The former Marine and weapons inspector said the US government was trying to intimidate him

(archive link)

The RT contributor is reportedly being investigated as a “foreign agent”

Federal agents and state police have searched the house of former US Marine and UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter in New York state on Wednesday.

State Police and FBI agents descended on the street of Bethlehem township, south of Albany, around noon, according to the local outlet Times-Union. They carried “more than two dozen boxes” out of the house just before 5pm local time.

The law enforcement executed a search warrant “related to concerns apparently the US government has about violations of the Foreign Agent Restriction Act (FARA)” Ritter told reporters gathered outside the house after the agents left.

He denied any allegations of wrongdoing and said the federal government was trying to intimidate him.

Ritter is a former US Marine Corps major who served as a UN weapons inspector in Iraq during the 1990s. He opposed the 2003 US invasion, insisting that Saddam Hussein’s government did not have weapons of mass destruction, as Washington claimed at the time.

He has also been an RT contributor and saw his passport seized by the US government when he tried to attend the St Petersburg International Economic Forum in June.

  • LeniX
    18·
    3 months ago

    Just in case anyone brings up his weird history of child sexual offenses, he was never prosecuted for harming actual children. Both prosecuted offenses were supposedly sting operations (aka entrapment) by FBI and police, which makes them super suspicious. For example, the first one in 2001 was conveniently timed to interfere with his anti-Iraq War advocacy.

    Have you got any links to look into, or is this just rumors?

    • OrnluWolfjarl
      25·
      3 months ago

      https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jan/24/usa.davidteather

      Police-woman enticed him to meet, pretending to be 16-year-old girl

      Case dismissed and files sealed.

      Someone from within leaked the story to the press to smear him.

      In my own opinion, someone is out to get him and they are grasping at anything to discredit him. If the sexual offenses allegations were true, they’d use those to raid his house.

      • LeniX
        19·
        3 months ago

        In my own opinion, someone is out to get him and they are grasping at anything to discredit him.

        Looks that way, for sure.

    • Comprehensive49
      11·
      3 months ago

      The 2001 sting operation was so conveniently timed that even Fox News had to point out how sus it looked: Former U.N. Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter: Timing of Arrest Reports Suspicious

      Before he publicly came out against the Iraq war and denounced all claims of Iraq having WMDs, AIPAC even tried to buy Ritter off for 6 million dollars and a lifetime of luxury in exchange for him making up shit about how evil Iraq is. Ritter turns them down because he would not lie about Iraq’s WMDs.

      Ritter talks about this on Danny Haiphong’s show here.

      Ritter’s non-cooperation obviously has made him a massive target, especially because of his deep knowledge on the ground in Iraq and the military apparatus.