Posted on 01/23/2003 11:21:11 AM PST by Shermy
Scott Ritter said he doesn't want forgiveness.
Speaking publicly for the first time about the sex charge he was arrested for in 2001, the former U.N. arms inspector and one of the leading critics of the Bush administration's plans to attack Iraq said he has been held accountable for breaking the law. And it would be a shame, he said Wednesday, that his arrest could derail his efforts to help prevent a war in the Middle East.
"I think it's important to put a human face on this, to remind people that there are issues out there bigger than a two-year-old dismissed case," he said. "I'm not asking people for forgiveness.
In June 2001, he was charged in a police sting operation with trying to lure a 16-year-old girl he met on the Internet to a Burger King. Later in Colonie Town Court, the case was adjourned in contemplation of dismissal after six months. Half a year later, the case was sealed.
"I was arrested on June 15 (2001) and charged with a class B misdemeanor," he said. "I think it's important for people to know that I stood before a judge in a public court, with my wife by my side ... and the case was dismissed."
Ritter, 41, a Delmar resident, spent Wednesday afternoon in a frenzy of television and newspaper interviews. He had been at the center of a national controversy that exploded this week when the arrest came to light.
A former Marine, Ritter served as a U.N. weapons inspector for seven years. He resigned in 1998, saying that Iraq remained a threat. He also accused the United States of damaging the inspection process by using intelligence from the U.N. to determine subsequent bombing sites.
In September, Ritter visited Iraq to urge Saddam Hussein to allow inspectors back into the country. Hussein agreed to do that a few days after Ritter left.
On Wednesday, Ritter said he's trying to put his life back together after the attention of the last few days. He declined to speculate on who may have released information from the sealed file.
"The timing is definitely suspicious," he said. "I have no insights as to who or why. I know what the impact is, which was to prevent me from getting on an airplane as I planned to do so ... to fly to Baghdad."
Ritter was to fly to Iraq on Tuesday to meet with the country's government, along with many other figures in the peace movement, to help avoid a war. Ritter bowed out of the trip because of the recent attention.
Colonie police Chief John Grebert said he did not blame any of his staff for the controversy. Though the case was sealed, he said, his detectives were not barred from talking about it, according to two lawyers he consulted. Furthermore, the case had been reported on Channel 13 in 2001 and many people were already familiar with it.
"This case is going on two years old," he said. "This case has been discussed fairly openly over the past year. A person who becomes more and more of a public figure increases the chance that anyone's going to talk."
WNYT Ch. 13 had the story on the arrest in 2001, but did not identify the man charged as the former weapons inspector. The station has said Ritter was charged under his given name -- William S. Ritter -- and the station did not make the connection at the time.
Ritter said this would be the last time he plans to discuss the situation with the media. He said he has been encouraged by hundreds of positive e-mails from around the country. His family is also with him.
"I'm very supportive of Scott, 100 percent or more," said his wife, Marina. "I'm very proud of him and everything that he has achieved."
Ritter and Marina, who married 12 years ago after they met in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, are parents of two young children. Ritter said it was difficult explaining to his kids about what happened, but expects to soon put this behind him.
"I will continue to speak where I'm invited and permitted to speak," he said. "This will not silence me."
Staff writer Mike Goodwin contributed to this report.
Scotty ought to look up "narcissism" in the dictionary.
"MEDIA MATTERS
CNN admits sitting on Ritter story
'We'd rather be a little slow and 100 percent right'
Posted: January 23, 2003
3:52 a.m. Eastern
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
Cable News Network, which markets itself as "the world's news leader," says it sat on the Scott Ritter sex-scandal story for several days without a whisper of it, and other major news outlets have avoided extensive coverage – if any coverage – as well.
The former weapons inspector admitted on CNN's "Newsnight with Aaron Brown" program last night that he was in fact arrested in June 2001, but he refused to disclose if it had to do with allegations he was looking to meet underage girls from the Internet.
"For a couple of days we knew about the allegation and did not report it," said Brown at the top of his show. "Lots of notes [were sent] to us this week about why we were silent. Many – not all, but many assumed it was a political decision because some people see everything that way."
The Schenectady Daily Gazette and New York Daily News originally reported on Saturday and Sunday respectively that Ritter allegedly had an online sexual discussion with someone he thought was an underage girl. The "girl," however, turned out to be an undercover police investigator, according to the Daily News, whose sources spoke on condition of anonymity.
But the story has failed to gain much national publicity until now. In fact, a document search using the Lexis-Nexis archive system reveals the Associated Press national wire has still not published the Ritter sex scandal as of the posting of this article. The story has only hit the local and state AP wire in New York.
It has received coverage among Albany, N.Y., area media, and a few mentions on national programs such as the Rush Limbaugh radio show, and "Buchanan and Press" on MSNBC, which discussed the matter briefly yesterday with the news director of WNYT-TV, the station which had footage of Ritter's mug shot.
WorldNetDaily has done at least four stories following Ritter since the news broke last weekend.
CNN's Brown did provide an explanation as to the delay in the network's reporting of the matter:
"Whenever it's possible," said Brown, "we don't report what we, CNN, cannot confirm. In the case of the Ritter story, we worked it for a couple of days, trying to find the facts, but we were not willing to run with someone else's reporting.
"We needed to find sources. We needed to vet them as best we can. And when we as an organization are comfortable with what we know, then we report it. Now, it's not perfect. Sometimes we do rely on other reporting if we're unable to get to an area, for example.
"Sometimes we report what others have with an acknowledgment that the story is based on someone's other work, according to AP or according to 'The New York Times.' But that is more the exception than the rule. We do it because we are responsible for what we put on the air. It's really that simple.
"We have rules and standards. We know them, we're comfortable with them. Even when it means we sometimes get beat on a story. We'd rather be a little slow and 100 percent right."
Right after this story broke, I said that other news agencies would wait until the courts and other offices were open (Tuesday) to independently verify the story before they went it. And I was right--at least as far as CNN goes, but so far, Fox News has been all but MIA on this as a story. So far, only CNN has gotten the interview (I call the Catherine Crier "interview" with Ritter yesterday more of a smoochfest), and much to Ritter's surprise, Aaron Brown did a quiet, but devastating interview with Ritter. And I didn't see Ritter on any cable shows today (a rehash of Aaron Brown's interview was shown this morning & it was discussed on Fox & Friends), much less on any network news.
There is such a thing as "Narcissist Personality Disorder", and he fits the description. I find it scary that a guy with this dysfunctional of a personality rose to such a position.
Also, this guy is supposed to be an INTELLIGENCE agent, and he fell for a local sting operation, not once but TWICE?
She is rumored to be KGB.
Maybe Ritter and Michael Jackson will open a consulting business together.
Yeah, I think I know one of these narcissists, so I've been reading up.
As long as he speaks from his cell, I'm all for the 1st Amendment.
He's also an authority on pedophilia, so if anyone has any questions about that, or about R.Kelly or Pete Townsend please give Scott a call.
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