To: Sam who wrote (287875 ) 1/10/2016 4:30:47 PM From: Sam Respond to And here is a piece recalling that that foreign policy Realist from the Bush41 administration, Brent Scowcroft, tried mightily to stop the Iraq invasion. He too was scoffed at.August 4, 2002: Scowcroft Warns That Invading Iraq Could Destabilize Middle East, ‘Destroy War on Terror’ October 16, 2001 and March 2002 ), appears on CBS’s “Face the Nation” to make his case that the US should not invade Iraq. Scowcroft, with the blessing of his friend and patron George H. W. Bush, is in the midst of a one-man media blitz, having already appeared on Fox News and the BBC to argue his position (see September 1998 ). The administration’s other high-profile centrists, Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, have refused to publicly disagree with the administration’s push for war. [ Unger, 2007, pp. 242-243 ] Scowcroft warns that a unilateral invasion of Iraq could destabilize the Middle East and undermine efforts to defeat international anti-American militant groups. He says: “It’s a matter of setting your priorities. There’s no question that Saddam is a problem. He has already launched two wars and spent all the resources he can working on his military. But the president has announced that terrorism is our number one focus. Saddam [Hussein] is a problem, but he’s not a problem because of terrorism. I think we could have an explosion in the Middle East. It could turn the whole region into a cauldron and destroy the war on terror.” [ London Times, 8/5/2002 ] Entity Tags: Bush administration (43) , Brent Scowcroft , Saddam Hussein , George Herbert Walker Bush Timeline Tags: Events Leading to Iraq Invasion historycommons.org
