In January 2003, more than a year and a half after the World Trade Center fell to the ground and just weeks before the initial invasion of Iraq, Scott Ritter traveled to Washington College in Maryland to give a talk titled “The coming war with Iraq.”

So many students showed up for the event it was moved from a small lecture hall to the largest theater on campus. I was one of them.

Ritter didn’t look like a marine, yet he began a military career as an intelligence officer for the Marines in 1984. He served a total of twelve years as an intelligence officer during which he lead a Marine Rapid Deployment Force during Iran and Iraq war and advised U.S. Army General Norman Schwarzkpf what to do with ballistic missiles during Desert Storm. Most recently, Ritter was the chief United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998.

Somewhere in his career, Ritter must have decided he knew more about foreign policy than his boss’ boss. He resigned from his position in 1998 when the United Nations Security Council did not penalize Iraq for denying weapons inspectors – his weapons inspectors – access to potential weapon sites. Since his resignation, Ritter has written books, complied documentaries and made national television appearances to express his frustration with the U.S. policies concerning the Middle East. He has also admitted to being arrested in 2001, possibly for soliciting a minor for sex, but was never formally charged and has repeatedly refused to comment further on the incident.

It took about an hour for Ritter to introduce himself and deliver a speech that has kept me up at night for years since. His exact words have run through my head time and time again as I watched the nightly news, read the paper and listened to the radio in the years that have passed since.

“The president will say there are nuclear weapons in Iraq and go to war. There are not,” Ritter said. “I have been there. I have seen it. I am telling you there is no way there are nuclear weapons in Iraq.”

A few weeks later, I joined my roommates in cheering at our television during the “shock and awe” campaign. Watching the destruction helped satiate a craving for a reaction to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, something we had all anticipated – even expected – for nearly two years.

Within a year of the attacks on New York and Washington, the president told the American people he was sending troops into Iraq because they possessed weapons of mass destruction. Feeling suddenly vulnerable and anticipating another satisfying demonstration of our military prowess, I believed him. 

As it turns out, he was wrong, bringing Ritter’s prophecy to fruition.

Last week, I called Ritter to apologize for not listening to him in 2003. 

“Not too many people did,” Ritter said. “The fact of the matter is, it’s not about you or anybody else now. I could be resentful, but it’s a two-way street. We’re all programmed to have faith in our government, therefore are inherently distrustful of whistle-blowers. We all ask ‘Why is this guy saying this?’ and it was tough for people to say I didn’t have an agenda. I don’t blame anyone who was part of the uninformed public for what happened in Iraq. Essentially, don’t worry about it.”

It felt good to have that off my chest, but I called to do more than apologize.

Prior to “shock and awe” and the subsequent invasion of Iraq, I think we all had a sense that our nation was on the cusp of something historic. You could see it in the faces of politicians on the television, read it in the headlines and hear it in the debates on the radio. One could feel it hanging over the country like a heavy, impending aroma. 

That same feeling is creeping up my neck again.

People are whispering about recessions and depressions, foreclosure signs are getting closer and closer to my new home and it’s hard to escape the words “economic climate” during the course of a normal day. The president is promising to help make the economy better with an amount of money that is too large for me to comprehend the scope of. He is saying he will finish what we started in Iraq and Afghanistan. I’m excited, it’s exactly what I want to hear and I believe him.

Wait. I’ve been here before. The last time I took a politician for their word I was duped into supporting an illegitimate war that has contributed to, if not sparked, the economic downturn.

So, before I go and stick Obama to my bumper, I wanted to ask the question, “What is Ritter – the guy who single-handedly predicted the war in Iraq before it even started – saying now?”

When it comes to rebuilding the economy, Ritter didn’t claim to be any kind of financial expert, but did say he believes any plan to rebuild must be based on honest intentions.

“Historically speaking, a process that begins on a lie never ends well,” he said. “When you talk about building something, if the foundation is a lie and corrupt, then whatever you build will collapse.”

Ritter felt more comfortable sharing his position on the war in Iraq.

“When I worked as a weapons inspector we spent a lot of time acquiring, as completely as possible, an understanding of Iraq. We had to understand that the society was derived from a tribal culture. You can’t just jump in a car and go to a [possible weapons location], you have to figure out [which tribes are along the way] and what they think of you and [their neighbors]. Before you know it you’re suddenly conducting a Ph.D. level study of relationships in Iraq,” he said. “We need to look at Iraq differently; you can’t speak of solving a problem you haven’t clearly defined and in my opinion, the Obama administration has continued to not define the problem correctly.”