It is beyond dispute that Saddam Hussein is a menace.
BRENT SCOWCROFTBut the central point is that any campaign against Iraq, whatever the strategy, cost and risks, is certain to divert us for some indefinite period from our war on terrorism.
More Brent Scowcroft Quotes
-
-
If Iraq were to descend into chaos, the Europeans would feel the effects just as much as we would.
BRENT SCOWCROFT -
Russia right now is searching for its soul. It’s trying to figure out what it really is.
BRENT SCOWCROFT -
America has never seen itself as a national state like all others, but rather as an experiment in human freedom and democracy.
BRENT SCOWCROFT -
America wants to work with friends, with allies, with people of good will, to make this a better world.
BRENT SCOWCROFT -
Yes, Israel’s our ally. But, are the Palestinians our enemy? No, they are not.
BRENT SCOWCROFT -
If you look back at the first Gulf war, the Arabs sent forces, they sent money. So their interests in Iraq are clear, but they’re nowhere to be seen now. Why? Because right now, it’s dangerous to be seen as supporting the United States.
BRENT SCOWCROFT -
The art of diplomacy is to take an opportunity and turn it into something.
BRENT SCOWCROFT -
Europeans are familiar with terrorism and violence. We have not experienced a true conflict on our soil in a hundred years, and especially not one that involved 3,000 dead.
BRENT SCOWCROFT -
I don’t think the Chinese look out at the world and want to overturn the system.
BRENT SCOWCROFT -
America is stronger than any state probably since the Roman Empire. But we can’t do what used to be done with that kind of strength.
BRENT SCOWCROFT -
I think America has to do more than be a broker now. Because both the Palestinians are weak and Israel is very weak.
BRENT SCOWCROFT -
Since the days of Peter the Great, Russians have been maybe Europeans who didn’t share in the enlightenment and the reformation, or are they Mongol Asians with the European veneer. And they’ve gone back and forth.
BRENT SCOWCROFT -
Much of what we know about mathematics and trade comes from the Arabs. Then came stagnation, and now they’re the West’s whipping boy. This is a problem that cannot be solved overnight, and certainly not militarily.
BRENT SCOWCROFT -
To sum up, the position we took was that since we didn’t know the internal situation in Iraq nor Saddam Hussein, that our best bet was to take counsel from the people who did know him and who did deal with him.
BRENT SCOWCROFT -
After the ’30s, we said, “no more Munichs.” And it got us in a lot of problems. Then we said, “No more Vietnams.” Now if we say, “No more Iraqs,” the next one won’t be an Iraq. It will be something different. You can’t learn lessons.
BRENT SCOWCROFT







