Ritter, Scott. Endgame: Solving the Iraq Crisis. New York:
Simon & Schuster, 2002. 256 pages.
In 1991 the U.N. Security Council set up UNSCOM, a commission to
inspect for weapons in Iraq. Scott Ritter spent seven years with UNSCOM,
including two as head of the unit investigating concealed weapons. At first
UNSCOM was chaired by Rolf Ekeus, a Swedish diplomat. In 1997 Ekeus was
replaced by Richard Butler, who tolerated CIA penetration of UNSCOM.
Support for UNSCOM was also undermined by Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright during Clinton's second term, when she said that sanctions would
not be lifted even if Iraq fulfilled its part of the U.N. agreement
concerning disposal of weapons. Ritter resigned in 1998, disillusioned
with U.S. policy.
This book is not a dry analysis of high-level policies, but rather
a fascinating, detailed account of Ritter's experiences in Iraq. There
is background on Saddam's rise to power, interspersed with cat-and-mouse
confrontations between Ritter's inspectors and Saddam's armed guards. Dusty
documents are sometimes discovered in unlikely places, which also makes it
something of a detective story. It's a good read, but it's also important to
remember, as Ritter points out, that the policy of sanctions was ill-advised
from the start -- innocent children and adults should not be punished
because of crimes committed by their leadership.
ISBN 0-7432-4772-8
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