Product Description

The solution to the never-ending crisis in Iraq, from the head of the on-site arms inspection team whose resignation in August 1998 caused a major shift in US and UN policy Scott Ritter was the longest-serving weapons inspector and head of the on-site team in Iraq when he resigned in protest over UN and US policy in August 1998. His resignation made front-page news around the world. In ENDGAME Ritter has compiled an exciting, tense account of the cat-and-mouse game the inspection teams played with duplicitous Iraqi officials, set against the shifting sands of international diplomacy. He describes how, even as the inspectors were risking their lives to uncover Saddam's deadly weapons, the programme was being betrayed as the French, the Russians and finally the US lobbied to soften UN policy. He also reveals both how the US manipulated the inspections for their own ends and the shadowy role played by the CIA. He knows better than anyone what weapons Saddam has and he lists Iraq's destructive capacity in chilling detail. Combined with an insightful analysis of how Saddam came to power and how he retains a despotic grip on the country, Ritter clearly demonstrates that it is only a matter of time before Saddam unleashes his weapons of mass destruction again. Above all he uses his unique knowledge of Iraq to outline a plan for dealing with Saddam Hussein. The attempts to bomb Saddam into submission have clearly failed. France and Russia are prepared to turn a blind eye as Saddam rebuilds his arsenal. The US has no long-term solution. Scott Ritter's plan could be the only way forward.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1325879 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

About the Author
Scott Ritter served in the US Marine Corps as an intelligence officer from 1984 to 2002, reaching the rank

Customer Reviews

Outdated, probably irrelevant but very informative
Having read Scott Ritter’s other book “War On Iraq” three months prior to the war, I didn’t think this book would be very relevant now that the war has ended. How wrong I was. In a way I actually regret not having read this book first. Even though the book is only just outdated by current events, it does provide a lot of background information.

Scott Ritter is amongst the most informed westerners (if not THE most informed) when it comes to Iraq’s last 10-12 years history. He is undoubtedly the most informed person from outside Iraq (to my knowledge anyway) when it comes to Iraq’s history with weapons and WMDs in general. It must be said that he is/was ompletely opposed to the war. This is implicit in this book and very much explicit in his other book, “War On Iraq”. Having said that, not that it really matters now, Mr. Ritter does, very indirectly, make a case FOR the war in this book. In a sense the reader feels that Mr. Ritter is justifying it. Unintentional perhaps.

The book is 15 chapters long. The first 8 chapters Mr. Ritter talks about Iraq’s contemporary history: from the Ottoman Empire up to the present day (which would be back in 1999 when the book was first published). He briefly describes events without going into too much detail, the turmoil in Iraq resulting from British Colonialism; the coups and power struggles; the history behind Iraq’s border disputes with its neighbors (Kuwait and Iran specifically); the beginnings of Saddam Hussein and his rise to power; background information on Dr Germ and other characters from the Baath Party in Iraq. Chapters 9-14 deal with the actual inspections from Ritter’s experience; the creation of UNMOVIC; Richard Butler’s dubious run-ins with both Israeli and American politicians; Iraq’s ‘cat and mouse’ concealment games. The book ends with Mr. Ritter’s own analysis of how to deal with Iraq in the ‘after words’. Mostly outdated and practically irrelevant now, he talks about a diplomatic as opposed to military solution to Iraq discussing the consequences/ repercussions of both. Worth noting is that 9/11 is only mentioned once in this book. I think it would have made a difference if Mr. Ritter, in this updated edition, had talked about how 9/11 influenced the change in the US’s policies towards Iraq so drastically. Alas this was not to be the case.

In general I feel this a good book to read; very informative even today. This book provides more in-depth background information and more in-depth analysis than the ‘War on Iraq’. I personally feel that had Mr.Bush and Mr.Blair used this book and the information in it to convince their respective publics about going to war they probably would have found it easier for themselves in regards to influencing public opinion. The book is from the point of view of one person but it certainly explains alot and puts everything in perspective.

Excellent insiders story and good anaylsis
Instead of watching the news coverage of the war that is currently going on in Iraq I have spent some of my spare time reading this excellent work by someone who deserves attention. The behind the scenes account of political intrigues in Iraq, the US, and the UN is very telling and informative and puts a lot of events into their proper perspective. After I got half way through the book I was sort of surprised that Ritter has opposed the war, but in the closing chapters he makes his case (I think too briefly) and says that too much is made of the problems around weapons inspections, and not enough is made of the great successes that have been achieved (his own book seems to also have something of this problem.) I found the accounts of Richard Butler helped a lot to resolve my impression of the man as being very oddly political in his role in the UN. I never found him to be credible and Ritter's book backs up my impression somewhat.

Anyway - if you are at all interesting into how the situation in Iraq got to where it is today I highly recommend this book.