It is beyond dispute that Saddam Hussein is a menace.
BRENT SCOWCROFTThe radical elements in Islam are very dangerous.
More Brent Scowcroft Quotes
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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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Democracy doesn’t just consist of holding elections.
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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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I don’t think the Chinese look out at the world and want to overturn the system.
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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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The radical elements in Islam are very dangerous.
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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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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 art of diplomacy is to take an opportunity and turn it into something.
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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 Iraqis need help establishing a government. We have to provide them with security.
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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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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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If Iraq were to descend into chaos, the Europeans would feel the effects just as much as we would.
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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.
BRENT SCOWCROFT