Whistleblowers: Scott Ritter

I met Scott Ritter and spent time listening to his lecture and then afterwards, talking with him. It was the first time I meet a spy. It was fascinating as I am a peace clown and he is a soldier. You couldn’t have two more different people come together. He taught me about the importance of courage and speaking truth to power. I was very impressed by his lecture but surprised how few attended the lecture. I felt it was important for Australians to know given our government supported and participated in the War in Iraq. I do believe citizens have to decide if they are consumers or citizens? if they are compliant or democratic? or interested in security over freedom?

Scott Ritter Lecture on Illegal US Wars

I had the opportunity to record a lecture by Scott Ritter the former UN weapons inspector in Iraq. He spoke at the University of Melbourne. Later I was invited to meet with him personally and had an informal discussion about Peace Education.

It is essential to a real world at peace that the truth emerges and the public is empowered and informed about decisions that have been made in their name. The Australian Government at the time was a strong and uncritical supporter of United States policy during the Iraq disarmament crisis and one of only four nations to commit combat forces to the 2003 invasion of Iraq in any substantial numbers, under the operational codename Operation Falconer.

Scott Ritter had an extensive and distinguished career in government service. He is a ballistic missile technology expert who worked in military intelligence during a 12-year career in the U.S. armed forces including assignments in the former Soviet Union and the Middle East. A former major in the U.S. Marines, Ritter spent several months of the Gulf War serving under General Norman Schwarzkopf with Marine Central Command headquarters in Saudi Arabia. In 1991, Ritter joined the United Nations weapons inspections team otherwise known as UNSCOM. He has taken part in more than 30 inspection missions, 14 of them as Chief.

Scott Ritter stated at the end of this speech: ‘…if debate, discussion and dialogue, freedom of speech is sedition, so be it, let it begin here.’

Below are excerpts from the transcript I produced of Scott Ritter’s lecture at the University of Melbourne.

Scott Ritter interview: Former Senior Weapons Inspector in Iraq

…What did the United Nations do, remember that thing called the rule of law. If you are going to pass a law you got to enforce it if it is going to have any value. So we passed a law saying Iraq must be disarmed. We caught the Iraqis red-handed lying about their weapons of mass destruction, about nuclear weapons. At that point in time you should pull the weapons inspectors out, bring the military back in and solve this problem once and for all. Get rid of the man responsible for telling the lies, Saddam Hussein. You would think if the President of the United States policy was regime change, America would jump at an opportunity to do this. No, we didn’t want to go to war against Iraq we just wanted Saddam gone and the CIA said he’ll be gone in 6 months. We passed the resolution in April, this confrontation is taking place in June, the President is going to wait we got 4 months to go, let’s not confront Iraq on this one, let’s back off. We’ll pass a new resolution that says shame on you for lying. Now you have to submit an honest declaration, no more lies this time.

Then they did an amazing thing that many people who study disarmament really don’t pick up on, they transferred the burden of responsibility for disarmament away from the Iraqis and onto the shoulder of the inspectors. You see for inspections to work we got to have access to the information necessary to complete the mission. Think of it as an automobile engine. Inspections are an engine, for that engine to function you need fuel, good information is the fuel that makes the inspection engine work. The Iraqis were responsible for submitting good information, a declaration listing the totality of their weapons, but they lied, the fuel is contaminated the inspection engine is not working too well. But what the Security Council said is inspectors you have to go into Iraq and find the hidden weapons. Look at the inherent contradiction, on the one hand they say Iraq you must submit a declaration listing the totality of your weapons, on the other hand, they say inspectors you have to go into Iraq and look for hidden weapons, what does this mean? That nothing the Iraqis ever submit will be acceptable. The inspectors will always be looking for the negative, seeking to prove the negative and that is a proposition that will never succeed, it will never function. But the inspectors tried to do this anyways.

To do this we need that good fuel, the Iraqis aren’t giving us good fuel, where do you get it? The Iraqis are denying you information, you have to gain access to the information the Iraqis are denying you, you need intelligence capability. You need people who can practice the art of espionage to gain access to denied information in denied areas. If you want to do conventional weapons inspections you need experts. If you want to go after chemical weapons, get a chemist. Look at my resume I am not a chemist. If you want to go after biological weapons, get a biologist, I am not one of those either. If you are after nuclear weapons get a nuclear physicist. Right again, not me, and I’m darn sure not a rocket scientist so I am not good on that ballistic missile thing either. I am a spy. I am an intelligence officer. I do it better than just about anybody. You want to go after denied information in denied areas, you bring in the spies. They brought in me to do that job, my job was to create an intelligence capacity to gain access to the information the inspectors needed to complete their mission, as difficult a mission as it was…

And use Australia, you wanna be concerned about this, what did your SAS regiment do during the Gulf War? They subjected your boys, put them in harm’s way, to go into Western Iraq to do what? Intercept scud missiles that could be fired from Western Iraq into Israel. What scud missiles? According to the estimate provided by Richard Armitage to your wonderful John Howard, 12-20 scud missiles. Where did they get that number? I just told you, they made it up. Your boys were put in harm’s way on the basis of a lie. If that doesn’t shock and disturb you and make you angry, I don’t know what will. It is not just ballistic missiles ladies and gentlemen, I can make the same case, the same sad tale for chemical weapons, biological weapons and nuclear weapons. The bottom line is by 1995 the CIA knew for absolute certainty that Iraq had been fundamentally disarmed. It wasn’t about disarmament, the CIA wasn’t there to disarm Iraq.

Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. I question the true intent of my Government when it comes to dealing with Saddam Hussein in the Middle East. And once we invaded Iraq and it turned out there were no weapons, I pointed out the lies of my government and I labelled the war that we were waging in Iraq as illegitimate war of aggression. According to your laws I could have been prosecuted for sedition. And the amazing thing is every word I said before the war, turned out to be true. So the sedition laws far from protecting the security of democracies can actually be used to stifle truth, that is the biggest sedition of all if you live in a representative democracy…

Informal discussion with Scott Ritter about Peace Education

After Scott Ritter’s speech at the University of Melbourne I was invited with a few other peace activists to have dinner with him. It is a funny story so I will tell it here.

My colleague Bill, who is a unionist and the co-organiser of Scott Ritter’s speaking tour in Australia, informed me about Scott Ritter speaking at the University of Melbourne. On hearing this I had the strongest feeling I wanted to be alone with Scott but had no idea why or what I would say. Being on community radio I asked Bill if I could interview him.He told me to come to the lecture. After Scott finished speaking I asked Bill again if I could interview him. He said Scott was tired and Bill asked, ‘What are you doing tomorrow night?’ I said, ‘Nothing’, he then said: ‘Do you want to come out for dinner with Scott Ritter?’ I said, ‘Yes’. That for me was a great opportunity to get to know this guy. I didn’t know much about him, I was just going on a gut feeling.
The next night I turn up at a restaurant in the centre of Melbourne. I remember sitting down first and willing in my mind for Scott to sit next to me. Indeed he did. I listened to the conversation around the table and marvelled at a book that was given to him, something to do with the military, it was given by peace people. I can’t recall the name of it right now but I remember thinking ‘why don’t they get him Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance?’ Scott had just published his book Waging Peace: The Art of War for the Antiwar Movement. I had not read his book but looking at the title today I would have said we don’t need to duplicate military strategies in the peace area. Peace has nothing to do with fear or winning. Perhaps in some activist quarters they saw themselves at war, but the peace I am interested in is beyond the drama of us against them, it is about unity. I had just finished studying Gandhi so fighting was not in my trajectory. I was familiar with some of the war based strategic terminology in business books, as business men fancied themselves at war with other companies. Boys will be boys, I have to add here with a smile.

Anyway, I recall him turning to me and we had a conversation. I can’t remember the content today but he said at the end that we were saying the same thing. I know I did mention Gandhi and would have said ‘there is no enemy.’ I am sure that would have challenged his thinking.

Anyway, I asked him for an interview thinking we would go upstairs in the restaurant. Instead he invited me back to his hotel room. He and I left the restaurant together. We chatted as we walked and in retrospect I recall my own naivety believing he was looking around as a tourist. The world of spooks and intelligence gathering was in movies for me, I had no idea of the reality of who I was walking with, nor his background and the fact that he had been a CIA spy. He was familiar with the FBI, the CIA and the military. He was considered one of their top spies. So I am walking along innocently next to this six foot plus man heading for his hotel room. Now we go up to the 10th floor and I suddenly realise that I have left the mini disk for recording the interview in the restaurant. I asked him if we could ring the restaurant, so he did. No-one answers. Then I thought maybe they are just ignoring the phone. So I suggested we go back to the restaurant and check. You can imagine the surveillance watching us. Good exercise for all. Anyway we head back there and blow me down the lights are all out. Only 10 minutes had passed, they worked fast to get home. I look wistfully at my seat and know my mini disk is there. I smile at myself, this is only the interview of the century with this guy. I leave my mini disk behind. Anyway, I look at Scott and say: ‘I left my power chord in your hotel room’. Now today I still smile at this, I am sure at the time he was thinking – this is either one smart spy or one stupid clown. Of course the latter was true. Anyway, he must have liked this silly clown as he bought me a lemonade and we went up to his hotel room. I watched him in the lift as he scanned around. I marvel at my innocence. He would be thinking about surveillance, I see a lift. We go into his room and I am sure he mentioned to me he had checked for bugs. This was not a movie it was the real thing. I do know from his lecture he did a deal with the CIA so they didn’t kill him. Living life dangerously, you would have to be hyper vigilant.

Anyway, I sat on the floor and drank my lemonade. We spoke about peace actually. I didn’t really need to know about Iraq, my passion is peace. Well there I was alone with Scott, later my original intention came back to me. I did know what to talk about, I spoke about REAL HOPE my peace, nonviolence and anti-bullying program. I also told him about being a clown. I recall him sitting opposite me on the couch. He was a big man and an excellent listener, which intelligence officer would not be? I am a good talker so if anyone wants to torture me for information, just sit me down and offer me a lemonade and I will talk anyway, I am very visible. I have nothing to hide actually.

I can’t recall all we spoke about but I do remember the two of us really looking at each other, as we were so different, from completely different worlds. I asked him what it was like to be a soldier. I put the scenario to him: ‘What if someone picks you for a fight in a pub – what do you do?’. He said, ‘I pay my tab and leave’, I said, ‘What if you don’t?’. He said: How do I explain the dead body to the policeman?’. I reflected on myself and thought I wouldn’t even step on a bug, yet this guy could snap your neck and kill you in a second. He is highly trained. I am a peace clown. Such a juxtaposition.

Anyway he asks me: ‘What is it like to be a clown?’ he commented he had never met one. This is often put to me. I told him we love everyone, we have no enemies. This is true. My goal in life is to simply love people. I told him about my trip to Russia with Dr. Patch Adams and the people I had met, my time in hospitals as a clown and the great love I experience from people. I look into so many eyes and I only see beauty in the world. It must have been so strange for him to meet me. He offered for me to sit on a chair as I just sat happily on the floor. We talked more about what peace really means. I recall at the end he said, ‘I will have to rewrite my book’. Perhaps I had given him a perspective on the real meaning of peace, that it really comes from within us. We can’t wage peace or force it, we can only be it and then our world changes. As a clown it is great training as I practice unconditional love of all people. I sit with drunks on the street, I talk to people from different cultures, all ages and shapes and sizes. I learn to be universal in my approach, I start to realise the world is my family. I see beauty and I feel gentleness as my only intent is to give love. Of course the military is the opposite as they are prepared to fight, they are armed and they are watching for an enemy, you can imagine our two mindsets coming together like different planets. Yet he had stepped across those lines of control and was thinking about peace. He had stepped out of conformity and challenged the most powerful government on earth. He was a whistle blower and I saw his raw courage at the lecture. I found myself admiring such a man yet I knew I had no idea what it is like to kill someone. He did say in his lecture that war is disgusting, it is horrible but in his view it is necessary. Today I would say to him all war must go on paper, it is absolutely not necessary. We have to deal with our negativity within, we have to look at group thinking and the perceptions of the other. We have to learn how to communicate for truth rather than for being right, that is a form of righteousness which is what prevents us from seeing both sides. Conflict resolution is about learning to hear the other; it is not about directing false intelligence to confuse the other, or seeking to find ways to demonise the other or putting resources into beating the other. The new world paradigm will be truly about loving the other as yourself. The last two words are the key here, we have to learn to love ourselves. As clowns we are like mirrors to people, we help them to see their beauty. We see only beauty because within ourselves we feel love and we have turned it inward, this creates an empty space whereby we can give to others. After I clown with people I feel totally fulfilled and complete as a person. I realise that love is not only the answer, it is who I am when I live my truth. The military concept is an illusion as we learn to hate the other, as we hate ourselves. The people lining up for military service are often young and have no idea of what they are lining up for. Many think they get discipline from the military, they learn to be men. For me violence is not the nature of man, what I have seen is that gentleness, wisdom and kindness is the nature of men. I realise that facing fear is the nature of humans, including men and women. When you face fear you grow as a person. Facing fear is looking at what makes us scared, why we feel tense, why we seek to hurt another, who we are, these are important signposts to learning about the true peace of human nature. Some have already typecast peace as weakness, or pacifism or cowardice. It is often associated with the feminine. Yet I have seen incredibly courageous women facing life and raising kids alone, working with difficult bosses, and overcoming prejudice in many different forums. They face fear and do it anyway. Yet when it is nonviolent, that is true courage. It was Scott Ritter at his lecture that brought up nonviolent activists and how they faced what they feared without weapons, he saw this as the greatest courage. I would agree. It was strange for me to be with someone like him, but there was a beautiful innocence in this meeting and I felt in my heart that it was meant to be. I gave him some of my poetry and indicated he must be tired and had to catch a plane the next day. He kindly walked me downstairs and we had a big hug in the foyer. Then I left inspired and in deep reflection about the experience I just had.

A few days later reality seeped in, you couldn’t get a hotter topic than Scott Ritter. I wondered which intelligence agencies would have been spying on us? I thought about ASIO (Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation) and CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). I realised I was metaphorically above the radar and there would be a nice file with my name on it in some office in central intelligence. I just hope they put some balloons in there and a smiley face. I smiled at my own naivety but I felt good that I had met someone and showed him what peace looks and feels like through a peace clown’s eyes. It has nothing to do with strategy or winning. In turn he taught me what peace is not and gave me an insight into the mindsets of war. It was a very proactive exchange between two people whom, under normal circumstances, would never have met.

Mohandas Gandhi

“If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.”

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