Iraq could cost US its leadership: Brzezinski

The Bahrain Tribune ^ | February 21, 2003 | News Column

[philo]

Hey Ziggy, go buy a vowel.

[meenie]

There are various reasons to oppose the Iraq war. But the disapproval of Clinton and Carter is not one of them. The disapproval of the United Nations is another. Going to the United Nations was and is one of Bush's biggest mistakes.

Another mistake was giving Saddam two years warning that the United States was coming after him. Saddam has had two years to prepare his defenses which is not good. This is going to cost plenty of American lives. Broadcasting your intentions is one thing that smart military men avoid.

There has been way too much talk for too long a time with no action. We should be in Iraq a month ago. Part of the problem was Bush having to drag the public along but bluster and repeated threats do not help the boys that have to go in.

I am very skeptical that NK and China will not take advantage of the situation to attack South Korea and Tiawan. I do not have the faith that Red China is our friend or ally in the war on terrorism. Aid and diplomacy makes us look weak in Asia.

North Korea has repeatedly told us that they will attack if we don't give them aid. Blackmail is not a tool of foreign policy, it is encouragement to take a harder line to see if more blackmail can foster more aid.

[Lando Lincoln]

Truly astonishing - the Carter and Clinton administrations did more harm than we will ever fully understand. Generations of Americans will pay for their lack of understanding and competence - in blood and treasure.

[rbmillerjr]

Carter chose him as NSA ...that's all you need to know. His assertion that the Iraqi situation be LINKED to the Israeli-Pali problem is a non-starter that any person in a community college foreign policy class would recognize.

[Billthedrill]

It can go either way. Personally, I think that a successful intervention in Iraq will enhance, not hurt, whatever amorphous quality Zbiggie has in mind when he says "leadership." One thing that definitely will NOT enhance leadership is to hang back, hesitate, dither, and wait for unanimous approval from those who would not lead themselves but are happy to criticize.

[dennisw]

Has Brzezinski ever been on the right side of any issue?

For openers Jimmy Carter and  Brzezinski despise Israel...... and Brzezinski was Carter's national security adviser

[kevinmc]

Yes, indeed. This from the man who arguably created Taliban/Qaeda Afghanistan, a man who should have slipped quietly away after 9/11. The gall is simply incredible. Shame, shame, shame.

[america-rules]

"Going to the United Nations was and is one of Bush's biggest mistakes"

The book is only half written and you are judging the last chapter when you don't know what it is yet?

[over3Owithabrain]

Not to pile on, but I don't see any upside of this UN pandering. I think it was Bush taking Powell's advice and it blew up on them. The stalling for time to prepare the military explanation doesn't fly, because Bush could have simply not talked tough about Iraq every day for a year and let things simmer until he thought things were ready. Instead, he made this THE issue, but instead of dominating it, he gave the UN the hammer to beat the US with. He gave time for Saddam and the left to mount their respective defenses. If he listened to the "hawks", we'd be done w/Iraq and on to other issues, foreign and domestic. Instead, this has becomea worldwide dog-and-pony show, where everybody gets their two cents in and nothing is done. Powell for the second time in 12 years gave a President Bush bad advice that was listened to, and the UN was given final say over our sovereignty. There are far too many contradictions in this messy affair.

[paul51]

Yes, the United States may lose it's leadership role to ...uh...emmm...uh...Bulgaria?

[krb]

Has Brzezinski ever been on the right side of any issue?

He was behind our decision to fund the anti-Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the late 70's. That US policy (which a lot of the left tries to bitch about and to pin on Reagan) was actually a good policy that came from the Carter era.

[catpuppy]

former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski

National Security ... in the Carter Administration ... enough said.

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from February 21, 2003. Six years ago...

The United States should give UN inspectors more time, link Iraqi disarmament to the Israeli Palestinian conflict and avoid engaging its allies in tit-for-tat polemics, former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote yesterday in The Washington Post... Brzezinski cited the Bush administration's "reluctance to see a connection between Middle Eastern terrorists and the political problems of the Middle East;" its "unsubstantiated efforts to connect Iraq with Al Qaeda;" and its "evident, if unstated, endorsement ... of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's notions of how to deal with both the Palestinians and the region as a whole." He also said that the US "preoccupation with Iraq -- which does not pose an imminent threat to global security -- obscures the need to deal with the more serious and genuinely imminent threat posed by North Korea." Washington should also "acknowledge that the quest for peace in the Middle East requires both the disarmament of Iraq and the active renewal of the peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians."