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 SCOWCROFTMy 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 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.
BRENT SCOWCROFTEuropeans 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 SCOWCROFTRussia right now is searching for its soul. It’s trying to figure out what it really is.
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.
BRENT SCOWCROFTI’m afraid that the United States is more isolated today than at any other time in my memory.
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.
BRENT SCOWCROFTWho is the guarantor, if there is one, of a more stable world? It’s the United States.
BRENT SCOWCROFTThe radical elements in Islam are very dangerous. They want to achieve a return to the Islamic purity of the Middle Ages.
BRENT SCOWCROFTAmerica has never seen itself as a national state like all others, but rather as an experiment in human freedom and democracy.
BRENT SCOWCROFTIt’s not for nothing that the Iranians are known as rug merchants. They are.
BRENT SCOWCROFTWe 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 SCOWCROFTIt is beyond dispute that Saddam Hussein is a menace.
BRENT SCOWCROFTThe Iraqis need help establishing a government. We have to provide them with security.
BRENT SCOWCROFTSaddam’s ouster will not necessarily lead to the same result, since Iraq lacks democratic traditions. Democracy doesn’t just consist of holding elections.
BRENT SCOWCROFTI don’t think the Chinese look out at the world and want to overturn the system.
BRENT SCOWCROFT