http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=32385 Scott Ritter, the former U.N. weapons inspector who was arrested for reportedly seeking sex from teen-age girls he met online, was targeted for bribery with gold by Iraq, reports the London Telegraph.
Documents reveal the so-called "Scott Ritter Project" where Iraqi intelligence services bought expensive jewelry intended for Ritter's wife and daughter to encourage him to work closely with Saddam's regime.
The papers found in the bombed headquarters of Iraq's intelligence services, indicate the cost of the gifts was approved at the highest level in an attempt to develop "strong relations with them [Ritter's family] that affect positively on our relations with him."
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Some quotes establishing Ritter is an idiot:
Lisbon - The United States does not have the military means to take over Baghdad and will lose the war against Iraq, former United Nations weapons inspector Scott Ritter said.
"The United States is going to leave Iraq with its tail between its legs, defeated. It is a war we can not win," he told private radio TSF in an interview broadcast here Tuesday evening.
"We do not have the military means to take over Baghdad and for this reason I believe the defeat of the United States in this war is inevitable," he said.
"Every time we confront Iraqi troops we may win some tactical battles, as we did for ten years in Vietnam but we will not be able to win this war, which in my opinion is already lost," Ritter added.
What a moron. And you people take him seriously? Sheesh.
Despite these charges, which sound pretty fringe, I'd say Ritter is at least worth listening to given his experience in Iraq, and the fact that he's put his reputation on the line for his convictions. I (facetiously) wonder what the motives could be of those who so readily dismiss him, and who have no first hand experience with the country.
BA...c'mon now...where's Fisk on that list.
He's gotta be in the top five.
No, I have not been to Iraq.
Neither have you.
The difference between us, though, is that I'm not willing to take seriously someone who changed his position so completely and rapidly, with incriminating evidence that sufggests the change of heart may have been for monetary gain.
Not to mention the whole "soliciting sex from teenagers" thing. What a first-class scum-sucking creep.
Now, please correct me if I'm wrong, but the only reason you want to believe Ritter is he disagrees so completely with Bush, right?
Is that how you judge a person's credibility? By how much they bash Bush?
If so, you fit right in here at imc.
I accept Ritter because he was right about the WMD and Bush was wrong. Against lots of pressure from Bush and the whole right wing medai, Ritter stood up and said the Emperor Has No Clothes. And he was right.
Anarchist, your post is emblematic of how people on the right often argue. Rather than dealing with the central facts (Iraq, WMD, etc), I so often hear attempted smears of people's reputations instead. You try so hard to shut people up by intimidating them.
This is little more than schoolyard bullying - a fancy term for it is an "ad hominem attack". Anyone who knows debating knows that this is bogus, or another fancy term, a logical fallacy.
What Scott Ritter does in his spare time is mostly irrelevant. Being a former UN weapons inspector, with firsthand knowledge of conditions in Iraq IS relevant.
Please learn to argue like an adult, and stop throwing up smoke.
"I accept Ritter because he was right about the WMD and Bush was wrong."
This is an embarrassingly stupid comment. Regardless of the lefts gleeful cries of "where are the WMD?" the fact remains that they are either still there hidden or they've been transferred.
There has NEVER been any serious discussion or even attempt to deny that these weapons obviously existed in Iraq for AT LEAST the twelve or so years before the war. Furthermore there is absolutely no reason to suspect that Sadam just got rid of all of them and kept it a secret from the world.
That's simply nonsense.
I personally don't base my belief or disbelief about Ritter on his personal life, however much of a creep he has turned out to be. I base it on his flat out nonsensical and illogical assertion that Iraq didn't have WMD.
Furthermore, I personally have never cared at all about WMD to begin with. As far as I'm concerned, simply taking over Iraq in order to have a very heavy and active military force in the middle of the extreme islam plague is and was a perfect reason to invade. WMD was simply an obvious selling point but hardly a neccessary reason.
9-11 and the decades of attacks on America by these islamic subhumans made this war righteous and neccessary.
Thankfully, those aginst the war and therefore America are virtually irrelevant and utterly powerless.
Andy
Scott Ritter is dumber than dirt. His inconsistencies are glaring.
Roll the clock back to the 2000 election. Close your eyes and imagine the worst -- that Al Gore had become President.
What do you think the world would be like today?
I think it's pretty obvious.
Bin Laden would be doing business as usual with his terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. They'd have a real terrorist factory going. The Taliban would be firmly in charge.
Saddam would still be holding forth in Iraq and murdering any of his citizens who opposed him.
Gore would be demanding a UN Resolution against both of them. That's all.
GWB gets the job done. He's the man.
America would have been happier palce where no soldier's family will shed tears over their dead sons and daughters
America would have been happier palce where no soldier's family will shed tears over their dead sons and daughters