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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.
What do u think guys?
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.
What do u think guys?
...CHON AMERICA VASAT HAST MAN GHOLAME AAKHOONDAA HASTAM
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