I thank you Ranger for giving us some insight into how you come to your conclusion.
Though I have to side with roachboy here and say that you are putting effect before the cause. Congress aproved military action against Iraq on October 11, 2002. The quotes you posted date from a time when most of the key players would have already been on board with milliatary action. Why did
they see Iraq as a threat? Because they were told so by the white house.
Now concerning Scott Ritter's coments, here is his own answer:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Time Magazine, Posted Saturday, Sep. 14, 2002
Time: In 1998, you said Saddam had "not nearly disarmed." Now you say he doesn't have weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Why did you change your mind?
Ritter: I have never given Iraq a clean bill of health! Never! Never! I've said that no one has backed up any allegations that Iraq has reconstituted WMD capability with anything that remotely resembles substantive fact. To say that Saddam's doing it is in total disregard to the fact that if he gets caught he's a dead man and he knows it. Deterrence has been adequate in the absence of inspectors but this is not a situation that can succeed in the long term. In the long term you have to get inspectors back in.
Time: Iraq's borders are porous. Why couldn't Saddam have obtained the capacity to produce WMD since 1998 when the weapons inspectors left?
Ritter: I am more aware than any UN official that Iraq has set up covert procurement funds to violate sanctions. This was true in 1997-1998, and I'm sure its true today. Of course Iraq can do this. The question is, has someone found that what Iraq has done goes beyond simple sanctions violations? We have tremendous capabilities to detect any effort by Iraq to obtain prohibited capability. The fact that no one has shown that he has acquired that capability doesn't necessarily translate into incompetence on the part of the intelligence community. It may mean that he hasn't done anything.
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Conerning clinton's remarks here is the full quote
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Remarks by Bill Clinton to Pentagon personnel, February 17, 1998
In the next century, the community of nations may see more and more the very kind of threat Iraq poses now: a rogue state with weapons of mass destruction, ready to use them or provide them to terrorists, drug traffickers, or organized criminals, who travel the world among us unnoticed. If we fail to respond today, Saddam and all those who would follow in his footsteps will be emboldened tomorrow by the knowledge that they can act with impunity -- even in the face of a clear message from the United Nations Security Council and clear evidence of a weapons of mass destruction program.
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As you can see the quote you posted is out of context. Not only that but Clinton is blowing smoke. Scott Ritter resigned as head of the UN inspection team on April of the same year because the UN and US were not supporting the inspection program.