If Iraq were to descend into chaos, the Europeans would feel the effects just as much as we would.
BRENT SCOWCROFTBut, 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.
More Brent Scowcroft Quotes
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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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Russia right now is searching for its soul. It’s trying to figure out what it really is.
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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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Information technology has politicized the world’s population.
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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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After all, we didn’t bring democracy to Germany in 1945; Hitler destroyed democracy there first.
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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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Saddam’s ouster will not necessarily lead to the same result, since Iraq lacks democratic traditions. Democracy doesn’t just consist of holding elections.
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It’s not for nothing that the Iranians are known as rug merchants. They are.
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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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I don’t think the Chinese look out at the world and want to overturn the system.
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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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Democracy doesn’t just consist of holding elections.
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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.
BRENT SCOWCROFT