----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, October 21, 2005 1:29 PM Subject: [NucNews] Scott Ritter on the Untold Story of the Intelligence Conspiracy to Undermine the UN and Overthrow Saddam Hussein
> Scott Ritter on the Untold Story of the Intelligence > Conspiracy to Undermine the UN and Overthrow Saddam Hussein > > Friday, October 21st, 2005 > > http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/21/144258 > > We speak with Scott Ritter, the chief United Nations weapons > inspector in Iraq between 1991 and 1998 about his new book: > "Iraq Confidential: The Untold Story of the Intelligence > Conspiracy to Undermine the UN and Overthrow Saddam > Hussein." It details how the CIA manipulated and sabotaged > the work of UN departments to achieve the foreign policy > agenda of the United States in the Middle East. [includes > partial transcript] In a major article in The New York Times > this weekend, reporter Judith Miller admitted she was wrong > when she wrote several of the key articles that claimed Iraq > had an extensive weapons of mass destruction program ahead > of the 2003 invasion. Miller wrote, "W.M.D. -- I got it > totally wrong. The analysts, the experts and the journalists > who covered them -- we were all wrong." Today we are joined > by someone who was not wrong about weapons of mass > destruction in Iraq - Scott Ritter. He was the United > Nations" top weapons inspector in Iraq at UNSCOM between > 1991 and 1998. Before working at the UN he served as an > officer in the US marines and as a ballistic missile adviser > to General Schwarzkopf in the first Gulf war. > > Scott Ritter has just published a new book titled "Iraq > Confidential: The Untold Story of the Intelligence > Conspiracy to Undermine the UN and Overthrow Saddam > Hussein." The book details how the CIA manipulated and > sabotaged the work of UN departments to achieve the foreign > policy agenda of the United States in the Middle East. > > * Scott Ritter, was the United Nations' top weapons > inspector in Iraq between 1991 and 1998. Before working for > the UN he served as an officer in the US marines and as a > ballistic missile adviser to General Schwarzkopf in the > first Gulf war. He is author of a new book, just out, titled > "Iraq Confidential: The Untold Story of the Intelligence > Conspiracy to Undermine the UN and Overthrow Saddam Hussein." > > RUSH TRANSCRIPT > > AMY GOODMAN: Welcome to Democracy Now!. > > SCOTT RITTER: Thank you. > > AMY GOODMAN: It's good to have you with us. Well, what do > you think is the greatest misunderstanding of the American > people right now about what has happened in Iraq? > > SCOTT RITTER: Well, first of all, the reason that we're > there. They think that this was an accident, that this was a > noble cause, that people like the president, like Bill > Clinton before him, like their respective administrations, > journalists like Judith Miller just honestly got it wrong. > And I don't think – you know, here we are today in Iraq and > it's a disaster. I don't think anybody's going to debate > that statement. Some people say though, ‘We're working > towards a continuation of this noble objective. We got rid > of Saddam Hussein. That's a good thing. And now we're going > to try to build on that good.’ I'm not going to debate > whether or not getting rid of Saddam Hussein is a good thing > or not. But, you know, if you embrace the notion that the > ends justify the means, that's about as un-American a notion > as you can possibly get into. We're talking about solving a > problem. We have yet to define the problem. The problem > isn't just what's happening in Iraq but it's the whole > process that took place in the United States leading up to > the war, this dishonest process of deliberately deceiving > the American public. And it's not just George W. Bush. For > eight years of the Clinton administration, that > administration said the same things. The C.I.A. knew, since > 1992, that significant aspects of the Iraqi weapons programs > had been completely eliminated, but this was never about > disarmament > > AMY GOODMAN: How did they know this? > > SCOTT RITTER: They knew it, (a) because of their own access > to intelligence information and (b) because of the work of > the weapons inspectors. In October of 1992, I personally > confronted the C.I.A. on the reality that we had accounted > for all of Iraq's ballistic missile programs. That same year > they had an Iraqi defector who had laid out the totality of > the Iraqi biological weapons program and had acknowledged > that all of the weapons had been destroyed. The C.I.A. knew > this. But, see, the policy wasn't disarmament. The policy > was regime change. Disarmament was only useful in so far as > it facilitated regime change. That's what people need to > understand, that this was not about getting rid of weapons > that threatened international peace and security. This has > been about, since 1991, solving a domestic political > embarrassment. That is the continued survival of Saddam > Hussein, a man who in March 1990 was labeled as a true > friend of the American people and then in October 1990 in a > dramatic flip-flop was called the Middle East equivalent of > Adolph Hitler. > > JUAN GONZALES: You were involved for quite a long time with > UNSCOM. At what point did you, as you were working for the > United Nations, reach the conclusion that regime change > really was the intent of the program that – well, the United > States intent behind the program that you were involved with? > > SCOTT RITTER: It wasn't a matter of reaching a conclusion. > When I joined in September of 1991, that was already the > stated policy of the United States government. I outlined > this in the book. The fact that in April, 1991, the United > States helps draft and then votes in favor of a Chapter 7 > resolution 687 that creates the weapons inspections, call > upon Iraq to disarm and in Paragraph 14 says if Iraq > complies, economic sanctions will be lifted. This is the > law. A few months later, the president, George Herbert > Walker Bush and the Secretary of State say economic > sanctions will never be lifted against Iraq, even if they > comply with their obligation to disarm, until which time > Saddam Hussein is removed from power. It's the stated policy > of the United States government. What we weren't quite aware > of is just to what extreme they would go in undermining the > credibility and integrity of the United Nations inspection > process to achieve this objective. > > AMY GOODMAN: Something that has been repeated over and over > again is that Saddam Hussein kicked out the U.N. weapons > inspectors. Can you tell us what happened? > > SCOTT RITTER: Well, there are several periods of time, but > the most dramatic is the December 1998 period right before > Bill Clinton got on national TV, talked about the threat of > W.M.D. and said he is launching an air campaign, 72 hours of > bombardment called Operation Desert Fox. No, Saddam did not > kick the inspectors out. Actually, what was happening at > that point in time is that the Iraqi government was > complying with every single requirement set forth by the > Security Counsel and the inspectors. They were cooperating > with the inspectors, giving the inspectors access in > accordance to something called the ‘modalities of sensitive > site inspections.’ > > Public perception is that the Iraqis were confrontational > and blocking the work of the inspectors. In 98% of the > inspections, the Iraqis did everything we asked them to > because it dealt with disarmament. However when we got into > issues of sensitivity, such as coming close to presidential > security installations, Iraqis raised a flag and said, “Time > out. We got a C.I.A. out there that's trying to kill our > president and we're not very happy about giving you access > to the most sensitive installations and the most sensitive > personalities in Iraq.” So we had these modalities, where we > agreed that if we came to a site and the Iraqis called it > ‘sensitive,’ we go in with four people. > > In 1998, the inspection team went to a site. It was the > Baath Party headquarters, like going to Republican Party > headquarters or Democratic Party headquarters. The Iraqis > said, “You can't come in – you can come in. Come on in.” The > inspectors said, “The modalities no longer apply.” The > Iraqis said, “If you don't agree to the modalities, we can't > support letting you in,” and the Iraqis wouldn't allow the > inspections to take place. > > Bill Clinton said, “This proves the Iraqis are not > cooperating,” and he ordered the inspectors out. But you > know the United States government ordered the inspectors to > withdraw from the modalities without conferring with the > Security Council. It took Iraqis by surprise. Iraqis were > saying, “We're playing by the rules, why aren’t you? If > you're not going play by the rules, then it’s a game that we > don't want to participate in.” Bill Clinton ordered the > inspectors out. Saddam didn't kick them out. > > JUAN GONZALEZ: Your point that this kind of deception > occurred under both Democrats and Republicans would at least > suggest that what's happened in Iraq is not just a question > of a bunch – of a cabal of zealots in the White House right > now that are conducting this – that are hijacking policy but > that there are deeper interests involved in the United > States and the kind of policy that we've had in Iraq. You > get into some of that in the book. Could you talk about that > a little bit? > > SCOTT RITTER: Well, I don't want to sound – I'm not somebody > who’s into conspiracy theories, and I'm not somebody who’s > out there saying this is about global oil. The tragedy of > Iraq is that it’s about domestic American politics. This is > a president, George Herbert Walker Bush, who in 1990, traps > himself rhetorically by linking Saddam Hussein to Adolph > Hitler. Once you do that, once you speak of a Nuremburg-like > retribution, you can't negotiate your way out of that > problem. Now it's either deliver Saddam Hussein's head on a > platter or you failed. He tried to during the Gulf War. I > was part of a team that was targeting Saddam. We didn't succeed. > > Now the C.I.A. says, “Don't worry, Saddam will be gone in > six months. All you have to do is contain him, put these > sanctions in place and keep him bottled up and he'll > collapse.” Six months later Saddam Hussein is still there. > His continued survival became a political embarrassment that > had to be dealt with. > > This was inherited by Bill Clinton. The irony is that Bill > Clinton – and I'm very critical of Bill Clinton, but you > know, in the period between his election in 1992 and his > being sworn in, his administration reached out to the Iraqis > in saying, “Look, this is a ridiculous policy, let's figure > out how we can get sanctions lifted and get you back into > the family of nations.” But when politicians in Congress, > both Democrat and Republican, found out about this, they > said, “You can't do this. We have told our constituents this > man is Hitler, and we can't negotiate with the devil.” > > We were trapped by this policy. And this cabal we speak of, > the neoconservatives, they may not have originated this > policy but they exploited eight years of Clinton > administration's ineffective policy of dealing with Saddam. > Saddam's survival for eight years empowered the > neoconservatives to use regime change as a rallying cry for > the Republican Party. 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