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

The Iraqi elections were an important first step.
Brent Scowcroft

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

The Iraqis need help establishing a government. We have to provide them with security.
Brent Scowcroft

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

Simply killing everyone who is already a terrorist today won't solve the problem.
Brent Scowcroft

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

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