"Criminals the lot of us " Scott Ritter, The Guardian

[TexasLawyer]

No punches pulled in this new one from Scott Ritter.


Criminals the lot of us

The invasion of Iraq was a crime of gigantic proportions, for which politicians, the media and the public share responsibility

Scott Ritter
Thursday January 27, 2005
The Guardian

The White House's acknowledgement last month that the United States has formally ended its search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq brought to a close the most calamitous international deception of modern times. This decision was taken a month after a contentious presidential election in which the issue of WMD and the war in Iraq played a central role. In the lead-up to the invasion, and throughout its aftermath, President Bush was unwavering in his conviction that Iraq had WMD, and that this posed a threat to the US and the world. The failure to find WMD should have been his Achilles heel, but the Democratic contender, John Kerry, floundered, changing his position on WMD and Iraq many times.

<snip>

There was never any serious effort undertaken by the Bush administration to find Iraqi WMD. Prior to the invasion, the US military re-designated an artillery brigade as an "exploitation task force" designed to search for WMD as the coalition advanced into Iraq. It did little more than serve as a vehicle for its embedded reporter, Judith Miller of the New York Times, to recycle fabricated information provided by Ahmed Chalabi and the Iraqi National Congress, creating dramatic headlines that had no substance. Once Iraq was occupied, Miller was sent home, and the taskforce disbanded.

A new organisation was created, the CIA-led Iraq survey group (ISG), led by David Kay. His job was not to find WMD but to spin the data for the political benefit of the White House. He hinted at dramatic findings, only to suddenly reverse course once Saddam Hussein was captured. Kay told us that everyone had got it wrong on WMD, that it was no one's fault. He was replaced by Charles Duelfer, whose task was to extend the WMD cover-up for as long as possible. Duelfer was very adept at this, having done similar work while serving as the deputy executive chairman of the UN weapons inspection effort.

I witnessed him manipulate reports to the security council, rejecting all that didn't sustain his (and the US government's) foregone conclusion that Iraq had WMD.

<snip>



http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1399228,00.html

[el_gato]

1. Nice to see somebody take responsibility

all I've seen around here today is efforts to run and hide from any responsiblity for anything.

[EVDebs]

2. Huge violations of the War Powers Act of 1973 that allowed lies to

push us into this war, just as in the Gulf of Tonkin fabrications of August 1964. Not many Wayne Morses or Ernest Gruenings in the senate anymore ! Maybe Boxer and Kerry and ... well now I see Kennedy standing up... It may just happen...

[Freedom_from_Chains]

3. It never was about finding WMD

Nor is it about bringing democracy to Iraq. It plainly is about getting a foothold in the ME, better than the one Israel has given us in the past, to control the oil fields.

The next stop is Iran which combined with our political control of Saudi Arabia will allow us to start exerting power over Russia and China. That is when the fireworks, and the real war, will begin.

[Colorado Blue]

4. Until we free ourselves from OIL we are all going to be

both guilty and stuck.

Back in the 1970's there was a "fuel crisis", resulting in long lines at the pump, some rationing - my road locomotive had to go every day to get a mere five gallons - and gas was something like $2.75/gallon.

This prompted a much-needed focus on smaller cars that got great mileage.

So what happened? The "crisis" vanished, cars got beyond huge again, with lousy mileage, and now it's as if national consciousness of the implications of oil as a resource, as a polluter, and as a source of geo-political trouble have absolutely evaporated.

Magic, huh.

'Course, there's always the WMD in the strategic location. How convenient. And that having failed, now there is FREEDOM.

I feel sick.

[Old and In the Way]

5. Oddly, enough, it was another Bush who made sure we stayed

on the oil diet. Remember how Carter put Solar Panels and Hot Water Heaters on the WH? How he promoted conservation and created a Cabinet Level Department of Energy?

That all changed when Reagan (zzzz)/ Bush rigged the 1980 election. Get rid of the alternative/renewable/conservation talk...do away with the Department of Energy. It was back to cheap oil and Morning in American. And Dimson is leading us into the Evening. People should link the policies of the Bush family with this country's decline...because, while they have personally benefitted to the tune of hundreds of millions, they have damaged our national security interests both in our dependence of the Saudi Oil and the Saudi reinvestment of our dollars into a huge financial ownership in our infrastructure.

It's truely treason, folks.

[TexasLawyer]

6. No argument here!

[indepat]

7. If so, we the people, in very large numbers, just don't give a crap

[Old and In the Way]

9. More like frogs in a pot of water.

bring the temp up slowly and they'll get cooked to death without a struggle. We've been cooking for 25 years....and we're just about done.

[indepat]

12. The job and financial markets and the dollar's value will confirm whe

[indepat]

8. A searing indictment of our government, the media, and we the people

[Jack Rabbit]

10. This is the second important piece by Ritter in a week

Both were published in the foreign press. The first was in al Jazeera.

Why is the US MSM, which attmpts to lend intellectual legitimacy to right wing morons like Ann Coulter and Kate O'Byrne, treating Scott Ritter like some kind of crackpot? There is something wrong with this picture.

[TexasLawyer]

11. I noticed that he's been pretty prolific lately.

This article is getting wide publication in the foreign press. I just ran into it on the Arab News website, for example. (They gave it a different title).

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=58165&d=28&m=1&y=2005

I admire Scott Ritter. At the end of the Guardian article they provide his e-mail address. I sent Scott a message to tell him about a thread on DU that recently focused on his vindication re the WMD issue, and to tell him to keep writing the excellent articles.

[EC]

13. So I wonder if the House of Parliment

will have to reverse their findings from last year or take it up again in their hearings? It sounds as if Scott Ritter is going to keep pushing it....

[KissMeKate]

14. Media ignored Scott Ritter

We need to make our own media.

[90-percent]

15. Scott

Please Scott, never ever travel in a small airplane!

America needs you alive!

-85%