Former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter, who has made headlines recently for purportedly trying to lure teen-age girls from the Internet, is now sounding the alarm of a possible nuclear holocaust in the Far East.
 Scott Ritter mug shot (courtesy WNYT-TV) |
While visiting Tokyo this week, the New York resident gave a speech warning that the current crisis in North Korea could mushroom into a doomsday cloud in a very short period of time.
“The president has put B-52s on alert in Guam to hold North Korea accountable,” Ritter said, quoted by the Age newspaper. “Well, North Korea may very well put some ballistic missiles with nuclear weapons on alert. And where are those targets going to be?
“You think they are going to simply satisfy themselves with annihilating 37,000 Americans on the Demilitarized Zone? No.
“You think they’re going to satisfy themselves with annihilating Seoul? No. They won’t be satisfied until Tokyo is reduced to a slab of radioactive waste.”
But not everyone shares Ritter’s apocalyptic view of the crisis on the Korean peninsula.
“I can’t imagine North Korea starting a conflict,” Brad Glosserman of the Pacific Forum of the Center for Strategic and International Studies told the Age. “They know that would lead to their destruction. A North Korean first strike is the sort of move that would confirm all the U.S. has been saying and undo their smile diplomacy.”
Glosserman’s views are echoed by Alan Dupont, head of the the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Australian National University.
“Right at the moment, I still think we’re a long way short of this degenerating into serious military conflict, only because I don’t think it’s in the interests of any of the protagonists to have one,” Dupont told the paper.
“I think that this is a game of brinkmanship being conducted primarily by the North Koreans, designed to extract the maximum concessions from the U.S.,” he said. “However, my main concern is miscalculation, either on the part of the Americans or the North Koreans. There’s a degree to which you can control these things, then after a while events start to take on a momentum of their own.”
As reported by WorldNetDaily, Ritter confirmed he was arrested in 2001 but refused to give details. He has dramatically reversed his position on Iraq’s weapons threat and become an outspoken critic of the U.S., telling WorldNetDaily that President Bush should be impeached for his policy toward Baghdad.
New York media coverage indicates Ritter sought to have underage girls watch him have sex with himself in public places. The arrest record was sealed and the case reportedly dismissed, though U.S. prosecutors have since reportedly unsealed the case to see if federal charges are warranted, according to sources.
Previous stories:
College won’t cancel Ritter speech
College reconsiders Ritter speech
Feds reviewing Ritter’s records
Ritter admits it: ‘I was arrested’
Transcript of Scott Ritter on CNN
N.Y. media: Ritter sought girls twice
Ritter’s attorney confirms arrest
Reports claim Ritter arrested in sex sting
