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 ScowcroftMy 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 ScowcroftI 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 ScowcroftI'm afraid that the United States is more isolated today than at any other time in my memory.
Brent ScowcroftAfter 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 ScowcroftRussia right now is searching for its soul. It's trying to figure out what it really is.
Brent ScowcroftThe Iraqis need help establishing a government. We have to provide them with security.
Brent ScowcroftI think America has to do more than be a broker now. Because both the Palestinians are weak and Israel is very weak.
Brent ScowcroftThe Europeans must finally understand the incredible shock triggered by the attacks of September 11.
Brent ScowcroftAmerica 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 ScowcroftTo 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 ScowcroftFor 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 ScowcroftThe Russians are not going to do what we want them to do because we want them to do it.
Brent ScowcroftBecause 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 ScowcroftWe believe we are creating the beginning of a new world order coming out of the collapse of the US-Soviet antagonisms.
Brent ScowcroftAn idea can be as flawless as can be, but its execution will always be full of mistakes.
Brent ScowcroftFirst 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 ScowcroftOsama 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 ScowcroftYou 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 ScowcroftAmerica wants to work with friends, with allies, with people of good will, to make this a better world.
Brent ScowcroftEverybody 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 ScowcroftBut, 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 ScowcroftThe radical elements in Islam are very dangerous. They want to achieve a return to the Islamic purity of the Middle Ages.
Brent ScowcroftPerhaps the most troubling area in the world goes from the Balkans through the Middle East and in Central Asia.
Brent ScowcroftThe UN could help the Iraqi government get on its feet and help the United States withdraw a bit more.
Brent ScowcroftWho is the guarantor, if there is one, of a more stable world? It's the United States.
Brent ScowcroftEuropeans 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 ScowcroftMany 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 ScowcroftI think there's nothing more dangerous than mislearning lessons of history, and we do it perpetually.
Brent ScowcroftAfter all, we didn't bring democracy to Germany in 1945; Hitler destroyed democracy there first.
Brent ScowcroftIf 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 ScowcroftSaddam's ouster will not necessarily lead to the same result, since Iraq lacks democratic traditions. Democracy doesn't just consist of holding elections.
Brent ScowcroftIf Iraq were to descend into chaos, the Europeans would feel the effects just as much as we would.
Brent Scowcroft