he's not part of an inspection program, what was he doing there?

[spycatcher]

He was creatively employed by Iraq to do a "documentary" proving they are innocent victims

Washington Post story here

[BlueHorseShoe]

I posted this on another thread talking about the same thing. One day while listening to Dennis Prager's radio show his guest was Laurie Mylroie (who seems to be quite an expert on the Iraqi situation). I only caught the tail end of her interview but a caller asked about Ritter who had just been on FOX the night before and it was so surprising to hear him say this very same thing. I can quote Mylroie as saying, "he has gone bad."

She did not elaborate on her meaning but was emphatic that Ritter is simply not credible and has even gone against the very things he used to speak and write about. I would love to know more about her opinion of him and why he has made this astounding and totally absurd turn-around.

[AfghanAirShow]

That may be what he's saying now, but he didn't say anything like that in the '98 articles I've found so far in the news archives. I'll keep looking, though. But I just have to wonder -- if this is true that Iraq has no WMD program worth worrying about, why did they stonewall the inspections back then and why do they refuse them today? If there's nothing to see, why don't they allow full inspections and put the sanctions behind them?

[jerod]

Some Americans seem to be obsessed with hunting down this guy, but it puzzles me.

Osama had help from a lot of people, and maybe some of them were from Iraq, but the connections are flimsy at best.

And think about this... If Sadham Insane hadn't invaded Kuwait, what would your beef be against him?

Sure, this guy is trying to develop an atomic bomb, but what third world despot country isn't? Pakistan, India, Israel, North Korea, South Africa, and whole host of other unstable third world nations, already have the bomb.

At least Sadham is in his cage, and can be kept there. Which is more than can be said for the rest of these nuclear bearing nations.

I hate Hussain as much as anyone, but let's be reasonable. Are you really advocating loosing thousands of American lives to take out one crazy nut? Who'll replace him after you kill him? Some religious cleric, with an agenda to convert the world to Islam, and force the people of Iraq to follow the Koran like the Taliban did in Afghanistan.

Get a grip. He may be crazy, but at least he's secular and runs a secular state Which by the way, is surrounded by religious fanatics.