New York Post - January 23, 2003
U.N. 'PERV': LEAK RUINED MY IRAQ PEACE MISSION By ADAM MILLER and MARSHA KRANES
Former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter yesterday suggested that court-sealed details of his Internet sex-sting arrest were intentionally leaked to sabotage his planned peace mission to Iraq.
Because of "the timing" of the leak - about "something that occurred nearly two years ago" - he had to cancel his trip to Baghdad, where he planned to advise Iraqi officials on ways to avoid a conflict with the United States.
"Because of what happened here . . . I'm not on that airplane," he said.
His remarks to Schenectady's WRGB-TV marked the first time Ritter, 41, admitted he had been arrested in June 2001.
But he would not discuss the details, except to say the arrest was for a Class B misdemeanor, a crime that's punishable by up to 90 days in jail.
He did not discuss reports that the charge, attempted child endangerment, stemmed from an attempt to lure a 16-year- old he met on the Internet to a Burger King so she could watch him masturbate - or that the "girl" turned out to be an undercover sex-crimes cop.
He stressed that the case had been dismissed and ordered sealed by the court.
In an interview last night, CNN's Aaron Brown told Ritter the seal was to protect him and he could speak if he wanted.
But Ritter insisted, "As far as I'm concerned, this is a dead issue."
Brown told Ritter that he had become "radioactive" as a result of the incident and would be unable to make his argument about Iraq.
Ritter, an outspoken critic of President Bush's plans for a war against Iraq, replied, "I was a credible voice, I am a credible voice and I will be a credible voice" on the arms-inspection issue.
Additional reporting by Fredric U. Dicker and Ken Lovett in Albany