- ATLANTA (Reuters) - Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein agreed to let weapons inspectors back because
the alternative would be the destruction of his country, former U.N. weapons
inspector Scott Ritter said on Tuesday.
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- "Saddam knows that it would be suicide" to
not allow weapons inspectors back into Iraq, Ritter told a press conference
shortly before delivering a speech at Georgia State University in Atlanta.
-
- Ritter, who has criticized President Bush for advocating
the removal of Saddam from power, added that inspectors would not find
weapons of mass destruction if given unfettered access to Iraqi sites.
-
- Iraq announced on Monday it would allow weapons inspectors
back unconditionally, but the Bush administration dismissed the move as
a trick.
-
- Since 1991, Saddam has played a cat and mouse game with
inspectors, agreeing at times to allow them greater access and then frustrating
their attempts to visit alleged weapons sites.
-
- Ritter, who served as a U.N. weapons inspector for seven
years before resigning in 1998, dismissed Bush's contention that a military
strike must be considered because Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction.
-
- Ritter described claims that Iraq was close to possessing
nuclear weapons as "fantastical" and "absurdist," adding
that Bush officials had invested too much political capital into the concept
of removing Saddam to consider any other options.
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