• davel [he/him]@lemmygrad.mlOP
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    5 months ago

    For those who don’t remember Scott Ritter:

    Biden told Ritter that no matter how thorough the inspections, the only way to eliminate the threat was to remove Saddam Hussein. […] “You and I believe, and many of us believe here, as long as Saddam is at the helm, there is no reasonable prospect you or any other inspector is ever going to be able to guarantee that we have rooted out, root and branch, the entirety of Saddam’s program relative to weapons of mass destruction. […]

    Hussein, it turned out, did not have an active WMD program.

    During questioning, Biden mocked Ritter as “ol’ Scotty boy” and suggested that his demands — that the international community compel Iraq to cooperate with inspectors — if met, would give Ritter the unilateral authority to start a war in Iraq. Biden argued that such decisions belonged to higher-level officials. “I respectfully suggest they have a responsibility slightly above your pay grade, to decide whether or not to take the nation to war,” Biden said. “That’s a real tough decision. That’s why they get paid the big bucks. That’s why they get the limos and you don’t. I mean this sincerely, I’m not trying to be flip.”

  • USSR Enjoyer@lemmygrad.ml
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    5 months ago

    This is honestly a huge deal. Ritter is one of the most informed and important voices opposing the Ukraine proxy war and the genocide in Gaza right now.

    Biden’s recent comment about “planning even more” echoes through here. Maybe it doesn’t amount to much in the end, and I hope it doesn’t, but I think there’s a real chance we look back and call this a prelude to formal marshal law in the US.

    And JFC these smug liberal hacks giggling about anti-war journalists getting imprisoned, detained or deprived of rights sure do deserve the consequences of that road. But I’d really appreciate if they could just create their own suicide pact and leave the rest of us the fuck out of it.