PDA

View Full Version : More on Scott Ritter



wrbones
01-26-03, 10:21 PM
Home | Calendar | Mailing List | About SASS | Press Releases | Maps



2002-2003 Calendar
Nov: Scott Ritter
Jan: Huwaida Arraf & Adam Shapiro
Apr: Theodore A. Postol




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SASS
sass@caltech.edu

the Caltech Y
414 S. Holliston, Bldg 86
Pasadena, CA 91125

Phone: (626) 395-6163
FAX: (626) 584-7161
caltechy@caltech.edu


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SASS is a subsidiary of
the Caltech Y
Making a World of Difference

Understanding the Roots of Terrorism: Iraq as a Case Study
Scott Ritter
Wednesday November 13, 2002
8:00 pm, Ramo Auditorium, Caltech

This event is free and open to the public;
no tickets or reservations are required.



Keynote Address
There were several requests for audio/video recordings of the Scott Ritter keynote address. Below is the event separated into 2 audio (mp3) files, the keynote address and then the question and answer session which followed.
Keynote (20MB) download stream
Question/Answer (11MB) download stream

Biography
In 1998, Scott Ritter resigned his post as chief weapons inspector for the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) in Iraq, charging that the United States was purposefully obstructing the completion of the UNSCOM mission. Weapons inspectors have not returned to Iraq since, and the threat of unfound or newly constructed weapons of mass destruction forms the basis for the Bush administration's argument that the United States should again wage war on Iraq.

Ritter, a former Marine intelligence officer and author of the book Endgame: Solving the Iraq Problem Once and For All, believes this war is already in the making.

But is a new war against Iraq justified? Ritter does not think so. Despite UNSCOM's unfinished mission and suspect Iraqi accounts, Ritter believes that the UN inspectors destroyed 90-95% of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction in the seven years they spent there. He also argues that it would be impossible for Iraq to build new weapons in the three years since inspectors left, without being detected. In a September address to the Iraqi parliament he said, "The rhetoric of fear that is disseminated by my government and others has not to date been backed up by hard facts that substantiate any allegations that Iraq is today in possession of weapons of mass destruction."

If these allegations are false, the real impetus behind the Bush administration's call to war seems harder to fathom. With his experience relating to the previous Clinton and senior Bush administrations, Ritter hopes to offer his insight on what this impetus might be.

Search the web for:


Website by Celia La Designs © 2002 Caltech Y Social Activism Speaker Series. All rights reserved.

wrbones
01-26-03, 10:25 PM
SCOTT RITTER <br />
<br />
August 31, 1998 <br />
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Transcript <br />
<br />
<br />
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <br />
Questioning both the United States'...

wrbones
01-26-03, 10:26 PM
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Now, we just heard the UNSCOM chairman, Richard Butler, saying that there had been conversations with the secretary of state and others, but that he was never pressured, that it...

wrbones
01-26-03, 10:31 PM
Exclusive: Scott Ritter in His Own Words
The former weapons inspector explains his switch from getting up Saddam's nose to picking fights with Bush
By MASSIMO CALABRESI









Saturday, Sep. 14, 2002
Scott Ritter was the UN's top weapons inspector in Iraq until 1998, when he resigned claiming President Clinton was too easy on Saddam. Now he says the dictator doesn't seem to have weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and that trying to oust Saddam is "extremely dangerous." TIME's Massimo Calabresi asked the voluble former marine about his recent private trip to Baghdad, Jane Fonda, and accusations he's a spy for Israel, Iraq or Russia.

Time: What were you doing in Baghdad?

Ritter: Waging peace. My goal in Baghdad was to facilitate a debate here in the United States on America's policy toward Iraq, a debate that's been sadly lacking. We're facing a critical moment in American history and I believe this is something that has to be more thoroughly looked at. Why go to Iraq? You're talking to me now because I went to Iraq. I've been saying the exact same thing for years and I didn't get the call from Time magazine.

Who paid for the trip? Were any of your expenses paid for by the Iraqis?

No. The only thing that could be construed as an Iraqi expense is that they provided a vehicle that drove me from the hotel to the meetings with the government officials. I did not reimburse them for the gas used or the time of the driver.

Some on the right call you the new Jane Fonda, and joke about what you'll call your exercise video.

(Long pause?) Those on the right who say that disgrace the 12 years of service I gave to my country as a Marine. I love my country. I'll put my record of service up against anyone, bar none. If they want to have an exercise video then why don't they come here and say it to my face and I'll give'm an exercise video, which will be called, "Scott Ritter Kicking Their Ass."

In 1998, you said Saddam had "not nearly disarmed." Now you say he doesn't have weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Why did you change your mind?

I have never given Iraq a clean bill of health! Never! Never! I've said that no one has backed up any allegations that Iraq has reconstituted WMD capability with anything that remotely resembles substantive fact. To say that Saddam's doing it is in total disregard to the fact that if he gets caught he's a dead man and he knows it. Deterrence has been adequate in the absence of inspectors but this is not a situation that can succeed in the long term. In the long term you have to get inspectors back in.

Iraq's borders are porous. Why couldn't Saddam have obtained the capacity to produce WMD since 1998 when the weapons inspectors left?

I am more aware than any UN official that Iraq has set up covert procurement funds to violate sanctions. This was true in 1997-1998, and I'm sure its true today. Of course Iraq can do this. The question is, has someone found that what Iraq has done goes beyond simple sanctions violations? We have tremendous capabilities to detect any effort by Iraq to obtain prohibited capability. The fact that no one has shown that he has acquired that capability doesn't necessarily translate into incompetence on the part of the intelligence community. It may mean that he hasn't done anything.

Are you being investigated for espionage?

I've been called a spy of Israel since 1996, and since I made my documentary film in 2000 the FBI has investigated me as an agent of Iraq. The FBI has also opened up an investigation into my wife calling her a KGB spy. So there is this form of harassment taking place.

Did you write a report, at the time you were doing inspections in Votkinsk in the Soviet Union in 1988 that said the group your wife worked for was full of spies?

No. I indicated that given past models of Soviet penetration techniques that these young girls, of which my wife was one, who were brought in by the Soviets to carry out translation services had been used in the past to attempt sexual compromise. I subsequently wrote a series of reports that said this did not appear to be the case in Votkinsk. In fact, because of the human intelligence work I did in the Soviet Union I was able to ascertain that the girls were actually dissatisfied with the Soviets. They showed a tendency to speak out against the KGB to the U.S. inspectors.

You've spoke about having seen the children's prisons in Iraq. Can you describe what you saw there?

The prison in question is at the General Security Services headquarters, which was inspected by my team in Jan. 1998. It appeared to be a prison for children — toddlers up to pre-adolescents — whose only crime was to be the offspring of those who have spoken out politically against the regime of Saddam Hussein. It was a horrific scene. Actually I'm not going to describe what I saw there because what I saw was so horrible that it can be used by those who would want to promote war with Iraq, and right now I'm waging peace.

You told the Iraqi parliament that Saddam had legitimate complaints about the prior inspection regime. What did you mean?

The U.S. had a track record of putting pressure on the weapons inspectors program during my entire seven years there. It's ironic that everyone has focused on the struggle of the inspectors vs. Iraq. Not too many people speak of the struggle between the weapons inspectors and the U.S. to beat back the forces of U.S. intelligence which were seeking to infiltrate the weapons inspectors program and use the unique access the inspectors enjoyed in Iraq for purposes other than disarmament. Iraq has a clear case that under this past inspection regime unfortunately it was misused for purposes other than set out by the Security Council resolution.

Did you get any spying done on your trip?

Haha. Did I spy on Iraq my most recent trip? I wasn't there to collect intelligence on Iraq. To be frank, I didn't see barricades in the streets or earthen berms being erected or fortifications underway. I did see a lot of troops in the streets and I saw that Iraq had beefed up their air defense in the capital. I saw that they were moving these air defense units frequently to avoid a strike. But I wasn't there to carry out a full canvas of Iraq's military capabilities.

Time/Life

wrbones
01-26-03, 10:38 PM
CurrentArchive

wrbones
01-26-03, 10:40 PM
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Scott Ritter Admits 2001 Arrest <br />
<br />
Charges Were Later Dismissed <br />
<br />
<br />
CBS

wrbones
01-26-03, 10:45 PM
Too long to post, really. Actually, to believe it, ya gotta read it yerself in it's original setting! LOL

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0301/S00096.htm