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 SCOWCROFTIf 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.
More Brent Scowcroft Quotes
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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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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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I don’t think the Chinese look out at the world and want to overturn the system.
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I’m afraid that the United States is more isolated today than at any other time in my memory.
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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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The radical elements in Islam are very dangerous. They want to achieve a return to the Islamic purity of the Middle Ages.
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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 has never seen itself as a national state like all others, but rather as an experiment in human freedom and democracy.
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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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Who is the guarantor, if there is one, of a more stable world? It’s the United States.
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But 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.
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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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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.
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The radical elements in Islam are very dangerous.
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Information technology has politicized the world’s population.
BRENT SCOWCROFT