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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.

Brent Scowcroft

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Brent Scowcroft
Age: 95 †
Born: 1925
Born: March 19
Died: 2020
Died: August 6
Former National Security Advisor
Geopolitician
Military Officer
Politician
Ogden
Utah
Problems
Learn
Next
Problem
Different
Something
Vietnam
Iraq
Lessons

More quotes by Brent Scowcroft

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After all, we didn't bring democracy to Germany in 1945 Hitler destroyed democracy there first.
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An idea can be as flawless as can be, but its execution will always be full of mistakes.
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We must find out where the roots of terrorism lie.
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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.
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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.
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The Iraqis need help establishing a government. We have to provide them with security.
Brent Scowcroft
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We can't make China a friend, but we can behave to make them an enemy.
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The art of diplomacy is to take an opportunity and turn it into something.
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I think above all, what we need with Iran is patience.
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America wants to work with friends, with allies, with people of good will, to make this a better world.
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Yes, Israel's our ally. But, are the Palestinians our enemy? No, they are not.
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Perhaps the most troubling area in the world goes from the Balkans through the Middle East and in Central Asia.
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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
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Information technology has politicized the world's population.
Brent Scowcroft
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The radical elements in Islam are very dangerous. They want to achieve a return to the Islamic purity of the Middle Ages.
Brent Scowcroft
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We believe we are creating the beginning of a new world order coming out of the collapse of the US-Soviet antagonisms.
Brent Scowcroft
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The Iraqi elections were an important first step.
Brent Scowcroft
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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.
Brent Scowcroft
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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
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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.
Brent Scowcroft