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Brent Scowcroft Quotes

American general and diplomat, Birth: 19-3-1925 Brent Scowcroft Quotes
1.
We believe we are creating the beginning of a new world order coming out of the collapse of the US-Soviet antagonisms.
Brent Scowcroft

2.
An idea can be as flawless as can be, but its execution will always be full of mistakes.
Brent Scowcroft

3.
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.
Brent Scowcroft

4.
Democracy doesn't just consist of holding elections.
Brent Scowcroft

5.
America has never seen itself as a national state like all others, but rather as an experiment in human freedom and democracy.
Brent Scowcroft

Similar Authors: William James George Washington Dwight D. Eisenhower John Kenneth Galbraith Alexander Hamilton Colin Powell Kofi Annan Pablo Neruda George S. Patton Madeleine Albright Douglas MacArthur Robert E. Lee Andrew Jackson Rutherford B. Hayes Dag Hammarskjold
6.
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

7.
But there is scant evidence to tie Saddam to terrorist organizations, and even less to the Sept. 11 attacks.
Brent Scowcroft

8.
It is beyond dispute that Saddam Hussein is a menace.
Brent Scowcroft

Quote Topics by Brent Scowcroft: Iraq Thinking America World Believe People Democracy Firsts Want United States Country Usa Election Hussein War Needs Looks Israel Problem Allies Government Enemy Iran Elements Chinese Mistake September Boys Smart Population
9.
After all, we didn't bring democracy to Germany in 1945; Hitler destroyed democracy there first.
Brent Scowcroft

10.
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

11.
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.
Brent Scowcroft

12.
The radical elements in Islam are very dangerous.
Brent Scowcroft

13.
Progress is only possible if the United States and its allies work together.
Brent Scowcroft

14.
Information technology has politicized the world's population.
Brent Scowcroft

15.
A colossal event is upon us, the birth of a New World Order.
Brent Scowcroft

16.
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.
Brent Scowcroft

17.
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.
Brent Scowcroft

18.
Yes, Israel's our ally. But, are the Palestinians our enemy? No, they are not.
Brent Scowcroft

19.
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.
Brent Scowcroft

20.
The radical elements in Islam are very dangerous. They want to achieve a return to the Islamic purity of the Middle Ages.
Brent Scowcroft

21.
I'm afraid that the United States is more isolated today than at any other time in my memory.
Brent Scowcroft

22.
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

23.
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

24.
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

25.
If Iraq were to descend into chaos, the Europeans would feel the effects just as much as we would.
Brent Scowcroft

26.
The Iraqi elections were an important first step.
Brent Scowcroft

27.
The art of diplomacy is to take an opportunity and turn it into something.
Brent Scowcroft

28.
I think above all, what we need with Iran is patience.
Brent Scowcroft

29.
The UN could help the Iraqi government get on its feet and help the United States withdraw a bit more.
Brent Scowcroft

30.
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.
Brent Scowcroft

31.
I think there's nothing more dangerous than mislearning lessons of history, and we do it perpetually.
Brent Scowcroft

32.
America wants to work with friends, with allies, with people of good will, to make this a better world.
Brent Scowcroft

33.
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.
Brent Scowcroft

34.
We can't make China a friend, but we can behave to make them an enemy.
Brent Scowcroft

35.
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

36.
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

37.
It's not for nothing that the Iranians are known as rug merchants. They are.
Brent Scowcroft

38.
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.
Brent Scowcroft

39.
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

40.
Perhaps the most troubling area in the world goes from the Balkans through the Middle East and in Central Asia.
Brent Scowcroft

41.
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.
Brent Scowcroft

42.
The Russians are not going to do what we want them to do because we want them to do it.
Brent Scowcroft

43.
The Europeans must finally understand the incredible shock triggered by the attacks of September 11.
Brent Scowcroft

44.
I think America has to do more than be a broker now. Because both the Palestinians are weak and Israel is very weak.
Brent Scowcroft

45.
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.
Brent Scowcroft

46.
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.
Brent Scowcroft

47.
Because national borders are eroding, because of the growth of non-state actors. It's a different kind of a world. We are tied down by a tiny little country - Iraq. It's amazing, given the disparity in military economic strength. It's a world where most of the big problems spill over national boundaries, and there are new kinds of actors and we're feeling our way as to how to deal with them.
Brent Scowcroft

48.
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

49.
Who is the guarantor, if there is one, of a more stable world? It's the United States.
Brent Scowcroft

50.
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.
Brent Scowcroft