Former inspector rails against war in Iraq, warns of terrorism

Описание: (5 Feb 2003) SHOTLIST
1. Wide shot news briefing
2. Cutaway journalists
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Scott Ritter, Former UN Weapons Inspector:
"The United States doesn't want Iraq disarmed. The United States want Saddam Hussein gone. And they're using disarmament to facilitate the elimination of Saddam Hussein. The weapons inspectors have sadly been useful to the United States in so far as they enable the continuation of economic sanctions, assist in the destabilisation of Saddam Hussein, and facilitate the collection of intelligence information about the security of Saddam Hussein. None of this is authorised under Security Council resolutions. All of it deviates from the mandated task of disarmament and all the overall effect is to pollute the integrity of the inspection operation."
4. Cutaway journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Scott Ritter, Former UN Weapons Inspector:
"What are the motives of Colin Powell in making this presentation? He is not going to make a clear cut case that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. Already the state department is backing away from the notion that Colin Powell is going to 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, that 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's a darn shame."
6. Cutaways journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Scott Ritter, Former UN Weapons Inspector:
"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 al-Qaida could ever have and this is going to lead to war without end."
8. Wide shot news briefing
9. Mid shot Ritter on stage

STORYLINE

Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter warned on Wednesday that an American invasion of Iraq could lead to war without end and accused the US of manipulating inspections.

Speaking at the Japan's Foreign Correspondent's club in Tokyo, he blasted the US case against Iraq, claiming it was based on circumstantial evidence and warned that invading the country could lead to a "war without end".

He added that any action in the region could trigger a global backlash of terrorist attacks against US targets.

The remarks came just hours before US Secretary of State Colin Powell was set to present the UN Security Council a detailed argument on the disarmament of Iraq.

Ritter, a former Gulf War veteran who worked on UN weapons inspections in Iraq from 1991 to 1998, said the United States was giving up on inspections too soon.

He said that the purpose of Powell's presentation was not make a clear case against Iraq but to destroy international trust in the inspections teams.

According to Ritter, up to 95 percent of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction had been confirmed destroyed by the end of his tenure and the country has had no industrial base to rearm since - a claim about which many are sceptical.

Ritter argued that US President George W. Bush wants to undercut the inspections process because his true aim is not the disarmament of Iraq but the removal of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Ritter is scheduled to leave Japan on Friday for a seminar in the United Arab Emirates.

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