Ritter case has ripple effect

MSNBC and WNYT Channel 13 Albany ^ | January 21, 2003 | Lindsay Cohen

[The Great Satan]

Does anyone think maybe Saddam has spies in the US who watch people like this who may be turned...knew about this scandal and blackmailed him into the service of Iraqi propaganda?

Saddam didn't need spies in the US to get to Ritter -- or even a sleazy private dick working out of a one-room office. In the first place, Ritter was in Iraq for an extended period up to 1998, in daily contact with escorts from the Iraqi military and Iraqi intelligence, staying in Iraqi hotels, eating Iraqi food (unlike with Butler, there apparently wasn't any attempt to poison his food) and presumably being "entertained" by his Iraqi hosts in the evening. In the second place, in July 2000 Ritter accepted $400,000 from a Michigan-based front-man for Saddam Hussein to return to Iraq and direct a propaganda film critiquing US policy toward that country. While there, he met with the highest officials in the Iraqi government, including the odious Tariq Aziz. He was escorted around by Iraqi government agents and again presumably enjoyed "entertainment" at their expense -- this time, far from any supervision and surveillance by the UNSCOM mission. Subsequently, he was invited back to Baghdad and, at the arrangement of the aforementioned Saddam front-man, became the first ever Westerner to address the Iraqi parliament. Understand this: Saddam Hussein owns Scott Ritter lock, stock and smoking barrel.

[weegee]

[A Citizen Reporter]

Weird. Cynthia Preiser looks like a young Katie Couric.

[A Citizen Reporter]

Are you changing your tune?

"Posted by The Great Satan to FreeReign On News/Activism 01/20/2003 10:32 PM CST #171 of 245 This was posted earlier. More recent stories say something about an earlier incident where Ritter supposedly solicited a 14 year-old, but was let off with a caution. However, I don't think the dust has really settled on these stories yet, so I would adopt a wait-and-see approach regarding the specifics."

[The Great Satan]

Not really. He's obviously guilty of something -- he copped a plea. Just how bad this specific incident was I think we still don't know. But his vulnerabilty is obvious enough now, and it never was before. I never really bought the money theory. It's his pecker.

[A Citizen Reporter]

"I never really bought the money theory."

What do you mean by that?

[The Great Satan]

Just that I never found it convincing that Ritter was "turned" by the $400K he got for shooting the propaganda documentary. It may have been part of the carrot, but a minor part, IMO.

[A Citizen Reporter]

Your comments on this very thread will show the inconsistency. You've been spinning this whole story for a couple of days now. It's interesting to watch!

[Lancey Howard]

It does seem unlikely that the only two times he enticed a child to meet him, that child would turn out to be the cops. How many molested kids has he left in his wake?

Excellent, excellent point!
This pedophile Scott Ritter is not oh-fer-2. Odds are, he has gotten away with this behavior for years.

His picture is showing up a lot lately in the Daily Gazette of Schenectady and on local TV and maybe it will bring a few more of his child victims out of the woodwork. The two busts seem even more extraordinary given he's only lived in the area for two years, and during much of that two years he has probably done a lot of travelling. His picture should be posted on telephone poles everywhere else he has lived for the past 20 years, but with all the travelling he has done, he may have child victims all over the country. Heck, the world.

[Rome2000]

Nutter left wing sex pervert alert

[The Great Satan]

How so?

[Lancey Howard]

Neither Preiser nor Albany County District Attorney Paul Clyne will talk to NewsChannel 13 about the dismissal.

Preiser better start yapping, and fast.
Arkancides don't happen to people who have already talked - - they happen to people who might talk.

[Lancey Howard]

Weird. Cynthia Preiser looks like a young Katie Couric

Yeah, she doesn't look much older than 40.

[Lancey Howard]

"Obviously, Ms. Preiser was extremely depressed about her recent firing and saw no other way out of her misery," said D.C. Officer Mookey Simbledon from Fort Marcy Park yesterday where the body of Cynthia Preiser.....

[per loin]

Apparently Ritter is on his way to see the his boss in Baghdad now. Wonder if Saddam still has use for him, or if its time for an accident.

[TLBSHOW]

its gone from drudge site!

[per loin]

Has anyone run across the name of the judge?

[The Great Satan]

I wouldn't like to be in Scotty's shoes right now, that's for sure.

[TheMole]

Ritter testified to a Senate subcommittee in September 1998 that Iraq was a major threat, and that the Clinton administration was severely remiss in not supporting the UN arms inspections. It was on that occasion that he was crudely chastised by Senator Joe Hairplugs Biden. In June 1999 he told a Nyack, NY pacifist group that Iraq posed no threat whatsoever and possessed no chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons.

Here are two different articles recounting some of the facts and dates, and speculating on why (without, however, our knowledge about Scotty's preversions):

Saddam Hussein's American Apologist - The strange career of former U.N. arms inspector Scott Ritter by Stephen F. Hayes in the Weekly Standard of Nov. 19, 2001

Joe Biden was Right by Sam Schulman in the Jewish World Review Sept. 19, 2002

[Lancey Howard]

Has anyone run across the name of the judge?

I have only seen reference to a "town court judge" and a "town justice". But no name yet.

I think somebody is also trying to track down the name of the "Albany psychologist" who Ritter was ordered to get counseling from.

I happen to believe that this story will be breaking wide open very shortly. There are now reporters buzzing around the Schenectady/Delmar/Colonie/Albany area like a swarm of mosquitoes. This is the story that can make a reporter a name and get him on Larry King. I bet things are getting pretty wild up there about now.