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Scowcroft: America and the World

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Former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft. (AP File)
Former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft. (AP File)

But he’s been a stern critic of American foreign policy in the era of crusading neoconservatism and Bush the younger. Scowcroft firmly opposed the Iraq War. He’s been sharply critical of McCain-Palin talk of arming up Georgia, or war with Russia.

He’s backing John McCain. But McCain or Obama, he wants a whole new American way in the world, and says we need it fast.

This hour, On Point: A conversation with Brent Scowcroft on America at a hinge point in history.

You can join the conversation. What’s your question for one of the deans of Washington’s foreign policy "realist" camp? In a time of economic crisis and setback, what new attitude do you think America needs in the world?Guest:

Joining us first from Washington is Maura Reynolds, staff writer for the Los Angeles Times. She's covering the negotiations in Washington over the $700 billion Wall Street bailout package.

Joining us from Washington is Gen. Brent Scowcroft, national security adviser under Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush and president of the consulting firm The Scowcroft Group. He was chairman of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board under George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. In August of 2002, he famously wrote a stern essay in The Wall Street Journal warning the Bush White House not to go to war with Iraq. His new book, with Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser under President Jimmy Carter, and Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, is "America and the World: Conversations on the Future of American Foreign Policy." You can read an excerpt here.

More links:

"At a Glittering Georgetown Dinner, a Pitch for Bipartisanship" — Congressional Quarterly's Jeff Stein describes the recent book party in Georgetown for Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski, and quotes Scowcroft:

Scowcroft lamented “the disintegration of bipartisanship,” which he said began with Vietnam and Watergate, and from which “we’ve never really recovered.”

“My fear,” he added, annoyed by at all the smack-down talk about Iran and Russia, “is that this is a wonderful country full of ignorant people who are susceptible to demagoguery.”

This program aired on September 25, 2008.

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