Scott Ritter

Scott Ritter, a former Marine Corps intelligence officer who has become a harsh critic of US foreign policywas one of the UN's top weapons inspectors in Iraq between 1991 and 1998. Before working for the UN he served as an officer in the US Marines and as a ballistic missile adviser to General Schwarzkopf in the first Gulf War. He is the author of many books including Iraq Confidential and lives in New York State.

Following the successful conclusion of Operation Desert Storm, the United Nations Security Council established the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM) in order to implement relevant Security Council resolutions regarding the elimination of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The UN weapons inspector, Scott Ritter, resigned in protest in August 1998, complaining about, in part, the Clinton Administration's position. He told Newsweek magazine "I heard somebody say Madeleine Albright blocked more inspections in 1997 than Saddam Hussein did. It's a funny quip, but unfortunately it's true. Not only is it Iraq that is frustrating us, but it is the people that are supposed to be supporting us that are obstructing us."

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told Wolf Blitzer of CNN on 01 September 1998 "I think that Scott Ritter has his piece of the story. He was a good inspector; I'm not going to criticize him. However, he doesn't have a clue about what our overall policy has been. We are the foremost supporter of UNSCOM; we have directed -- have inspired, really, more inspections than anybody else. If it weren't for the United States -- and I must say, me, personally -- I doubt very much that the sanctions regime would be in place as strongly as it is. ... Though I admire Scott Ritter for his inspection abilities, he is not the one putting together US policy which has managed to keep the strongest sanctions regime in the history of the world on Saddam Hussein. ... I am not going to speak ill of Scott Ritter -- he's a great American -- but he does not know the policy that we are carrying out."

Ritter subsequently testified before various Congressional committees regarding his concerns about evolving U.S. policy toward Iraq. Mr. Ritter, in other fora, also expressed concerns about certain aspects of intelligence sharing between U.S. intelligence agencies and UNSCOM. Journalist Seymour Hersh points out that Scott Ritter got it right about WMD in Iraq. In the balance of the book, Ritter goes on to suggest that anyone with the same data he had would have reached the same conclusion. But, he states, “dissemination of accurate assessments was prevented by the US Government.” This was done to promote the “USA’s principal objective in Iraq after 1991…regime change.” He then alleges that the “CIA was designated as the principal implementer of this policy…through its manipulation of the work of the UN weapons inspectors and distortion of the facts about Iraq’s WMD programs.”

An editorial, "A Dangerous Poker Game With Iraq," which appeared in the October 4, 1998, issue of the New York Times, stated : " editorial, entitled ‘‘A Dangerous Poker Game With Iraq,’’ which appeared in the October 4, 1998, issue of the New York Times "the Administration is trying to discredit and intimidate Scott Ritter, a former top United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq who is rightly sounding an alarm about the developments in Baghdad.... Ritter has been rewarded for this truth telling with a stern warning from the United Nations, a Federal criminal investigation into his association with Israel and the ludicrous assertion of American officials that he does not know what he is talking about. This treatment is an embarrassment to the country."

Scott Ritter said “At the end of the day, it's going to be a surrender [for Ukraine].” Ritter noted that Russia has a significant leverage to force concessions from Kiev, comparing their position to that of the United States in World War II before former President Harry Truman made the decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. “It's going to be unconditional surrender,” said the former UN weapons inspector. “I don't believe the Russians are going to sit there and say, 'well, you can keep some Banderites here. You can keep this NATO army here.' No, those are gone.” But Ritter claimed Moscow would ultimately seek a more conciliatory approach than that of the United States toward Japan in 1945. “Russia also wants to rapidly transition from conflict termination to ‘how do we repair relations with Europe, how do we get away from this war footing?”’ he said. “It's not in Russia's interest to have a permanent state of conflict with Europe, to be on a perpetual war footing,” Ritter added, claiming the country would prefer to devote resources towards domestic concerns rather than weapons production. Such dynamics would create “significant maneuver room” in negotiations between Moscow and Kiev according to the analyst.

In June 2024, U.S. authorities seized Ritter's passport and prevented him from travelling to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

"The actions by the Department of the Treasury in levying new sanctions against RT, Sputnik, and other Russian media organizations has made it impossible for me to continue my work as an outside contributor for RT and Sputnik, as well as participating in interviews and other collaborations with other Russian media," Ritter said on X 05 Septembe 2024. He said his work with Russian media organizations was legitimate journalism. "I reject the notion that the work I have done over the past years with the newly sanctioned Russian media organizations has been anything other than legitimate journalism, the content of which has been factually correct and analytically sound, and always of my own creation," Ritter said.