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.
BRENT SCOWCROFTAfter 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.
More Brent Scowcroft Quotes
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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If Iraq were to descend into chaos, the Europeans would feel the effects just as much as we would.
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I think America has to do more than be a broker now. Because both the Palestinians are weak and Israel is very weak.
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America wants to work with friends, with allies, with people of good will, to make this a better world.
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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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The radical elements in Islam are very dangerous.
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Who is the guarantor, if there is one, of a more stable world? It’s the United States.
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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.
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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.
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Russia right now is searching for its soul. It’s trying to figure out what it really is.
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I don’t think the Chinese look out at the world and want to overturn the system.
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The radical elements in Islam are very dangerous. They want to achieve a return to the Islamic purity of the Middle Ages.
BRENT SCOWCROFT