Home > SCOTT RITTER SAYS U.S. PLANS JUNE ATTACK ON IRAN, ‘COOKED’ JAN. 30 IRAQI (…)

SCOTT RITTER SAYS U.S. PLANS JUNE ATTACK ON IRAN, ‘COOKED’ JAN. 30 IRAQI ELECTION RESULTS

by Open-Publishing - Monday 21 February 2005
10 comments

Edito Wars and conflicts International USA

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.

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/2295/2/

Forum posts

  • Yes, Iran is soon, however the recent assasination of Lebanese leader Hariri [most likely by Israeli-US operatives] portends a dramatic shift in that Syria is likely to be attacked first using the Hariri assasination to blame Syria and throwing in any other babbling lies that Bush, Rice & Co can come up with to support the ongoing genocidal slaughter throughout the middle east. Then when Syria, Iran and possibly Egypt are dealt with, Russia, China, Nth Korea are on the list.
    WW3 will well and truly be visiting each and every one of us. [most recent elections, the US, Ukraine, Iraq, Australia etc, were rigged in one way or another in order to guarantee the smooth succession of powerbases needed to pull off the master plans] The draft will become essential to feed the military machine and the world’s economy will have collapsed by then ensuring the desired "total chaos" envisaged by Brzezinski, Kissinger et al in their long-held, demonic goals for the future domination of the planet.

  • Thank you Scott Ritter for doing the right thing instead of taking some money to hush your mouth. The only thing the people of this world can do to protect themselves is to not give their hard earned money to the tax/war machine. Each person who can see the truth should find ways to withhold tax money from the machine. They need to find tax deductions to the tune of a zero tax liability and this is easy, the tax codes allow for anyone to spend all of their money on a company or business related expense, So everyone shoud open a business and make sure that all of your money is spent in keeping that business going. DO NOT give anything to the government. If the rich people don’t have to pay any taxes, then the poor people should follow their lead and not pay any either. When the criminals do not have any money to wage their aggression then there will be a chance for peace.

    • Rather than "opening a Business" to deny the government your tax money, which is impractical, I suggest that people make a pledge to themselves to SHOW UP at the next anti-war protest in their area and not think that SOMEONE ELSE will do it. ACT and THINK as if the success of stopping the Bush junta depends on YOU. Embrace and transform the Army’s "catchy" recruitment slogan that YOU are an army of one. There is strength in numbers.

    • The US, indeed the world financial system is technically bankrupt, hence what is going on with endless wars to pillage and loot the world’s resources [one of the key reasons for the wars although not the only one] and the attempt to loot the US social security money is the next desperate "last ditch" attempt after the housing and stockmarket booms to prop up a collapsing economy.

      FIGHT THE SOCIAL SECURITY ISSUE - ITS THE ONE IMMEDIATE CHANCE TO DISABLE BUSH AND BRING THAT ADMINISTRATION DOWN.

    • If this scenario is going to happen, then Karl Marx’s foresight was really great. But serious:
      the capitalist system is already going down the aile, because the authorities fail to provide
      work and living resources for a growing number of people.

    • correct - via the fascist fiscal policies forced on the world by the likes of George Schultz - the United States - once a great industrial nation - has been forced into a ruined state, unable to take care of its citizens and unable to bring itself out of financial ruin because all its vital manufacturing and industrial infrastructre has been decimated.

  • IS THIS TRUE? If so, what are the possible ramnifications?

    "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%."

    • Allawi the American favoured PM lost in the Iraqi election and he is trying to gain power. As he can
      not find partners in the current political parties he might get already desperate and soon we will
      here more about strange attacks on Shia or even Kurdish coalitions.
      The Americans were not able to influence the outcome of the election, because they don’t understand Iraqi culture and history so they have to do something in the aftermath.
      The pressure on Iran is one measurement!

  • sounds like viet nam all over again.america will not get out of there until we have lost enough people to get sick of it and some future president says enough.

    • Worse than Vietnam. Think back to how Germany behaved - they didn’t suddenly invade a whole bunch of countries. No, it was more gradual than that and seemed acceptable to many in the early years. Invade Iraq, follow up with Iran, maybe move on to Syria ... pretty soon the U.S. will think it owns the Middle East. All done based on some imagined threat to our security.