Posted on 02/14/2003 6:54:08 AM PST by 1Old Pro
Ritter calls Bush threat to U.S.
Albany-- WAMC audience unconcerned about former arms inspector's 2001 arrest
By ALAN WECHSLER, Staff writer
First published: Friday, February 14, 2003
Speaking for the first time in the Capital Region since news of his arrest on sex charges broke last month, former arms inspector Scott Ritter continued his crusade against a war with Iraq at the WAMC Performing Arts Studio on Thursday.
Speaking for a half-hour and answering written questions from the audience during a live broadcast, Ritter said the biggest enemy to democracy was not Iraq or al-Qaida. It was, he said, the administration of President Bush.
"There is no other nation that is even close," he said.
Ritter, 41, of Delmar, has been the nation's loudest opponent of the war. But earlier this year it seemed his days as a spokesman for peace might be numbered when news broke of his arrest in Colonie in 2001.
Ritter was charged with trying to rendezvous with a teenage girl he met on an Internet chat line who was actually an undercover detective. Police charged Ritter with attempted endangerment of a child, but the case was adjourned in contemplation of dismissal and later sealed.
Asked about the case Thursday, Ritter said that it has hurt his credibility. Before the charges were known, he often commented for U.S. media. Today, television news and newspapers from around the world call him -- but he has been shunned by American television news, he said.
"My credibility has been brought into question, and it shouldn't be," he said. "I'm an expert on Iraq."
He also gave an idea of what he and his family -- he has a wife and two young children -- have been through since the charges were publicized.
"This has been a nightmare for my family. A living hell," he said.
But few in the audience of more than 200 seemed concerned about the sex charges.
"I just want to hear the message," said Bob Hoff of Clifton Park. "He was wronged. The American people were at a loss here."
Ritter served as a United Nations weapons inspector for seven years, searching for weapons in Iraq until 1998. In September, Ritter visited Iraq to urge Saddam Hussein to allow inspectors back into the country.
Ritter offered comments familiar to anyone who has heard any of the dozens of speeches he has made in the region since Sept. 11, 2001. He continues to travel the country and abroad, talking about Iraq and why the United States should not invade.
On Thursday, he said that Iraqi citizens should be expected to stand up for their nation just as Soviet citizens stood up to Hitler in 1941, in spite of decades of horrible treatment under the hands of Joseph Stalin.
"We will win the war," he said. "But the war could be long. The war could be awful. And the war could be bloody."
Ritter said any chemical or biological weapons Iraq might have created would have been rendered ineffective by time and shoddy storage. He said the country could still have the capacity to make more weapons, but so far no evidence of this has been found. He discounted the evidence released last week by Secretary of State Colin Powell.
"There's no reason for us to be going to war," he said. "Iraq does not pose a threat to America worthy of a single American life."
Good idea. Probably should also warn that post is not appropriate for children either.
How interesting, the airing of the charges has been the "nightmare" for him -- implying this whole episode dropped out of the sky and hit him on the head like a piece of Columbia debris. Of course he he absolutely nothing to do with the charges in the first place . . . .
Typical thinking of criminals and sociopaths.
HE was wronged???? What if your daughter was the 14-year old the pervert had lured to the Burger King?
sheesh
Not even close. Phil Donahue, Jeanine Gorolofofoflolo, Sean Penn, even Dave Matthews all get more attention than Bitter Ritter.
Thanks for the laugh.
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