As a chief weapons inspector for the United Nations Special Commission in Iraq, Scott Ritter was labeled a hero by some, a maverick by others, and a spy by the Iraqi government. In charge of searching out weapons of mass destruction within Iraq, Ritter was on the front lines of the ongoing battle against arms proliferation. His experience in enemy territory served as the basis for his book, Endgame, which explored the shortcomings of American foreign policy in the Persian Gulf region and alternative approaches to handling the Iraqi crisis. Ritter went back to Iraq in 2000 for a different reason. He filmed a documentary, In Shifting Sands: The Truth of UNSCOM and the Disarming of Iraq, which focuses on the disarmament of Iraq and it implications for U.S. foreign policy. The film gives an eye-opening view of America from the international community’s perspective, while presenting an unwavering hard line on issues of international justice and global security.
Ritter has had an extensive and distinguished career in government service. He is a ballistic missile technology expert who worked in military intelligence during a 12-year career in the U.S. armed forces, including assignments in the former Soviet Union and the Middle East. A former major in the U.S. Marines, Ritter also spent several months of the Gulf War serving under General Norman Schwarzkopf at Marine Central Command headquarters in Saudi Arabia.
In 1991, Ritter joined the United Nations weapons inspection team (UNSCOM). He took part in 52 inspection missions, 14 of them as chief. His team in 1995 discovered missile guidance equipment that Iraq had bought from Russia through a Palestinian agent. He led the UN weapons inspection team into Iraq in January of 1998, only to be blocked from the weapons sites by Iraqi officials. Accusing him of being a spy, Iraq refused Ritter and his team an escort to the inspection sites, thereby preventing them from doing their job.
Following Iraq’s decision to defy the UN and block further searches, Ritter initiated a series of additional inspections. Despite verbal support of Ritter’s efforts from the U.S. and the UN Security Council, behind closed doors they resolved not to confront Iraq’s policy. Unwilling to accept the lack of official action against the Iraqi decision, Ritter resigned his position proclaiming that the “illusion of arms control is more dangerous than no arms control at all.”
Ritter’s most recent books are Waging Peace: The Art of War for the Antiwar Movement, Target Iran: The Truth About the White House’s Plans for Regime Change, and Iraq Confidential: The Untold Story of the Intelligence Conspiracy to Undermine the UN and Overthrow Saddam Hussein, all published by Nation Books.
Ritter was born in Florida, and raised all over the world in a career military family. He is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall college, with a B.A. in Soviet History.