Scott Ritter
 Scott Ritter          (Soldier, Whistleblower) | |
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| Born | July 15, 1961 Gainesville, Florida |
| Alma mater | Franklin and Marshall College |
| Exposed | Operation Mass Appeal |
| Member of | Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity |
| Interests | • 2003 Iraq War • 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine • Serena Shim Award |
UN weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998, who exposed the lies about Saddam's WMDs. | |
William Scott Ritter, Jr. is a former United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998. He was chief inspector in fourteen of the more than thirty inspection missions in which he participated. He became a major voice of opposition in the run-up to, and during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, being one of the few analysts who were right about non-existent weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
A May 2001 report by the US newspaper The Bellingham Herald noted:[1]
"Ritter resigned from his post as weapons inspector almost three years ago when inspectors attempting to gather information on Iraqi weapons activities were actually being used to gather information for the Americans on Iraqi security forces, he said.
By that time, Ritter said, Iraq was “fundamentally disarmed,” but inspectors could not prove that 100 percent of the weapons had been destroyed, so the sanctions continued.
He said the United States didn't truly want to declare Iraq completely disarmed, anyway. While the U.N. declaration imposing the sanctions against Iraq links the embargo to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, the United States wants the embargo in place until Hussein is swept from power, Ritter said."
Contents
Arrest
| 'Scott Ritter; Ukraine, Finland and Nato, a Warning to the People of Finland' |
He was later jailed on underage sex charges after multiple US police sting operations, first in 2001, then 2009. In October 2011 he received a sentence of one and a half to five and a half years in prison; he was paroled in September 2014.
Opinions
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 11 January 2023, Scott Ritter wrote about the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and concluded:
- "There is an old Russian saying, 'A Russian harnesses slowly but rides fast.' This appears to be what is transpiring regarding the Russian-Ukraine conflict.
- "2023 appears to be shaping up as a year of continued violent confrontation leading to a decisive Russian military victory."[2]
2023 Gaza–Israel conflict
| "Scott Ritter is truly brilliant explaining the situation in the Middle East very well" |
On 1 November 2023, Cyrus Jannsen spent 42 minutes interviewing Scott Ritter on YouTube about the situation in the October 2023 Gaza−Israel conflict and shared insights into how the war could end:
- 3:19 - The Truth About Life in Gaza
- 7:44 - How Israel Security Plans Failed
- 11:22 - How Israel's Government Helped Create Hamas
- 16:22 - How Israel Can Defeat Hamas
- 18:30 - What Is the Exit Strategy for Israel?
- 26:20 - Will There Be a War Between US and Iran?
- 31:20 - Is There a Chance for Peace Now?
- 33:34 - Benjamin Netanyahu's Future is Uncertain
- 37:40 - The US Plans for the Middle East
- 40:17 - How Oct 7th Changed the Middle East Forever[3]
From Tom Joad to Willy Loman
| “Look in their eyes, Ma, and you’ll see me.” |
On 8 December 2023, Scott Ritter wrote:
I don’t know what they are teaching today regarding literature in secondary education curriculum. I do know that a mainstay of such study back in the mid- to late-1970’s included John Steinbeck’s classic, 'The Grapes of Wrath'. We read the book, and then watched John Ford’s cinematic rendition, starring Henry Fonda as Tom Joad.
As the hard-luck everyman hero of Steinbeck’s tale of the Great Depression, Fonda came to symbolise all that America—and Americans—would, could, and should aspire to be: a defender of the oppressed, a fighter for the human detritus abandoned by an uncaring and unfeeling societal elite whose very essence contradicted the ostensible values of a nation, where the rights of the individual outweighed the dictate of the majority.
In 1995 Bruce Springsteen released an acoustic album, 'The Ghost of Tom Joad'.
The title track contained some of the most powerfully vivid lyrics ever written by a man known for his powerfully vivid lyrics. In 2008 Springsteen electrified the song, inviting Tom Morello, the lead guitarist for the American rock band Rage Against the Machine, to join him in performing The Ghost of Tom Joad live in concert.
The result was pure musical magic.
The lyrics of The Ghost of Tom Joad, always haunting, took on a new, angry urgency when backed by the guitar genius of Tom Morello, and from the moment I first heard the song performed in this manner, it became the theme song of my life.
While every lyric of the song resonates with meaning, the final two verses hit me the most.
It starts with Springsteen.
“And Tom said…Ma wherever there’s a cop, beating a guy.
Wherever a hungry new-born baby cries.
Wherever there’s a fight against the blood and anger in the air.
Look at me, Ma, and I’ll be there.”
Then Tom Morello takes over.
“Wherever somebody’s fighting for a place to stand.
For a decent job, or a helping hand.
Wherever somebody’s struggling to be free.
Look in their eyes, Ma, and you’ll see me.”
What Tom Morello proceeds to do with his guitar serves to sear these lyrics into the listener’s head for eternity.
“Look in their eyes, Ma, and you’ll see me.”
I have spent my life trying to be that guy—the one who comes to mind when it is time for good to fight evil. Whether as a Marine, a weapons inspector, a firefighter, or a citizen activist, the cry of those in fear and/or in need became my clarion call. I held myself to high standards, and as a result I applied those same standards to those who served alongside me, and—especially so—those elected officials who represented me in the halls of power and authority whose actions were done in my name and, as such, were a reflection on the collective enterprise known as the United States of America.
It is no simple task to try and emulate Tom Joad. Being a concerned citizen is a full-time job, and the challenges of just trying to get by in a world designed to compel one to spend every waking moment just getting by makes good citizenship damn hard, if not virtually impossible. We citizens are compelled by circumstance to pass the baton of civic duty and responsibility to our elected officials, thereby transferring the burden of being Tom Joad away from our shoulders, and onto theirs.
We may be fully cognisant of the failings of our elected officials and know in our heart of hearts that they are not up to the tasks we have saddled them with, and yet, as a means of salving our own conscience, we fool ourselves into believing the illusion that these officials conjure with their speeches and statements. For a moment, we believe we are listening to the real deal—a Springsteen/Morello moment, where we fool ourselves into believing that the reflection in “Ma’s” eyes is us—that we, and those we have anointed as our proxies, are Tom Joad.
But when the singing ends, there is no Morello magic—the guitar (aptly named “Arm the Homeless”) is silent, and the reflection fades away, with Henry Fonda’s smiling visage replaced with George C. Scott’s weary, craggy face.
In 1975, Arthur Miller’s classic tale, 'Death of a Salesman', was brought to life on Broadway, with the acclaimed actor, George C. Scott (perhaps best known for his portrayal of General George Patton in the 1970 film Patton, or General “Buck” Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 classic, Dr. Strangelove) playing the part of Willy Loman, the all-American loser. Many people have played the role of Willy Loman over time, including several standout actors, but it is Scott’s performance that came to define the character (none other than The New York Times, known for its scathing criticism of Broadway shows, said that Scott’s performance literally left “criticism speechless.”
The thing about George C. Scott is that, at the time of his Broadway performance, America knew him as a tough guy, a winner—a fighter. He was the consummate hero, the man we all secretly wished we could be. So to see him play a down-and-out loser like Willy Loman, to get into the character so deeply that the audience forgot they were watching Patton, and instead believed that Scott had become the loathsome and pathetic Willy Loman—well, that was great acting. As the Grey Lady’s critic acclaimed, “The kind you can never forget. The kind you tell your grandchildren about. The kind that leaves you in a state of grace, enables you to jump beyond yourself, to see something that perhaps even the playwright himself only dimly perceived.”
I never saw George C. Scott play Willy Loman. But I read about his performance, and the strength of the critic’s praise was enough to imprint the face of the man who brought Patton to life on the silver screen in my mind’s eye.
But lately, when I think of Willy Loman, Scott’s visage has faded, and instead replaced by that of Joe Biden, the President of the United States. Biden is the ultimate wannabe tough guy, a hero in his own mind, the self-described “working man’s president,” the modern-day incarnation of Tom Joad.
He sells this role hard, wrapping himself up in the mystique of the American dream, crafting a narrative which he tries very hard to portray as the living manifestation of how 'The Grapes of Wrath' would have ended if Biden had starred in the role of Tom Joad.
The problem, however, is that Biden is not an actor, and the role he is portraying is not that of Tom Joad.
Biden is the living embodiment of Willy Loman.
He is the ultimate manifestation of a failed salesman, the fronting for a vision of the America Dream that no one is buying any more.
Whether speaking about foreign or domestic policy, Biden exposes himself as a snake oil salesman whose audience long ago realised he was peddling a placebo, not a cure.
America has an election in November 2024 that will define the fate of the nation, and the world.
We yearn for a leader, someone who will “fight against the blood and anger in the air.”
We look to the podium, and we are subjected to the sight of Willy Loman shuffling out of his home, to his car, and his date with destiny.
Only we don’t have an insurance policy that will restore us to where we want to be, to right the wrongs of this failed salesman who has betrayed everything we once believed we stood for.
We, the people of America, are left huddling around a campfire. “The highway is alive tonight,” Springsteen and Morello sing, “but nobody’s kidding nobody about where it goes.”
The only car on the American highway today is being driven by Joe Biden as Willy Loman, and we know how that ends.
“I’m sitting down here in the campfire light, with the ghost of old Tom Joad.”
Wake up, America. It’s time we find our own Tom Joad.
Or, better yet, assume the mantle of citizenship and transform ourselves into a person worthy of that name.[4]
Documents by Scott Ritter
| Title | Document type | Publication date | Subject(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document:Russophobia - Reaping the Whirlwind | Article | NATO Russia Ukraine 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine UN Charter | Vladimir Putin’s order to begin partial mobilisation of Russian military forces continues a confrontation between Russia and a US-led coalition of Western nations that began at the end of the Cold War. | |
| Document:Why I No Longer Stand with Israel, and Never Will Again | Article | 15 October 2023 | Gaza Israel Benjamin Netanyahu Bill Clinton Yasser Arafat Yitzhak Rabin Hamas Two-state solution Oslo Accords | "I stand with Palestine, because I stand for the children of Israel and Palestine, knowing full well that the only chance they have of a future where they can live together as neighbours united in peace, instead of enemies united in war, is for a free and independent Palestine to exist." (Scott Ritter) |
Quotes by Scott Ritter
| Page | Quote | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| William Arkin | “the signature style of Arkin and his Pentagon handlers [is] a sort of Orwellian double-speak where one can rest assured whatever bold statement is made, the truth is the exact opposite.” | 1 September 2022 | Consortium News |
| Fog of war | “It is not uncommon for opposing parties to a conflict to put forward competing narratives about a given event, with each side believing itself to be accurate, yet their respective facts and the conclusions derived therefrom failing to align. However, sometimes one or both parties have something that they want hidden, an uncomfortable reality that should, from their perspective, never see the light of day. In that case, the fog of war becomes a deliberate smokescreen designed to mislead and misdirect an audience so that the truth is never found out. If only one party is participating in such a deception, the fact will generally find a way to reveal itself. But if both parties are engaged in deliberate obfuscation, it becomes virtually impossible to find the truth.” | 20 October 2023 | |
| NATO | “We had a moment in history, between 1988 and 1991, where we could have worked with Mikhail Gorbachev to make his vision of perestroika succeed. Instead, we allowed him to fail, without any real plan on how we would live with what emerged from the ruins of the Soviet Union. Save for a short period of time during the Second World War where we needed the Soviet Union to defeat Germany and Japan, we have been in a continual state of political conflict with the Soviet Union. Even after the Soviet Union collapsed, we viewed the Russian Federation more as a defeated enemy that we needed to keep down, than a friend in need of a helping hand up.” | 2021 | Dissident Voice |
| Yuri Nosenko | “The highlight of the event came when we entered an auditorium and saw a man onstage wearing a wig, a fake beard and mustache, and makeup designed to alter the angles of his face — either for his own protection or to heighten the Reagan-era theatrics, we couldn’t be sure. He was introduced as Yuri Nosenko, a defector from the KGB. Nosenko proceeded to regale us with tales of the wicked and bellicose Soviet Union, whose details coincidentally matched almost every talking point in the latest edition of Soviet Military Power. This was exciting stuff. For the better part of a week, we had been the recipients of dull presentations from DIA staff. Now we were listening to an actual acolyte of evil, whose indictment included not only the military elite but also the common people, and we soaked it up. Nosenko, in other words, had been dead wrong....I should have been even more skeptical about my own government’s motivations for showcasing Nosenko.” | 2017 |
