#1 Scott Ritter at Chapman U. Tuesday, March 18th

Delp-Wilkinson Peace Lecture, Spring 2003:

THE COMING WAR WITH IRAQ: HOW DID WE

GET HERE?

A lecture by Mr. Scott Ritter,

former U.N. Weapons Inspector in Iraq

Tuesday, March 18, 2003 at 7 PM

Beckman Hall 404

Chapman University

As a chief weapons inspector for the UN 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.

Scott 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 Schwartzkopf with Marine Central

Command headquarters in Saudi Arabia.

In 1991, Ritter joined the UN weapons inspection team,

or UNSCOM. He took part in 52 inspection missions,

14 of them as chief. He led the UN weapons inspection

team into Iraq in January of 1998, only to be blocked

from the weapons sites by Iraqi officials.

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 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 its implications for U.S.

foreign policy. The documentary 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.

Today Scott Ritter proposes that the UN Weapons inspectors

should be allowed to complete their work rather than have a

premature allied invasion of Iraq.

Admission is free. For further information,

contact (714) 997-6556

Can someone record the event and put up an mp3 or two? I'm not in the LA area and it would be great to hear an extended discussion from him, with his views given changes in the last month or so. It's been hard to learn his take in the last two months because he's been much less visible. The media has shied away from covering him because right-wing folks have scandalized him (see http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/01/1564760.php