Exclusive: Scott Ritter on John Kerry’s Iraq Plan

Yesterday morning I had the pleasure of meeting Scott Ritter, who has been an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq since before it started. Ritter is in Los Angeles to promote his book, Iraq Confidential. He came to my daughter's high school to speak to students about the war in Iraq and getting involved in the future of their nation.

I had the opportunity to speak with Scott Ritter before the event. Scott Ritter had been tough on John Kerry's vote on the Iraq War Resolution before the 2004 election, in an OP/ED in the Boston Globe on August 5, 2004, Ritter said:

Kerry needs to publicly reexamine the reasoning for his vote for war and articulate a clear strategy for Iraq that includes not only a plan for reengagement with the international community but also disengagement of American soldiers.

As John Kerry has done exactly what Ritter had suggested in his August '04 OP/ED, I was curious to find out what Ritter's thoughts were on Kerry's recent Iraq proposal. So, I asked him...

Ritter told me that he felt that John Kerry's Iraq plan was "rational, sound and plausible, however it was not enough unless he takes responsibility for his vote."

"He has," I told Ritter, "repeatedly starting in late October with his speech at Georgetown University and most recently with his "Dissent" speech, this last Saturday in Boston." I told Ritter, I would be happy to send him copies of Kerry's statements and speeches to verify this,

"Then, under those circumstances," Ritter told me, "I would be behind his plan."

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