JAPAN: SCOTT RITTER, A FORMER U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR, SAYS THAT U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL WILL NOT PRODUCE EVIDENCE TO SHOW THAT IRAQ IS HIDING BANNED WEAPONS

Record ID: 334086

  • Title: JAPAN: SCOTT RITTER, A FORMER U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR, SAYS THAT U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL WILL NOT PRODUCE EVIDENCE TO SHOW THAT IRAQ IS HIDING BANNED WEAPONS
  • Date: 5th February 2003
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (FEBRUARY 5, 2003)(REUTERS) 1. LV FORMER U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR SCOTT RITTER STANDING UP TO ADDRESS A NEWS CONFERENCE 0.11 2. SV REPORTERS 0.16 3. MCU (English) SCOTT RITTER SAYING: "Already the State Department is backing away from any notion that Colin Powell will present a smoking gun. He's going to present circumstantial evidence that packaged together and presented will make a compelling case that inspections don't work, inspections can't work, that Iraq is actively conspiring against inspections, thereby, denigrating the efficacy of inspections, while the world waits for inspectors to do their job. The purpose of Colin Powell's presentation tomorrow is to destroy international trust and confidence in weapons inspections and that is a darn shame." 0.50 4. SV/LV OF NEWS CONFERENCE (2 SHOTS) 0.59 5. MCU (English) SCOTT RITTER SAYING: "The United States will seek to compel the Security Council into passing a new resolution, if the Security Council fails to do so the United States will go it alone with its narrow coalition and I see a massive aerial bombardment beginning by the end of February, I see ground troops in significant numbers crossing over into Iraq by early March, and I don't see this war finishing anytime soon. While we may occupy Baghdad sometime in June, we'll be occupying Iraq for months, if not years. It will be an occupation that will be carried out with the violent opposition of the Iraqi people and I see an increase in the acts of anti-American terror abroad. I think an American invasion of Iraq is the best recruitment poster that Osama bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda will ever have" 1.45 6. CU REPORTER LOOKING AT DOCUMENTS 1.54 7. LV OF NEWS CONFERENCE 1.59 8. MCU (English) SCOTT RIDDER SAYING: "After Iraq, North Korea will be next and it will not be a policy of disarmament but a policy of regime removal. And North Korea, having seen the United States eliminate or terminate Iraq in violation of international law, is not going to wait for the Americans to come. In fact today, you see in the newspapers that the president has put B52 bombers on alert in Guam to 'hold North Korea accountable". Well, North Korea may very well put some ballistic missiles with nuclear weapons on alert. Where do you think the targets are going to be? Do you think they are going to simply satisfy themselves with annihilating 37,000 American troops in the demilitarized zone? No. Think they are going to satisfy themselves with annihilating Seoul? No. They won't be satisfied until Tokyo is reduced to a slab of radioactive waste" 2.43 9. CU/PAN MORE OF NEWS CONFERENCE (2 SHOTS) 2.56 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 20th February 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: TOKYO, JAPAN
  • Country: Japan
  • Reuters ID: LVA8OCJBXKVTA2HI5KPIJV2B81ZT
  • Story Text: A former U.N. weapons inspector and outspoken critic of
    U.S. policy on Iraq has said in Tokyo that U.S. Secretary of
    State Colin Powell would not produce evidence to show that
    Iraq is hiding banned weapons and that a war could break out
    within the month.



    Scott Ritter, a former U.N. weapons inspector and
    outspoken critic of U.S. policy on Iraq told reporters in
    Tokyo on Wednesday (February 4) that U.S. Secretary of State
    Colin Powell would not be able to provide evidence which would
    prove Iraq was hiding banned weapons.

    Powell is due to give a presentation at the U.N. Security
    Council at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT) in an attempt to persuade
    the world that Iraq is concealing weapons of mass destruction.

    Russia, China and France, which have powers of veto, are
    uncertain about a war that might spark more instability in the
    Middle East.

    "Already the State Department is backing away from any
    notion that Colin Powell will present a smoking gun," said
    Ritter, a former U.S. Marine who spent seven years as a
    weapons inspector in Iraq in the 1990s.

    "He's going to present circumstantial evidence that
    packaged together and presented will make a compelling case
    that inspections don't work, inspections can't work, that Iraq
    is actively conspiring against inspections, thereby, denigrating
    the efficacy of inspections, while the world waits for
    inspectors to do their job. The purpose of Colin Powell's
    presentation tomorrow is to destroy international trust and
    confidence in weapons inspections and that is a darn shame,"
    he added.

    Ritter said he expected attacks on Iraq to start within
    the month, by a small coalition led by the United States and
    the fighting would not be short-term.

    "The United States will seek to compel the Security
    Council into passing a new resolution, if the Security Council
    fails to do so the United States will go it alone with its
    narrow coalition and I see a massive aerial bombardment
    beginning by the end of February, I see ground troops in
    significant numbers crossing over into Iraq by the early
    March, and I don't see this war finishing anytime soon," he
    said.

    Fighting in Iraq was likely to be brutal and would in turn
    spark violence towards Americans abroad.

    "While we may occupy Baghdad sometime in June, we'll be
    occupying Iraq for months, if not years. It will be an
    occupation that will be carried out with the violent
    opposition of the Iraqi people and I see an increase in the
    acts of anti-American terror abroad. I think an American
    invasion of Iraq is the best recruitment poster that Osama
    bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda will ever have," Ritter added.

    He said an attack on Iraq might also alarm the isolated
    state of North Korea into a pre-emptive strike on U.S. troops
    and their allies in Asia.

    "After Iraq, North Korea will be next and it will not be a
    policy of disarmament but a policy of regime removal. And
    North Korea, having seen the United States eliminate or
    terminate Iraq in violation of international law, is not
    going to wait for the Americans to come," Ritter said.

    "In fact today, you see in the newspapers that the
    president has put B52 bombers on alert in Guam to 'hold North
    Korea accountable'. Well, North Korea may very well put some
    ballistic missiles with nuclear weapons on alert. Where do you
    think the targets are going to be? Do you think they are going
    to simply satisfy themselves with annihilating 37,000 American
    troops in the demilitarized zone? No. Think they are going to
    satisfy themselves with annihilating Seoul? No. They won't be
    satisfied until Tokyo is reduced to a slab of radioactive
    waste," he said.

    The United States reported last autumn that Pyongyang had
    admitted to possessing weapons of mass destruction. North
    Korea withdrew from a nuclear non-proliferation treaty last
    month and ordered U.N. atomic energy inspectors out of the
    country.

    Some U.S. bombers, fighter jets and warships have been put
    on alert for possible deployment to the western Pacific to
    deter any aggression by North Korea in the event of a war in
    Iraq.


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