Interview with Scott Ritter - Paula Zahn makes Ritter Go Crazy!

CNN ^ | 9/902

[finnman69]

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies confirming Saddam's enduring interest in developing weapons of mass destruction, that comes a day after former United Nations weapons inspector Scott Ritter insisted Iraq is not a threat to the U.S. He told the Iraqi parliament the country is on the verge of making an historical mistake by trying to remove Saddam Hussein. But in 1998, when Ritter resigned his U.N. post, he criticized the international community for being too easy when Iraq violated Security Council resolutions.

[finnman69]

Ritter has lost it and his anti-war agenda is clearly forming at this point. What a load of crap about achieving a 95% level of completeness in inspections.

[Saundra Duffy]

There's something really fishy about this Ritter guy. He seems to have switched gears a little too abruptly.

[The Vast Right Wing]

Let's suppose he's correct, that remaining 5% could be very dangerous and lead to the death of thousands of Americans. But thats the point, when the cost of being wrong is thousands of innocent civilians dead, it doesn't matter how remote the chances are. Take Saddam out so we can make sure that Iraq is not a threat!

[Constitution Day]

Paula Zahn makes Ritter Go Crazy!

Go crazy?
Sounds like he arrived at that destination some time ago.

[The Great Satan]

Paula Zahn makes Ritter Go Crazy!

Well, she is a hottie, admittedly. Those legs just won't quit!

[Monty22]

Only 3 things can explain this..

A: his own life and/or family's are being threatened by hussein.
B: he turned islamic on us.
C: $$$$$$$$$$$

[Poohbah]

There's something really fishy about this Ritter guy. He seems to have switched gears a little too abruptly.

To quote Bob Woodward's "garage freak," Deep Throat...

"Follow the money."

[areafiftyone]

He is being paid by Iraq - I bet you. The U.S. should investigate his finances and then kick him out of the U.S. Send him to Iraq where he belongs.

[Naspino]

Hey we got the head of Saddam's nuclear program; they got Scott Ritter -- I just wish he'd stayed so they could have used him as a human shield.

[mhking]

So let's not bring up Richard Butler. Frankly speaking, he has no credibility on this issue.

Pot? kettle....

Or to put it in terms you'd understand, Scott: Clinton? Dress....

[nevergore]

Ritter would have more credibility espousing his rhetoric here in the U.S. then over in Bagdad, trip paid for by Saddam.....

We are at a state of War....Ritter has gone to the enemy camp and is touting there propaganda.....

Remember Hanoi Jane???

If he stayed here that is freedom of speech, IMHO, over there under the circumstances he accepted, he has committed TREASON!

NeverGore

[One_who_hopes_to_know]

Scott Ritter has a film in the works which is about his time as an inspector. Guess what? The government of Iraq is reported (NewsMax.com) to have given him $400,000 to fund this "movie". I don't know if the movie is seriously planned or if it was just a bogus vehicle to get 400 large to this scumbag.

[HIDEK6]

The report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies confirming Saddam's enduring interest in developing weapons of mass destruction, that comes a day after former United Nations weapons inspector Scott Ritter insisted Iraq is not a threat to the U.S.

Is this my imagination, but isn't this an incomplete sentence? Paula might have said it, but some putatively bright person at CNN must have written it.

[sanchmo]

Scott Ritter in Pro-Iraq Movie Deal, 9/1/02
...Ritter's reported involvement in a pro-Iraq movie deal that depends on financing from an Iraqi-American supporter of Saddam Hussein.... [H]is documentary film, "In Shifting Sands," the goal of which was to chronicle the weapons-inspection process and, according to Ritter, "de-demonize" Iraq.... [H]e told the Standard it was produced with the approval of the Iraqi government and features interviews with numerous high-level Iraqi officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz... Saddam's one-time nemesis managed to secure the unprecedented access through the help of Shakir al-Khafaji, an Iraqi-American real estate developer who ponied up $400,000 for Ritter's movie

From kcvl:
U.S. citizens are prohibited from traveling to Iraq under an embargo imposed after Iraq invaded Kuwait. Violators face up to 12 years in prison and $1 million in fines, though there is an exemption for journalists, which Ritter maintains he meets...
The documentary project has aroused the interest of federal law enforcement authorities. Ritter said that FBI agents have followed and questioned him and the film's producer, Tom Osborne, about their contacts with Iraqi officials and warned that Baghdad would seek to manipulate them into joining the Iraqi cause or at least into presenting a more favorable portrait of the regime...
Ritter said he was first invited to Baghdad last year by the Iraqi government after the publication of his book "Endgame," which argued that the continuation of economic sanctions on Iraq was more "evil" than doing business with Saddam Hussein. "They were shocked by my position in the book," Ritter said.

Scott Ritter Interview, 9/02/02
Well, I've been very frank with the FBI from day one. The first FBI investigation began back in 1991 after I married my wife. She's a former citizen of the Soviet Union, currently an American citizen, and they initiated something. It was dropped in 1992 after they found out that nothing was going on. It was of no concern to the national security of the United States, never came close to representing a violation of any law...
getting the UN job as an intelligence officer caused a lot of concern and consternation in the CIA because now they have an intelligence person they no longer control, engaged in a position of some influence. That's why the FBI was brought in, basically, as a vehicle of intimidation...
By our going out to Israel and getting an extremely effective alternate source of information, the CIA lost its influence. The way they dealt with it was to fabricate charges that I was somehow spying for the state of Israel. They turned the FBI loose on me on that one. That's still an ongoing investigation to this date... When I resigned and started speaking out against American policy in Iraq, a third investigation was initiated. I was made aware of it when I decided to make a documentary film in Iraq called 'On Shifting Sands.' ...
No traditional outlet for documentary films – PBS, Frontline, CNN, etc., wanted to come forward and put money up to back this idea.

[Ingtar]

When Clinton needed him to, he accused Iraq of being dangerous. When it would hurt President Bush, Iraq is peaceful. I would not be surprised to find a money trail to Clinton/Demoncratic party.

[JulieRNR21]

I heard a discussion on Fox News that Ritter has taken money from Iraq & is now essentially a lobbyist for them. No confirmation of the source...just these remarks.

[nevergore]

Clinton/Demoncratic party = TREASON!

NeverGore

[SarahW]

I'm courting the American public

No good- night kiss for you. Stop stalking me.

[finnman69]

in the same interview Ritter says

"There's no way the Iraqis are going to let the inspectors in right now, given all the war rhetoric going on in Washington, D.C. Why would they let inspectors in to spy on them, to target them more effectively and then be used to manipulate justification for war? "

Then he follows up with:"Let's get the inspectors back in, let's get them to find out what the ultimate disposition of these weapons programs are and if Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction program, thank goodness, we just diffused a war"


The man is full of crap. Here are some quotes from 1998 where he is certain Iraq cheated on the UN inspections:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/july-dec98/ritter_8-31.html

---

WILLIAM SCOTT RITTER, JR.: Well, basically, the investigations that I was tasked with carrying out by the executive chairman involved looking at exposing the means by which Iraq hides their prohibited weapons and weapons capabilities from the special commission. We needed to expose this methodology so that they used so we could get at the weapons, themselves.

And the investigation has been going on for several years now, and this summer we were in the process of resuming these inspections, you know, in accordance with the agreement reached by Kofi Annan and Saddam Hussein in accordance with the Security Council resolutions that said Iraq had to comply or face severe consequences, so we're trying to get back on task.

We had some very specific information, which led us to believe we could go to locations where we would find aspects of this hidden weaponry, of these hidden components, and also uncover how Iraq actually went about hiding these weapons from the commission. We had very specific information, and we believe that if we'd been allowed to accomplish this inspection, we could have achieved meaningful disarmament results.

---

WILLIAM SCOTT RITTER, JR.: Well, again, we have a problem with this-with the United States. On April 6th, the President of the United States submitted a report to Congress in which he clearly states that a diplomatic solution had been tried. We have a memorandum of understanding, and the marker's on the table now. Iraq must be held accountable for the agreement that they have signed with the Secretary-General and which was endorsed by the Security Council in its Resolution 1154. If Iraq didn't, there would be the severest consequences. You had this statement on the one hand, but on the other hand, this administration's saying, wait a minute, we can't go forward with aggressive inspections because they will lead to a confrontation with Iraq, but let's understand the confrontation is because Iraq will not comply with the law passed by the Security Council.

So we weren't allowed to do our job out of fear of a confrontation in which the United States would not be able to muster the required support of the Security Council to respond effectively or to respond in a manner which they had said they would respond in Resolution 1154.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Who specifically blocked the investigation?

WILLIAM SCOTT RITTER, JR.: Well, I mean, now we're getting down to who made the phone calls. The bottom line is the people held accountable are the national security policy team of the United States. Policy is made in policy coordination meetings, where the principal people meet.

This would be Sandy Berger, the national security adviser; Madeleine Albright, the secretary of state; and other principal personnel from the State Department, from the Department of Defense, from the intelligence community. They will meet and they will decide on policy issues. And it's this body that makes a determination that they needed to basically put pressure on the special commission to slow down, to postpone, to cancel certain operations because they would lead to confrontation, which the United States was not willing to step up to.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: And how many inspections were blocked in this way?

WILLIAM SCOTT RITTER, JR.: Well, I mean, the list is actually quite long over the years. But since November there-since November of 1997, I would say that there have been a half dozen or so inspections, which have been either delayed or postponed or canceled outright, due to pressure exerted on the executive chairman by the United States.

---

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Mr. Ritter, does Iraq still have prescribed weapons? Mr. Ritter: "Iraq still has prescribed weapons capability."

WILLIAM SCOTT RITTER, JR.: Iraq still has prescribed weapons capability. There needs to be a careful distinction here. Iraq today is challenging the special commission to come up with a weapon and say where is the weapon in Iraq, and yet part of their efforts to conceal their capabilities, I believe, have been to disassemble weapons into various components and to hide these components throughout Iraq. I think the danger right now is that without effective inspections, without effective monitoring, Iraq can in a very short period of time measure the months, reconstitute chemical biological weapons, long-range ballistic missiles to deliver these weapons, and even certain aspects of their nuclear weaponization program.

---

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: And is it your contention that without a significant and realistic threat of military action, Iraq will not allow the investigations to begin again, beyond just the monitoring that's already going on?

WILLIAM SCOTT RITTER, JR.: Well, in this I would only echo the words made by the Secretary-General and other personnel back in February, who said that you couldn't have had the February MOU without the real and credible threat of military force. That's an obvious statement. You can't expect to enforce the law unless you have the means to carry out the enforcement.

---

Ritter clearly states that threat of military force is the only way to get inspectors in which contradicts his current attitude. he also clearly states that Iraq very easily can have a weapons program operating and never stopped all through the last UN inspections.

[NorCoGOP]

So how suddenly are they now an emerging nuclear threat? We'd better have a heck of a lot more to go on than some aluminum pipes.

I'd rather go in on information regarding aluminum pipes now than to have to go in the shadow of mushroom clouds hundreds of thousands of innocent lives later

What a traitorous stooge....