The radical elements in Islam are very dangerous. They want to achieve a return to the Islamic purity of the Middle Ages.
BRENT SCOWCROFTAmerica 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.
More Brent Scowcroft Quotes
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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 -
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.
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America wants to work with friends, with allies, with people of good will, to make this a better world.
BRENT SCOWCROFT -
It is beyond dispute that Saddam Hussein is a menace.
BRENT SCOWCROFT -
We have not been forthcoming about explaining a security relationship for the region, in which Iran can feel secure and thus maybe willing to do something.
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After all, we didn’t bring democracy to Germany in 1945; Hitler destroyed democracy there first.
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My point was that removing Saddam should not have been our highest priority. Fighting terrorism should have been our number one concern, followed by the Palestinian peace process.
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.
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But, if you believe we should go around the world overturning regimes to make little United States, I don’t agree with that, because I don’t think we’re capable of doing that.
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 -
The Iraqis need help establishing a government. We have to provide them with security.
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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 -
The radical elements in Islam are very dangerous.
BRENT SCOWCROFT -
Democracy doesn’t just consist of holding elections.
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Saddam’s ouster will not necessarily lead to the same result, since Iraq lacks democratic traditions. Democracy doesn’t just consist of holding elections.
BRENT SCOWCROFT







