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.
I haven’t taken the time to look into the Ritter allegations/charges myself, but it reminds me strongly of the allegations of sexual assault against Julian Assange which turned out to be complete fabrications.
In general I’m very cautious of emotionally-laden allegations when it comes to anti-imperialist voices or proposals made to serve the empire such as breaking encryption to “prevent terrorism” or “protect the children.”