Now unlike some bloggers I very much relish the idea of re-litigating the past with regards to controversial issues. I very much feel that although the issue of the invasion of Iraq has been beaten to death I feel as if some critics of the Iraq war should be exposed for their dubious assertions and questionable motives.The man I'd like to tackle today is none other than former Un Weapons inspector and hawk turned Anti-war activist Scott Ritter who served as an UNSCOM inspector from 1991-1998. Mr Ritter is no doubt a favorite of the anti-war left for his criticisms of Bush's Iraq policy. However like many critics whether they Michael Moore or George Galloway Ritter has been found to be make seriously questionable assertions.
Let's start with an Assertion that Ritter made about Iraq's compliance with the inspection process. Heres what he said in 1998 on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer:
“I think the danger right now is that without effective inspections, without effective monitoring, Iraq can in a very short period of time measured in months, reconstitute chemical and biological weapons, long-range ballistic missiles to deliver these weapons, and even certain aspects of their developing of nuclear weapons program”
In addition Ritter argued in his 1999 Book about Iraq that Saddam Hussein was obstructing the inspection process while seeking to preserve its capability to produce WMD(later vindicated by the Iraq Survey Group report). Ritter went on to state that that containment in the absence of inspections would allow Saddam to reconstitute his programs.
However in the run up to the Iraq War Mr. Ritter seemed to be humming a different tune insofar going as far to say that Iraq had been 90-95% disarmed and that the remaining capacity that “doesn’t necessarily constitute a threat... It constitutes bits and pieces of a weapons program which in its totality doesn’t amount to much,”. Such a statement is ludicrous on it's face as anyone who looked at the long list of unaccounted for items you could see that Iraq had not accounted for some things such as
3.9 tons of VX nerve Agent
6526 aerial chemical bombs
550 mustard gas shells
8445 liters of anthrax
It is blatantly dishonest for Mr Ritter to say that such a list “doesn't amount to much” given Iraq's long record of non-compliance,lying, and hiding WMD from inspectors (such as the 1995 discovery of their bio weapons program which they had previously denied).Even with proper inspections the party being inspected needs to declare their facilities in order to be inspected. Any undeclared facility is safe from inspection(especially since the inspectors wouldn't know about it).This is exactly what we found post ISG when Iraq was maintaining dual se facilities and equipment in clear violation of the UNSCR's.
Mr Ritter's bogus claims don't however end with Iraq's WMD's but can be found when Scott talks about the Iraqi resistance which he so lovingly described as a “ genuine grassroots national liberation movement” and that “history will eventually depict as legitimate the efforts of the Iraqi resistance to destabilize and defeat the American occupation forces and their imposed Iraqi collaborationist government.”(never mind the brutality of the Baathist Fedayeen Saddam or their Bin Ladenist Al Qaeda allies).
Ritter also went on to state in Sante Fe that a U.S. attack on Iran was certainly going to occur and that then Ambassador John Bolton will deliver a speech about the United State's need to defend itself unilaterally claiming he knew this because he “talked to Bolton's speechwriter”. None of this however came true which certainly raises the question of whether or not Scott Ritter was lying which it seems he has a history of doing.
References
Online Newshour-Scott Ritter August 31 1998
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/july-dec98/ritter_8-31.html
Pitt, William R. War On Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know 2002, Context Books, New York
Ritter Scott. Endgame Solving the Iraq Problem Once and For All 1999.
^ "A Critic's Defeatist Rhetoric". Fox News. February 15, 2005
Ex Un Inspector:Iran;s Next Ritter warns that another US invasion in mideast is imminent http://unified-communications.tmcnet.com/news/2006/02/06/1346123.htm
Unresolved Disarmament Issues: Iraq’s Proscribed Weapons Programmes,” March 6, 2003
For anyone wanting to see Mr Ritter being trounced by Christopher Hitchens in a good debate look here
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