The Reuters story also avoids the elephant in the living room, and notes that Ritter told the crowd that North Korea is going to nuke Japan, purely because we went to war with Iraq:
Ex-U.N. Inspector Sees Attack on Iraq This Month
TOKYO (Reuters) - A former U.N. weapons inspector and outspoken critic of U.S. policy on Iraq said Wednesday he expected war to break out by the end of February and that Pyongyang would likely seize the opportunity to attack Japan and South Korea (news - web sites).
Scott Ritter, a former U.S. Marine who spent seven years as a weapons inspector in Iraq in the 1990s, told journalists in Tokyo that a narrow, U.S.-led coalition would likely launch an attack on Iraq after failing to persuade the United Nations (news - web sites) of the need for military action.
"I see a massive aerial bombardment beginning by the end of February," he said. "I see ground troops crossing into Iraq in significant numbers in early March, and I don't see this war finishing any time soon."
Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) is due to speak before the U.N. Security Council at 10:30 a.m. EST in an attempt to persuade the world that Iraq is concealing weapons of mass destruction.
Russia, China and France -- which have powers of veto -- are uncertain about a war that might spark more instability in the Middle East.
An attack on Iraq might also alarm the isolated state of North Korea (news - web sites) into a pre-emptive strike on U.S. troops and their allies in Asia, Ritter said.
"North Korea, having seen the United States eliminate Iraq in violation of international law, is not going to simply sit back and wait for the Americans to come," he said.
"They won't be satisfied till Tokyo is reduced to a slab of radioactive waste."
The United States reported last autumn that Pyongyang had admitted to possessing weapons of mass destruction. North Korea withdrew from a nuclear non-proliferation treaty last month and ordered U.N. atomic energy inspectors out of the country.
U.S. bombers, fighter jets and warships have been put on alert for possible deployment to the western Pacific to deter any aggression by North Korea in the event of a war in Iraq.
