[Fitzcarraldo]

Perhaps Saddaam offered Ritter "What he wants" in return
for his "learned comments"?

[The Great Satan]

I think what we have here is probably neither strictly blackmail/intimidation nor strictly bribery/pandering. The key to pulling off this kind of operation is to ensure complicity on the part of the subject. From The Godfather Part II:

"Now if this had happened someplace else, we couldn't have helped...Just do as I say. We're putting a call into your office. Explain that you'll be there tomorrow afternoon. You decided to spend the night at Michael Corleone's house in Tahoe as his guest...This girl has no family, nobody knows that she worked here. It'll be as though she never existed. All that's left is our friendship."

[sweetliberty]

"Perhaps Saddaam offered Ritter "What he wants" in return for his "learned comments"?

That occurred to me as well. Saddam provides "entertainment" for the pedophile pervert, Mr. Ritter, on his recent visit to Iraq, then uses it to keep him under control. Liberals such as Hillary seize on the opportunity to use him to undermine the president, their favorite passtime, and the media gets their jollies off of having him speaking against the war which is, of course, their agenda as well. One or all could have been part of the original game of playing puppetmaster over Ritter. The question is, whose toes were getting stepped on that decided to shut him up?