Former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter to Speak at the Maxwell School

Scott Ritter, former UN chief weapons inspector in Iraq, will speak about “The Coming War with Iraq: How Did We Get Here?” at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University on Friday, November 8, from 3 – 5:00 p.m. in Maxwell Auditorium.  Mehrzad Boroujerdi, professor of political science, and William Smullen, Deputy Director of Maxwell’s National Security Studies program, will respond, followed by questions from the audience.  The event is free and open to the public.

Ritter has publicly denounced the Bush Administration’s rationale for potential military action against Iraq, contending that Iraq does not have the weapons capabilities that the President and his supporters claim.  In the 1990s, Ritter assembled and led the multinational team charged with seeking out weapons of mass destruction in Iraq until 1998 when his team was denied access to certain key areas during an inspection mission.  When the UN failed to respond to the Iraqi action, Ritter resigned his post and has remained a controversial and outspoken figure since then. “The illusion of arms control is more dangerous than no arms control at all,” he said when he resigned.  His book, Endgame, is based on his experiences and explores alternative approaches to the Iraq crisis.

Ritter joined UNSCOM, the United Nations weapons inspection team, in 1991.  He was involved in over 30 inspection missions and was chief inspector in 14 of them. 

Before then, he held a number of positions in government service around the world.  As a ballistic missile technology expert, he worked in U.S. Armed Forces military intelligence over a 12-year period with assignments in the former Soviet Union and the Middle East.  He also spent several months of the Gulf War serving as a major in the U.S. Marines under General Norman Schwarzkopf with Marine Central Command headquarters in Saudi Arabia.   

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The Maxwell School of Syracuse University, founded in 1924, is the premier academic institution in the United States committed to civic leadership and careers in public and international affairs.  It is home to Syracuse University’s graduate social science departments and to numerous nationally recognized multidisciplinary programs in public policy and finance, international studies, and conflict resolution.  Maxwell’s graduate program in public administration – the first of its kind – is ranked consistently the best in the nation.

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Contact: Jill Leonhardt, director of communications, (315) 443-5492; jlleonha@maxwell.syr.edu or Mark Rupert, (315) 443-1748; merupert@maxwell.syr.edu