[Media-watch] Ritter says US plans to attack Iran in June - UFPPC - 19/02/2005

[Julie-ann Davies]

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 NEWS: Scott Ritter says US attack on Iran planned for June

 Written by Mark Jensen

      Saturday, 19 February 2005

      On Friday evening in Olympia, former UNSCOM weapons inspector Scott 
Ritter appeared with journalist Dahr Jamail.  --  Ritter made two shocking 
claims: George W. Bush has "signed off" on plans to bomb Iran in June 2005, 
and the U.S. manipulated the results of the Jan. 30 elections in Iraq....
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      SCOTT RITTER SAYS U.S. PLANS JUNE ATTACK ON IRAN, 'COOKED' JAN. 30 
IRAQI ELECTION RESULTS
      By Mark Jensen

      United for Peace of Pierce County (WA)
      February 19, 2005

      Scott Ritter, appearing with journalist Dahr Jamail yesterday in 
Washington State, dropped two shocking bombshells in a talk delivered to a 
packed house in Olympia's Capitol Theater. The ex-Marine turned UNSCOM 
weapons inspector said that George W. Bush has "signed off" on plans to bomb 
Iran in June 2005, and claimed the U.S. manipulated the results of the 
recent Jan. 30 elections in Iraq.

      Olympians like to call the Capitol Theater "historic," but it's 
doubtful whether the eighty-year-old edifice has ever been the scene of more 
portentous revelations.

      The principal theme of Scott Ritter's talk was Americans' duty to 
protect the U.S. Constitution by taking action to bring an end to the 
illegal war in Iraq. But in passing, the former UNSCOM weapons inspector 
stunned his listeners with two pronouncements. Ritter said plans for a June 
attack on Iran have been submitted to President George W. Bush, and that the 
president has approved them. He also asserted that knowledgeable sources say 
U.S. officials "cooked" the results of the Jan. 30 elections in Iraq.

      On Iran, Ritter said that President George W. Bush has received and 
signed off on orders for an aerial attack on Iran planned for June 2005. Its 
purported goal is the destruction of Iran's alleged program to develop 
nuclear weapons, but Ritter said neoconservatives in the administration also 
expected that the attack would set in motion a chain of events leading to 
regime change in the oil-rich nation of 70 million -- a possibility Ritter 
regards with the greatest skepticism.

      The former Marine also said that the Jan. 30 elections, which George 
W. Bush has called "a turning point in the history of Iraq, a milestone in 
the advance of freedom," were not so free after all. Ritter said that U.S. 
authorities in Iraq had manipulated the results in order to reduce the 
percentage of the vote received by the United Iraqi Alliance from 56% to 
48%.

      Asked by UFPPC's Ted Nation about this shocker, Ritter said an 
official involved in the manipulation was the source, and that this would 
soon be reported by a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist in a major 
metropolitan magazine -- an obvious allusion to New Yorker reporter Seymour 
M. Hersh.

      On Jan. 17, the New Yorker posted an article by Hersh entitled The 
Coming Wars (New Yorker, January 24-31, 2005). In it, the well-known 
investigative journalist claimed that for the Bush administration, "The next 
strategic target [is] Iran." Hersh also reported that "The Administration 
has been conducting secret reconnaissance missions inside Iran at least 
since last summer." According to Hersh, "Defense Department civilians, under 
the leadership of Douglas Feith, have been working with Israeli planners and 
consultants to develop and refine potential nuclear, chemical-weapons, and 
missile targets inside Iran. . . . Strategists at the headquarters of the 
U.S. Central Command, in Tampa, Florida, have been asked to revise the 
military's war plan, providing for a maximum ground and air invasion of 
Iran. . . . The hawks in the Administration believe that it will soon become 
clear that the Europeans' negotiated approach [to Iran] cannot succeed, and 
that at that time the Administration will act."

      Scott Ritter said that although the peace movement failed to stop the 
war in Iraq, it had a chance to stop the expansion of the war to other 
nations like Iran and Syria. He held up the specter of a day when the Iraq 
war might be remembered as a relatively minor event that preceded an even 
greater conflagration.

      Scott Ritter's talk was the culmination of a long evening devoted to 
discussion of Iraq and U.S. foreign policy. Before Ritter spoke, Dahr Jamail 
narrated a slide show on Iraq focusing on Fallujah. He showed more than a 
hundred vivid photographs taken in Iraq, mostly by himself. Many of them 
showed the horrific slaughter of civilians.

      Dahr Jamail argued that U.S. mainstream media sources are complicit in 
the war and help sustain support for it by deliberately downplaying the 
truth about the devastation and death it is causing.

      Jamail was, until recently, one of the few unembedded journalists in 
Iraq and one of the only independent ones. His reports have gained a 
substantial following and are available online at dahrjamailiraq.com.

      Friday evening's event in Olympia was sponsored by South Puget Sound 
Community College's Student Activities Board, Veterans for Peace, 100 
Thousand and Counting, Olympia Movement for Justice & Peace, and United for 
Peace of Pierce County.

      -- 

      NOTE: Dahr Jamail will make three more appearances in the Puget Sound 
area this weekend: (1) SATURDAY, FEB. 19, 7:00 p.m., at the Kirkland 
Congregational Church, 106 5th Avenue, Kirkland WA. Admission $5 --  
Sponsored by Evergreen Peace & Justice; (2) SUNDAY, FEB. 20, 1:00 p.m. at 
the Vashon Land Trust. Vashon Islanders for Peace will be hosting Dahr 
Jamail and Bert Sacks on the subject of Exit Strategies from Iraq; (3) 
SUNDAY, FEB. 20, 7:30 p.m. at UW Kane Hall, Room 120. Hosted by the 
Interfaith Network Of Concern for the people of Iraq (INOC), the University 
of Washington -- Department of Communication, the Iraqi Community Center of 
Seattle (ICCS), and the United Nations Association, Seattle.

      NOTE TO MEDIA: This piece has generated considerable public and media 
interest, receiving 23,633 hits as of 11:00 p.m., Feb. 21, and causing the 
UFPPC web site to crash several times on Monday. -- Dennis Miller of 
Veterans for Peace suggests reporters seeking to reach Scott Ritter contact 
Dan Leahy of Evergreen College at leahyd at evergreen.edu

      ADDENDUM: Scott Ritter spoke on KIRO 710 radio this evening, Feb. 21; 
I am told by Bob Rudolph of UFPPC and Veterans of Peace that he repeated the 
substance of what he said in Olympia on Feb. 18 .

      --Mark Jensen is a member of United for Peace of Pierce County.


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      Last Updated ( Tuesday, 22 February 2005 )