Scott Ritter
Scott Ritter
William Scott Ritter Jr.was a United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998, and later a critic of United States foreign policy in the Middle East. Prior to the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, Ritter stated that Iraq possessed no significant weapons of mass destructioncapabilities, becoming "the loudest and most credible skeptic of the Bush administration’s contention that Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction." He received harsh criticism from the political establishment but became a popular...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPublic Servant
Date of Birth15 July 1961
CountryUnited States of America
We have inspectors on the ground. They're getting compliance. They're doing their job and they're not finding anything that warrants a threat worthy of war,
I was a credible voice, I am a credible voice, and I will be a credible voice in regards to issues pertaining to Iraq, and obviously what you are not mentioning here is the timing of all of this,
It is a pro-U.N. movie. It's a pro-American movie. It's a pro-American movie. It's a movie people should be watching and not denigrating.
It is complicated because you need members of all fields, including chemists, physicists and biologists. They are the heart and soul of the process.
Where did it come from? Did they suddenly grow factories? ... You build factories, not in a basement, not in a mountain cave. It's a modern industrial capability. Where did it come from?
I'll put my record of service up against anyone, bar none.
I have a credibility on the subject that most people don't.
We have thousands of American veterans who continue to suffer,
You know we can't expect the inspectors to accomplish anything in a country the size of Iraq.
When I resigned, I put the U.S. Government on notice that I'm going to stick to policy issues, that I have no intention of going out and blowing the cover off of the intelligence operations, that those are truly sensitive and they should not be exposed.
In fact, the very policies that we are executing today only alienate us abroad, strengthen Saddam Hussein and give him cause to reconstitute these capabilities once he has the means,
It was never about getting rid of weapons. It was about propaganda to justify continuing sanctions until Saddam could be removed from power.
Does Iraq have weapons of mass destruction today? Does Iraq possess the ability to produce weapons of mass destruction? The answer is no,
That response would be used as a justification for military action.