U.N. Arms Inspector Quits, Cites Inaction Against Iraq

One of the most senior U.N. weapons inspectors resigned Wednesday after charging that the United States and U.N. officials have opted to “surrender to the Iraqi leadership” in the ongoing confrontation with Baghdad.

The resignation of Scott Ritter, a retired U.S. Marine Corps officer charged with uncovering Iraq’s most secretive weapons programs, is likely to further demoralize an inspection team already fearful that its seven-year effort to disarm Iraqi President Saddam Hussein may be sputtering to an end.

The U.N. effort has been virtually disabled since Aug. 5, when Iraq announced that it would block all inspections of sites not previously visited and that it would withhold documents sought by the inspectors. Iraq’s action makes it easier for Baghdad to resume secret development of chemical, biological and nuclear arms and long-range missiles, according to reports to the U.N. Security Council.

Despite those warnings and a previous assertion by the Security Council that Iraq would risk “the severest consequences” if it blocked inspections, the council, with the acquiescence of the United States, has declined to punish Baghdad in the latest impasse.

That inaction prompted Ritter, 37, to leave, according to his resignation letter to chief inspector Richard Butler.

“Almost without exception, every one of the impressive gains made . . . over the years in disarming Iraq can be traced to the effectiveness of the inspection regime,” he wrote. “The issue of immediate, unrestricted access is, in my opinion, the cornerstone of any viable inspection regime, and as such is an issue worth fighting for. Unfortunately, others do not share this opinion, including the Security Council and the United States.”

With the letter, Ritter may have intended to embarrass the Clinton administration, Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Security Council into taking a tougher line with Iraq. But interviews with officials here in recent weeks suggest that he only put in writing what many others on the disarmament team are thinking. They cite a general decline in morale among the inspectors and a growing conviction within the U.N. that the organization’s priority in recent months has shifted from ridding Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction to avoiding a renewed confrontation with Hussein.

The Clinton administration has fed that perception by adopting a far less combative approach in the latest impasse.

Ritter said that the Security Council has become “a witting partner to an overall Iraqi strategy of weakening” the inspections and that Annan has “allowed the grand office of the secretary-general to become a sounding board for Iraqi grievances, real or imagined.”

Butler said he had accepted Ritter’s resignation with regret and praised his work.

In the last year, Ritter’s attempts to uncover Iraq’s weapons programs have led him to the doorsteps of some of Baghdad’s most sensitive military and intelligence facilities and by some accounts prompted the Iraqis to step up their opposition to inspections. In some cases, the U.S. has recommended to Butler that he delay some of Ritter’s inspections because they were overly provocative, U.S. officials said.

Ritter had been singled out for vituperation by Iraqi officials, who accused him of spying. While the U.N. has adamantly denied that, some of Ritter’s co-workers in Baghdad have characterized him as hostile and insensitive to Iraqis.