Scott Ritter making his view felt. Difficult to ignore a guy who was at the center of arms inspection. See the emboldened paragraph. This is a serious statement. The 9/11 tragedy demands the true culprits to be bought to justice. I was thinking that Bush and Blair were sitting on some evidence that Iraq was directly involved...now I doubt it.
Ex-arms inspector defends Iraq
news.bbc.co.uk
Ritter once led weapons inspections
A former head of UN weapons inspectors in Iraq, Scott Ritter, has condemned the US campaign to oust the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein during an address to parliament in Baghdad.
Mr Ritter, an American, said his government had "set forth on a policy of unilateral intervention that runs contrary to the letter and intent of the UN charter".
Iraq is not a sponsor of the kind of terror perpetrated against the US on September 11
Scott Ritter
He said there was no evidence that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, but said the only way to avoid a war was for Baghdad to allow unfettered access to UN inspectors.
As a prominent American who opposes a US strike on Iraq, Mr Ritter's visit is a boost to the regime in Baghdad.
His visit comes as the US President George Bush steps up his efforts to persuade other world leaders to back military action to oust Saddam Hussein.
Spying accusations
Mr Ritter said Iraq was not a sponsor of the kind of terror perpetrated against the United States on 11 September.
Ritter has challenged claims that Iraq is still a major threat
In fact, he said, Baghdad was "active in suppressing the sort of fundamentalist extremism that characterises those who attacked the US on that horrible day".
The former weapons inspector said there was no proof that Iraq, as Washington claims, possesses weapons of mass destruction or was seeking to acquire them.
During the seven years the UN was allowed to carry out inspections, Iraq had been certified as being disarmed to a 90-95% level.
Mr Ritter was not always popular with the Iraqi authorities - as head of the inspection team until 1998, he was renowned for his tough line and intrusive searches.
But he later accused Washington of using the UN mission to spy on Iraq. He has since been a vocal critic of US policy.
Iraqi warning
The crucial question now is whether Iraq will invite the current UN weapons inspectors back.
Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz said Iraq might consider doing so, but only as part of what he called a comprehensive settlement.
But, speaking in Jordan on Saturday, Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said the Americans did not care about inspections.
What they wanted was a change of the political regime - but their ambitions would be smashed, he declared, at the gates of Iraq. |
