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Intelligence Experts Scott Ritter and Ray McGovern are coming to Pittsburgh for Iraq Forum
by Kevin Caridad
Monday, Sep. 18, 2006 at 8:55 AM
Kcaridad@Yahoo.com (email address validated)
Scott Ritter was the the Chief United Nations Weapons Inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998. Ray McGover is a former CIA analyst who has accused the Bush administration of manipulating intelligence in its rush to invade Iraq.
Intelligence Experts Coming to Pittsburgh for Iraq Forum
In July 2006, nearly 3,400 civilians were killed in Iraq, making it the single deadliest month in the more than three years since the United States invaded Iraq. Nearly 2,700 American soldiers already have died in the conflict.
Contrary to the “progress” that Bush administration officials have repeatedly said is being made in Iraq, the situation on the ground says otherwise. Indeed, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, considered to be the country’s most influential moderate Shia leader, admitted last month that he is powerless to stop a civil war, something which many experts say is already at hand.
Even the military is finally admitting, in secret, what many already know: This conflict cannot be won. As the Washington Post reported in September, Col. Pete Devlin, the Marine Corps’ chief intelligence officer in Iraq, concluded in a classified report that the Anbar province, the large province in the west of the country, is all but lost.
It didn’t have to be this way.
“There is a substantial lack of clarity and credible sources on the actual nature of the Iraqi threat to the U.S.,” Scott Ritter, the Chief United Nations Weapons Inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998, wrote in a January 2002 editorial in the Christian Science Monitor. Had only more politicians—and Americans, for that matter—heeded his warning.
Ritter, a U.S. Marines intelligence offer, has continued to be one of the most credible and outspoken critics of the Iraq war and the Bush administration’s management of it. On October 21, Ritter will be one of two featured speakers at an important pre-election forum on the Iraq war in Cranberry Township. He will be joined by Ray McGovern, a former CIA analyst who has accused the Bush administration of manipulating intelligence in its rush to invade Iraq. McGovern gained notoriety nationwide earlier this year when, at a public forum, he confronted Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld about the alleged intelligence manipulation.
Ritter and McGovern will discuss the mistakes that led to conflict in Iraq and how the United States can begin to extricate itself from this foreign policy debacle. They also will review the mounting evidence that the Bush administration, at the urging of leading neoconservatives, now has its sights set on Iran.
Several candidates competing for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives have been invited to attend the forum. Dr. Steven Porter, the Democrat running against one of President Bush’s strongest backers in the House, Rep. Phil English (R), in Pennsylvania’s 3rd District, has confirmed.
Make plans to attend this important event about one of the most pressing issues facing our country today.
How to Get out of Iraq & Why Invading Iran Would Be a Huge Mistake
Saturday, October 21, 2006
7:00 p.m.
Doors Open at 6:50 p.m.
Haine Middle School
1516 Haine School Road,
Cranberry Twp, Pa 16066
Sponsored by the Western Pennsylvania DFA & U.S. Tour of Duty
*Endorsed by the Thomas Merton Center*
For more information, contact Kevin at 724.831.8795 or kcaridad@yahoo.com
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In July 2006, nearly 3,400 civilians were killed in Iraq, making it the single deadliest month in the more than three years since the United States invaded Iraq. Nearly 2,700 American soldiers already have died in the conflict.
Contrary to the “progress” that Bush administration officials have repeatedly said is being made in Iraq, the situation on the ground says otherwise. Indeed, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, considered to be the country’s most influential moderate Shia leader, admitted last month that he is powerless to stop a civil war, something which many experts say is already at hand.
Even the military is finally admitting, in secret, what many already know: This conflict cannot be won. As the Washington Post reported in September, Col. Pete Devlin, the Marine Corps’ chief intelligence officer in Iraq, concluded in a classified report that the Anbar province, the large province in the west of the country, is all but lost.
It didn’t have to be this way.
“There is a substantial lack of clarity and credible sources on the actual nature of the Iraqi threat to the U.S.,” Scott Ritter, the Chief United Nations Weapons Inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998, wrote in a January 2002 editorial in the Christian Science Monitor. Had only more politicians—and Americans, for that matter—heeded his warning.
Ritter, a U.S. Marines intelligence offer, has continued to be one of the most credible and outspoken critics of the Iraq war and the Bush administration’s management of it. On October 21, Ritter will be one of two featured speakers at an important pre-election forum on the Iraq war in Cranberry Township. He will be joined by Ray McGovern, a former CIA analyst who has accused the Bush administration of manipulating intelligence in its rush to invade Iraq. McGovern gained notoriety nationwide earlier this year when, at a public forum, he confronted Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld about the alleged intelligence manipulation.
Ritter and McGovern will discuss the mistakes that led to conflict in Iraq and how the United States can begin to extricate itself from this foreign policy debacle. They also will review the mounting evidence that the Bush administration, at the urging of leading neoconservatives, now has its sights set on Iran.
Several candidates competing for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives have been invited to attend the forum. Dr. Steven Porter, the Democrat running against one of President Bush’s strongest backers in the House, Rep. Phil English (R), in Pennsylvania’s 3rd District, has confirmed.
Make plans to attend this important event about one of the most pressing issues facing our country today.
How to Get out of Iraq & Why Invading Iran Would Be a Huge Mistake
Saturday, October 21, 2006
7:00 p.m.
Doors Open at 6:50 p.m.
Haine Middle School
1516 Haine School Road,
Cranberry Twp, Pa 16066
Sponsored by the Western Pennsylvania DFA & U.S. Tour of Duty
*Endorsed by the Thomas Merton Center*
For more information, contact Kevin at 724.831.8795 or kcaridad@yahoo.com
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