Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Scott Ritters speech at the No War march

Auntie Beeb | 30.09.2002 17:28

Below is a tape transcript of the speech by former UN weapons inspector in Iraq, Scott Ritter, made at Hyde Park, 28th September on the Don't Attack Iraq - Justice for Palestine march.

First of all, I want to commend you for being here today.
We are on the verge of engaging in a military action against Iraq. The president of the United States has war plans on his desk that speak of sending a 100,000 or 200,000 American troops out to fight, to kill and be killed in Iraq. And yet here today we have a crowd four timnes that size, an army of peace, democracies divisions, waging peace, rejecting war. Thank you for being here.

Now people have asked me why am I here today, and the answer is simple - I am an American. I stand for what America stands for. America is a nation of laws, laws that are set forth in the Constitution which founded my great country and I reject the policies that George W. Bush is pursuing wholeheartedly.

Now what purpose do I see by being here today? I would like to send two messages. The first message is to Prime Minister Tony Blair in response to his dossier regarding Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Mr Blair, I too share your concern about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, because I know more than you what Iraq had and what has been accomplished in the field of disarmament.

I know that, while we did not account for everything in regards to Iraq's weapons and there still things to be done in the field of disarmament, that weapons inspections do work, can work and will work if allowed to go back into Iraq unfettered by manipulation of the United States and Great Britain. I do know that there's a job to be done, I am not giving Iraq a clean bill of health, they have not yet earned it, they must do so and they say that they will hold themselves fully accountable to the rule of law as set forth by the Security Council and I for one am in favour of making Saddam keep his promise. But we too have a promise that we must keep, a promise of running a clean investigation free of the corruption of American influence that seeks to remove Saddam Hussein, not disarm Saddam Hussein.

So Mr Blair, while I commend you for publishing this document and reinforcing the concerns that I and many others have about unresloved issues, I say this to you, this document is not a case for war, this document is not worth one drop of blood from an American soldier, a British soldier or an Iraqi civilian. That is my message to Prime Minister Tony Blair and his goverenment.

Now I have a message, a second message I would like to send to President George W. Bush, but first of all I need to say something. For those of you out there who are leading the chants of "down, down, USA", shame on you. Shame on you. This is an argument between you and the administration of George W. Bush, not between you and the American people. The American peolpe are a law abiding peolpe, the American people are a good people and the American people CAN be your allies if you let them. The first thing that has to occur is that you have to motivate the people of America and you are doing so today with this demonstration of democracy. You need to empower the people of America to confront the policies of George W. Bush, because the policies of George W. Bush are inherently un-American.

We have a saying in the United States, it's a saying that "friends don't let friends drive drunk". Ladies and gentlemen, we have an alchoholic at the wheel of American foreign policy, named George W. Bush, and we the people of the United States of America need your assisstance to reach in, grabs the keys from the ignition and say no, we will not allow you to drive the vehicle of international peace and security over the cliff of war.

Thank you very much for being here today. Thank you.

END.

Auntie Beeb

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech