Scott Ritter appeared on C-Span on Aug. 1, 2002, seven months before the Iraq invasion, to argue Iraq was no threat to the U.S. and that the Bush administration needed to prove it before taking the country to war.
Scott Ritter on C-Span, August 2002. (C-Span screenshot)
Ritter, the U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998, called then Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Joe Biden’s hearings on Iraq a “sham” that did not provide a objective debate required by the Senate’s constitutional mandate to oversee executive policy. Ritter said that Iraq had been 90 to 95 percent disarmed of weapons of mass destruction and lacked the capacity to reconstitute a nuclear, biological or chemical weapons program. Without evidence of such WMDs there was no case for war, Ritter said.
We definitely need to learn the lessons of the Iraq war. Here are three highly relevant articles from a high-quality website of news and analysis.
The lies and conspiracy theories from neocon ‘crazies’ that fueled Iraq war are subject of new history
hXXps://mondoweiss.net/2021/05/the-lies-and-conspiracy-theories-from-neocon-crazies-that-fueled-iraq-war-are-subject-of-new-history/
Why invent conspiracies when you have the neocons starting the Iraq war
hXXps://mondoweiss.net/2021/01/why-invent-conspiracies-when-you-have-the-neocons-starting-the-iraq-war-heather-cox-richardson/
I promise you all this stuff is going to come out, about the Jewish neocons and Iraq
hXXps://mondoweiss.net/2008/12/i-promise-you-all-this-stuff-is-going-to-come-out-about-the-jewish-neocons-and-iraq/
Today we have reporters and analysts apparently baffled by the apparent irrationality of America’s foreign policies, especially regarding the war in Ukraine. The policies literally make no sense with respect to America’s national interests. So it makes sense to ask – who is in charge and what are their interests?
The obvious implication is that Secretary of State Blinken is in charge of foreign policy. His chief assistant is Victoria Nuland, operational director of the overthrow of Ukraine’s elected government in 2014. Another prominent player would be Jake Sullivan, the presidents national security advisor. All of them are Neocons.
If we look at the cold, hard facts, it appears that Blinken’s top priorities include supporting Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians, and supporting Zelensky’s ethnic cleansing of Ukrainians en route to his announced goal of a “Big Israel” in Ukraine.
Zelensky and NATO plan to transform post-war Ukraine into ‘a big Israels’
hXXps://thegrayzone.com/2022/09/17/zelensky-nato-ukraine-big-israel/
This may seem like a harsh appraisal, but the facts are harsh. We ignore them at our peril.
On paper, America sounds like a dream for a nation. In practice—America is a sad sight for what is said to be a democracy. It is tragic that America ignores Scott Ritter.
Even today, some in Congress are more interested in starving poor Americans and their families—but nations needing war supplies ( aka Ukraine)……. it is sad that the Biden government seems more interested in aiding Ukraine , rather than helping its own citizens. Biden, Blinken and Nuland are not the least bit helpful—and the direction this nation seems to be going towards is down, down and further down.
My nation is I see , land of hypocrisy—and how will this end?
Another important voice against the war was Sen. Byrd:
hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxWfawiufK0
He was probably the most important opponent of the invasion in Congress. I didn’t agree with everything he said, but admired his eloquence. What is absurd about the claim that the accusations that Iraq had WMD was a “mistake” is that those claims were thoroughly debunked by speeches in Congress no less. Even members of Congress are not given space at the New York Times or Washington Post, if they don’t support war.
How refreshing to witness Mr. Ritter’s tenatious and unstinting conviction to reveal the truth in the intervening years between this 2002 interview and his interviews today. It doesn’t appear that 21 years has passed. (Or that “joe public” has become any wiser to the machinations and lies of politicians.)
Well said, Vera!
Supposedly, 18 of the so-called hijackers were Saudi Arabians and not Afghans or Iraqis.
Hussein wanted to sell oil for Euros rather than US dollars. The same with Libya
Neither country did us no harm, so it was a “crime of aggression,” one of the charges used to convict some of the Nazis in Nuremberg.
Mr. Ritter has been standing up for what’s right for so many years that I am dismayed that his wisdom and dedication to the principles of the U.S. has been vilified by those who run this country.
If not a single country that the US has attacked/invaded were completely devoid of natural resources…the US would have totally ignored it. America is a disgrace to the entire human kind.