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Yes, Israel’s our ally. But, are the Palestinians our enemy? No, they are not.

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

Country Hussein Internal People Situation
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.
BRENT SCOWCROFT

Country People Period Strategy War
If Iraq were to descend into chaos, the Europeans would feel the effects just as much as we would.
BRENT SCOWCROFT

Chaos Country Feels People
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

Country Democracy Election People
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

Country Money People United States War
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

Boys Problem West
Who is the guarantor, if there is one, of a more stable world? It’s the United States.
BRENT SCOWCROFT

Country People United States World
It’s not for nothing that the Iranians are known as rug merchants. They are.
BRENT SCOWCROFT

Countries Known Merchants People
The art of diplomacy is to take an opportunity and turn it into something.
BRENT SCOWCROFT

Art Diplomacy Opportunity
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 SCOWCROFT

Explain Forthcoming Region Something
The radical elements in Islam are very dangerous. They want to achieve a return to the Islamic purity of the Middle Ages.
BRENT SCOWCROFT

Age Dangerous Elements Islamic
Information technology has politicized the world’s population.
BRENT SCOWCROFT

Population Technology World
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

Fighting Followed Numbers Terrorism
After all, we didn’t bring democracy to Germany in 1945; Hitler destroyed democracy there first.
BRENT SCOWCROFT

Country Democracy Firsts People
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

Enlightenment Gone Share
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

Country Different People Vietnam

Yes, Israel’s our ally. But, are the Palestinians our enemy? No, they are not.

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Yes, Israel’s our ally. But, are the Palestinians our enemy? No, they are not.

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