Brent Scowcroft
An idea can be as flawless as can be, but its execution will always be full of mistakes.
It is beyond dispute that Saddam Hussein is a menace.
But there is scant evidence to tie Saddam to terrorist organizations, and even less to the Sept. 11 attacks.
Saddam is a familiar dictatorial aggressor, with traditional goals for his aggression.
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.
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.
But figuring out Saddam Hussein was one our greatest mysteries. He marched to his own drummer and frequently as this unfolded he made decisions which were sometimes inexplicable to us and sometimes didn't look very smart.
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.
Osama bin Laden is going after us to get us out of the region, so he can deal with the regimes that he sees in the region, or replace them with purists.
First of all, I think the Saudis are deeply concerned about the collapse of negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians and the resumption of conflict.
You know, different people are going to react different ways. And I don't think we should be intolerable because people do things a little differently.
Yes, Israel's our ally. But, are the Palestinians our enemy? No, they are not.
If Iraq were to descend into chaos, the Europeans would feel the effects just as much as we would.
America has never seen itself as a national state like all others, but rather as an experiment in human freedom and democracy.
After all, we didn't bring democracy to Germany in 1945; Hitler destroyed democracy there first.
Saddam's ouster will not necessarily lead to the same result, since Iraq lacks democratic traditions. Democracy doesn't just consist of holding elections.
I'm afraid that the United States is more isolated today than at any other time in my memory.
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.
The Iraqi elections were an important first step.
Many Sunnis, who are still stuck in the Saddam era mindset and believe Iraq belongs to them, are trying to prevent a new country from developing at all.
The UN could help the Iraqi government get on its feet and help the United States withdraw a bit more.
The Iraqis need help establishing a government. We have to provide them with security.
Progress is only possible if the United States and its allies work together.
So far the changes in the president in his second term have been mainly of a rhetorical nature.
The radical elements in Islam are very dangerous.
We must find out where the roots of terrorism lie.
Simply killing everyone who is already a terrorist today won't solve the problem.
The Europeans must finally understand the incredible shock triggered by the attacks of September 11.
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.
We believe we are creating the beginning of a new world order coming out of the collapse of the US-Soviet antagonisms.Collection: Believe
Information technology has politicized the world's population.Collection: Technology
We can't make China a friend, but we can behave to make them an enemy.Collection: Enemy
A colossal event is upon us, the birth of a New World Order.Collection: Order
The art of diplomacy is to take an opportunity and turn it into something.Collection: Art
I think there's nothing more dangerous than mislearning lessons of history, and we do it perpetually.Collection: Thinking
America wants to work with friends, with allies, with people of good will, to make this a better world.Collection: America
Democracy doesn't just consist of holding elections.Collection: Democracy
Everybody is within reach of a television set. And so they're all politicized, and they're all stimulated, and then they have these desires, pleasures, hates, resentments, and so on, and they're reacting instantaneously.Collection: Hate
For most of mankind, the average person knew what was happening in his own village and the next one, and nothing beyond that, and he didn't care, so that leaders were able to guide their countries almost irrespective of what people really thought because they weren't involved in it. Now, everybody knows what's happening instantaneously.Collection: Country
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.Collection: Iraq
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.Collection: Enlightenment
I believe the Chinese are gradually realizing that they're dependent on the system that, as they run out of energy, for example, they have to reach out to foreign sources for energy, for raw materials. They have to reach out to the world for markets. They have to export. They have to maintain full employment. They've got a terrible population problem. So they need a stable world, in a way.Collection: Running
I think that America is a part of the world, that we want to cooperate with the world. We are not the dominant power in the world, that everyone falls in behind us. But we want to reach out and cooperate.Collection: Fall
It's not for nothing that the Iranians are known as rug merchants. They are.Collection: Known
Perhaps the most troubling area in the world goes from the Balkans through the Middle East and in Central Asia.Collection: Middle East
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.Collection: America
The Russians are not going to do what we want them to do because we want them to do it.Collection: Want
We have never recognized that Iran lives in a dangerous neighborhood. And it's not surprising that they want some protection. 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.Collection: Iran
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.Collection: Boys
The radical elements in Islam are very dangerous. They want to achieve a return to the Islamic purity of the Middle Ages.Collection: Islamic