[Marxism] Fw: Scott Ritter - "US attack on Iran planned for June, , U.S. Cooked Iraqi 'El

[davidquarter@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

On 21 Feb 2005 at 11:36, mart wrote:

PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY!

Scott Ritter - "US attack on Iran planned
for June" "U.S. Cooked Iraqi 'Election'
results"

======================================
----- Original Message -----
From: NC4P@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2005 10:51 AM
Subject: Scott Ritter "US attack on Iran planned
for June"

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

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....

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. For more information, contact: Kate Hunter,
206-463-5117; (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.
For more information contact the Rev. Richard Gamble
at Keystone United Church of Christ 206 632-6021.

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

Last Updated ( Saturday, 19 February 2005 )



_______________________________________________
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism