Scott Ritter Warns: “You Should Be Very Afraid”

The 71st consecutive weekly Zoom call dialogue of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) Oct. 11 was a sobering experience for participants, and for all who have viewed the presentation by Scott Ritter on the danger of a nuclear war provoked by Israel’s attacks on Lebanon. Ritter, a well-respected former UN weapons inspector, spoke after Helga Zepp-LaRouche, who had initiated the IPC process.

At that meeting and on other occasions since then, Mrs. LaRouche described the “two powder kegs” confronting mankind, in Ukraine and Southwest Asia. After a review of the efforts to increase the “pressure” on Moscow by lifting restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles to strike deep into Russia, she turned to the tension building between Israel and Iran. It is still not clear, she said, whether the Netanyahu government will “only” strike Iran’s oil refineries, or even go for its nuclear facilities, “in the expectation that the U.S. will provide full back-up to them”.

Ritter opened by stating bluntly “I’m going to continue the trend of injecting fear into the hearts of anybody listening, because you should be very afraid….the world is not a safer place than it was the last time I spoke; in fact, it’s even more dangerous. The situation in Ukraine continues to manifest itself in a manner which puts us on the cusp of immediate nuclear war; not something to be looking at in the future. One stroke of the pen authorizing long-range weapons built and targeted by NATO and the United States, to be fired into Russia will generate a Russian response that will lead us to a war between Russia and NATO, which will lead us to a nuclear exchange, which will lead us to a general nuclear war, which will kill us all.”

On Iran, Ritter explained that the fatwa issued years ago by the Supreme Leader against building nuclear weapons “is subject to reversal under certain circumstances. One of those circumstances is when the enemy seeks to use a type of weapon against you, you can use that type of weapon against the enemy… Israel is threatening to attack Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities”, which means using nuclear weapons to do so.

Ritter said he believes Iran has the capability to build crude nuclear bombs, and a missile capability to deliver them after quickly enriching the uranium up to the required level. In his estimation, three to five Iranian nuclear weapons targeted against Israel would destroy Israel forever. “This is a whole new paradigm right now that challenges all red lines across the board.” Ritter’s full presentation can be viewed here.

Both Helga Zepp-LaRouche and Scott Ritter called for participants to build the attendance for a campaign event and a concert in New York City on Oct. 26 (cf. below).