Brent Scowcroft Quotes

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

  Brent Scowcroft

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Idea

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

  Brent Scowcroft

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Self, National

• I’m afraid that the United States is more isolated today than at any other time in my memory.

  Brent Scowcroft

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Afraid, Isolated

• 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

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Campaign, Central

• 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

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Violence, Terrorism

• 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

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Concerned, Deeply

• After all, we didn’t bring democracy to Germany in 1945; Hitler destroyed democracy there first.

  Brent Scowcroft

  Topics in Democracy

• 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

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Greatest

• 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

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in World

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

  Brent Scowcroft

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Descend

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

  Brent Scowcroft

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Evidence

• 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

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Region, Deal

• 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

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Point, Removing

• 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

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Necessarily, Result

• So far the changes in the president in his second term have been mainly of a rhetorical nature.

  Brent Scowcroft

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Change, Far

• 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

  Topics in Country

  Tags in Believe, Trying

• Progress is only possible if the United States and its allies work together.

  Brent Scowcroft

  Topics in Progress

  Tags in Possible

• Simply killing everyone who is already a terrorist today won’t solve the problem.

  Brent Scowcroft

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Killing, Terrorist

• It is beyond dispute that Saddam Hussein is a menace.

  Brent Scowcroft

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Dispute

• Saddam is a familiar dictatorial aggressor, with traditional goals for his aggression.

  Brent Scowcroft

  Topics in Goal

Brent Scowcroft (29)

Birth:	19th March, 1925
Nationality:	American
Profession:	Army Officer, Diplomat, Politician, Writer

About

Brent Scowcroft was born in Ogden, Utah. He is a retired United States Air Force Lieutenant General. He was the United States National Security Advisor under U.S. Presidents Gerald Ford and George H. W. Bush. He also served as Military Assistant to President Richard Nixon and as Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs in the Nixon and Ford administrations. He served as Chairman of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005 and assisted President Barack Obama in choosing his national security team. Scowcroft earned an M.A. in 1953 and PhD in International Relations in 1967 from Columbia University.

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