Ritter right about Iraq - Give that man a medal

[housewolf]

RANDY SCHOLFIELD: RITTER RIGHT ABOUT IRAQ

President Bush has been handing out Presidential Medals of Freedom lately like they were Little League good sportsmanship ribbons.

<snip>

Paul Bremer .... George Tenet

<snip>

I'd like to nominate someone who really deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom: Scott Ritter. Now we know: He was right.

You've probably heard that the Bush administration this week quietly called off the weapons search. There aren't any WMD stockpiles. As in none. Zip. And, no, they weren't moved to Syria. The weapons didn't exist.

<snip>

He could be saying, "I told you so." Instead, he's speaking out on another security boondoggle -- the anti-missile defense shield program, which is costing U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars without the Pentagon even being able to prove that it works.

<snip>

http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/news/editorial/10638920.htm

[Emillereid]

1. So right -- Scott Ritter is an amazing patriot!

He should run for the Senate!

[renaissanceguy]

2. Not only that...

we need to make sure our Dem leaders who voted against the war to speak out "I told ya so." As for those Dems who voted for it, we need them to come out and say, "OK we were wrong. Let's have an investigation."

http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues/466053

[Emillereid]

7. Good ideas -- all of us collectively have to make lots of noise

about Iraq -- we have got to turn up the heat and make the administration uncomfortable. I definitely think big time non-violent civil disobedience is past due. One of the most effective things we did during the Vietnam war was one day where we declared that if the government wouldn't stop the war, we'd stop the government -- and we did. Dr. Spock led the first group over the 14th street bridge, sat down and got arrested, followed by wave after wave of demonstrators and many, many other actions throughout the city of Washington, DC until about 17,000 people were arrested. In lieu of prison, the people arrested were put in the RFK stadium -- where they continued to resist and disobey. We have to make it costly for the powers that be to conduct business as usual!!!!

[98geoduck]

3. Instead, Bush and Co. discredited him by lure and smear.

Wasn't the story changed on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox that Ritter was a teen stalker, and he should be shunned. Never to be heard from again...

[cincinnati_liberal]

4. Finally

I can tell all these fucks there is no possible chance of finding WMDs. I've got a friend in the Navy that INSTISTS to this day they will find the WMDs. I wonder what effect this will ahve on the military's morale.

[Skittles]

15. I know a Navy guy who insists they "got moved to Syria"

I have to wonder - are they really that stupid or like you allude to, is it too hard for them to admit they have been duped and USED by that piece of shit Bush?

[TexasLawyer]

5. Scott Ritter is a person of great integrity

He was really made to suffer for trying to tell America the truth about Iraq's arsenals (or lack thereof).

Scott Ritter was even offered a bribe by Ahmed Chalabi to shut up about the fact that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. If Scott would just keep quiet and let Bushco go in and take over the country, then he could share in the spoils. He said no, when many others would have been tempted. (SR talked about this experience on "Democracy Now")

I wish our glorious leaders had listened up before the war.

[housewolf]

6. Me too

"I wish our glorious leaders had listened up before the war." -

Me too. He's one of my heroes.

I hadn't hear the Ahmed Chalabi scheme.

[sushi]

8. Think of all the people

who died, or were maimed, and/or lost family members for nothing! Iraq, the country that didn't attack the US, is now destroyed!

[90-percent]

9. Scott

I'm still waiting for Paula Zahn to apologize to Scott for accusing him of "drinking Saddam's kool-aid" during an interview in the propaganda ramp up to war.

She was soooo condescending and Scott was right and she and all of MSM were fucking wrong!

-85%

[DELUSIONAL]

10. Scott is an Unsung hero -- and history will record this fact

perhaps not American historians -- but historians from other countries will acknowledge that Scott Ritter was right -- that Iraq had no WMD.

And we recognize that Scott has the right to say -- "I told you so".

Before the war my husband believed the Bush and Corporate media propaganda -- he hadn't heard any other story.

But I told him that Scott Ritter -- who was a UN Weapons inspector said that Iraq had NO WMD -- and I gave him Internet links.

Any trace of belief my husband had in the Corporate media was lost after reading interviews and articles by Scott Ritter.

Had the Corporate media been doing its job -- reporting views in opposition to the bush propaganda machine -- our history would be very different.

[TexasLawyer]

11. The vilification of Scott Ritter

Here's part of a great article defending Scott Ritter, written during the run-up to war. Notice it was published in the foreign press. The powers that be here in the U.S. didn't want people questioning the wisdom or purpose of attacking Iraq. Just sheep.


http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0912-02.htm

Published on Thursday, September 12, 2002 in the Toronto Star
CNN's Hatchet Job on Scott Ritter
Media smear ex-Marine for seeking answers on Iraq

by Antonia Zerbisias


<snip>

You couldn't flip a channel on Sunday without catching one of the Bush bunch, including wife Laura, Powell, vice-president Dick Cheney, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and National Security adviser Condoleeza Rice, promoting an attack on Iraq as if they were actors flogging their latest project on Leno and Letterman.

Certainly, the line of questioning was no more tough. Nowhere was any of them asked seriously, if at all, about such trivia as the costs of a war, or what, if anything, is known about connections between Al Qaeda and Saddam, or what proof there is that Iraq has the ability to make and deliver nuclear weapons, or why that country as opposed to others, or what oil has to do with it, or how Cheney justifies his former business dealings with the regime he now so desperately wants to change ...

Still the demonization of Ritter continued. First CNN had on its own news chief, Eason Jordan, who had just returned from Baghdad where he was bagging the rights to cover the war. (Imagine the ratings!) He dismissed Ritter with a "Well, Scott Ritter's chameleon-like behaviour has really bewildered a lot of people..." and a "Well, U.S. officials no longer give Scott Ritter much credibility..."

The network followed up with more interviews vilifying Ritter, neither of which cut to the heart of the matter: Why declare war? On what grounds? At what cost? Ritter was characterized as "misguided," "disloyal" and "an apologist for and a defender of Saddam Hussein." By Monday, professional hairdo Paula Zahn told viewers Ritter had "drunk Saddam Hussein's Kool-Aid." Over on MSNBC, Curtis & Kuby co-host Curtis Sliwa compared him to "a sock puppet" who "oughta turn in his passport for an Iraqi one." But the nadir came later on CNN when makeup job Kyra Phillips interrogated him, implying that he was being paid by Iraq —and all but calling him a quisling.

"Ha! Excuse me; I went to war against Saddam Hussein in 1991. I spent seven years of my life in this country hunting down weapons of mass destruction. I believe I've done a0 lot about Saddam Hussein," he replied. "You show me where Saddam Hussein can be substantiated as a threat against the United States and I'll go to war again. I'm not going to sit back idly and let anybody threaten the United States. But at this point in time, no one has made a case based upon facts that Saddam Hussein or his government is a threat to the United States worthy of war." Maybe today, in his speech to the United Nations, Bush will make that case. Maybe not. Whatever happens, the list of cowards and traitors here won't include Scott Ritter.

<snip>

[underpants]

13. Their efforts to ruin him followed the playbook to a "T"

They set him up and painted him as a child predator with absolutely nothing to back it up. The charges were filed and Ritter was vilified. The fact that both charges were thrown out of court immediately did not matter at that point. Disgraceful BUT they did let him live, a fate better than most who dare speak out loud against W and that crowd.

[dsc]

16. The charges weren't thrown out

He accepted supervision in lieu of prosecution. That is a massive difference. The event in question also happened well before the Iraq War.

[Blower]

12. EXACTLY! n/t

[Doctor Panacea]

14. More on Ritter

Before the beginning of this ill-conceived and disastrous war, I saw Scott Ritter in a real interview of some kind. He talked about his views at great length, and the environment was a friendly one. Maybe it was Book TV.

He said something to the effect that the U.S. would never be able to take and hold Iraq. I wish I could remember the exact quote.

This has turned out to be true also. We are there, but the place is a sewer of hostility and violence with no end in sight.

I have thought, on many occasions, "Yep, he was right."