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Ah, maybe his conversion was well before June 1999, judging by this. Scott Ritter is a certifiable "UN uber alles" nut even by this point, perhaps, and had they known of it would have been a warning sign for Republicans. Did he say this then? Or later? I think so but I don't know. Even now this sort of thinking should be addressed in the event that the troops are becoming confused about our relationship to the UN, which is easy for them to be since our politicians seem confused about it, too. I would think his oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the US would lead him to report everyhting he learned that could be a threat to the interests of the US US even if his UN obligations demanded otherwise- and since our troops were still on patrol, everything he saw would be important. Intead, he assumed his job was to maintain the ceasefire for the sake of his twisted idea of "peace," and not to inspect to see if Iraq was breaking the terms of the cease fire.

DECEMBER 15, 1998 : (UNSCOM WITHDRAWS DUE TO IRAQI NONCOMPLIANCE) UNSCOM weapons inspectors withdraw from Iraq, saying Saddam has not delivered the unfettered access he promised, rendering the team unable to perform their mission.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor

DECEMBER 15, 1998 : (UNSCOM DISBANDED)

This would anger Ritter, too. He thought he WAS UNSCOM.

DECEMBER 16 - 20, 1998 : (OPERATION DESERT FOX, RITTER) On Dec. 16, 1998, the United States, with British support, launched Operation Desert Fox, four days of bombing. With the Clinton administration finally hammering Saddam, one might have expected Ritter to be elated, but in fact, he thought it a travesty. Desert Fox had come without the approval of the Security Council. In Ritter-think, America was bound to the United Nations by treaty, and treaties were backed by the United States Constitution. ''We've broken the law and compromised our morality,'' he says. Besides, speaking as a Marine intelligence officer, he also thought the operation nothing more than a futile pinprick. If they wanted to bomb, they should have hit Saddam for a full 60 days. ''I could've shown them the targets,'' he says. - "Scott Ritter's Iraq Complex: One man's continuing war with Saddam, Washington -- and himself ," by Barry Bearak, New York Times Magazine, November 24, 2002

An interesting tidbit about Desert Fox was it was not the best of missions we carried out... some considered it a failure since it hit few targets. But it was during Desert Fox, when a corner of a building's roof was blown off, that the CIA discovered Iraq had fitted aircraft with crop-dusting equipment.

Here is what else was going during and after Operation Desert Fox:

1998 (near year's end) : (AFGHANISTAN, IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO TURKEY, HIJAZI, MET WITH BIN LADEN IN KANDAHAR ) The source added that Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which has now effectively merged with al-Qaeda, maintained regular contacts with Iraq for many years. He confirmed the claims first made by the Iraqi National Congress - that towards the end of 1998, Farouk Hijazi, Iraq's ambassador to Turkey and a key member of the Mukhabarat leadership - went to Kandahar in Afghanistan, where he met bin Laden.

DECEMBER 18, 1998 : (SOUTH KOREA SINKS NORTH KOREAN SPY SUB) The South Korean navy sinks submersible North Korean spy vessel, with one frogman found dead in the Sea of Japan east of the Korean peninsula. http://asia.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/06/29/korea.navy.timeline.reut/

DECEMBER 19, 1998 : (CHANG, DNC, MCAULIFFE, TORICELLI) Mr. Chang attends holiday dinner at the White House with 465 other guests.

DECEMBER 20, 1998 : (OPERATION DESERT FOX ENDS) End of Desert Fox, a 72-hour operation. Clinton says more may follow.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor

DECEMBER 23?, 1998 : (BIN LADEN TIME INTERVIEW, FATWA, SOMALIA) Usama Bin Laden was asked by Time magazine whether he was responsible fo rthe August 1998 attacks. He replied:

"The International Islamic Jihad Front for the Jihad against the US and Israel has, by the grace of God, issued a crystal clear fatwah calling on the Islamic nation to carry on Jihad aimed at liberating the holy sites. the nation of Mohammed has responded to this appeal. If intigation for jihad against the Jews and the Americans... is considered to be a crime, then let history be a witness that I am a criminal. Our job is to instigate and, by the grace of God, we did that, and certain people responded tot his instigation."

He was asked if he knew the attackers:

"...those who risked their lives to earn the pleasure of God are real men. They managed to rid the Islamic nation of disgrace. We hold them in the highest esteem. "

And what the US could expect of him:

"...any thief or criminal who enters another country to steal should expect to be exposed to murder at any time... The US knows that I have attacked it, by the grace of God, for more than ten years now... God knows that we have been pleased by the killing of American soldiers (in Somalia in 1993.) This was achieved by the grace of God and the efforts of the mujahadeen... Hostility towards America is a religious duty and we hope to be rewarded for it by God. I am confident that Muslims will be able to end the legend of the so-called superpower that is America. "