ZGram - September 15, 2002 - "Did a Saulus turn into a Paulus?"

irimland@zundelsite.org irimland@zundelsite.org
Sun, 15 Sep 2002 14:51:48 -0700


ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

September 15, 2002

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

Here comes your Sunday treat:

[START]

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


ALI HAIDER/AP
Former UN inspector Scott Ritter at an antiterrorist training camp in Iraq

Person of the Week: Scott Ritter

TIME.com: Bush Draws a Line

Weblog: How Nuclear Is Iraq?
 
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.

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

Scott Ritter:  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.

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

Scott Ritter:  (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."

Time:   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?

Scott Ritter:  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.

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

Scott Ritter:  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.

Time:  Are you being investigated for espionage?

Scott Ritter:  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.

Time:  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?

Scott Ritter:  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.

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

Scott Ritter:   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.

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

Scott Ritter:  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.

Time:  Did you get any spying done on your trip?

Scott Ritter:  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.

[END]