(7 of 9)
I believe that instead of acting on our own whenever we can to solve whatever problems we can, we should be trying to build alliances and acting with others whenever we can and acting alone only when we have to. Because I think the most important thing is not to solve all the problems in the world. We can't do that. The most important thing is to create a world we would like to live in when we are no longer the world's only superpower.
For example, if in 30 years, the E.U. continues to grow together, economically and politically, China continues to grow, and India has the boom it might--then, if we're the only military superpower, it will be their choice, not ours. As soon as they're as rich as we are, it is their choice, not ours. So I think we should be trying to create a world we would like to live in even if we're not the only big dog on the block.
On whether Bush was right to invade Iraq
You know, I have repeatedly defended President Bush against the left on Iraq, even though I think he should have waited until the U.N. inspections were over. I don't believe he went in there for oil. We didn't go in there for imperialist or financial reasons. We went in there because he bought the Wolfowitz-Cheney analysis that the Iraqis would be better off, we could shake up the authoritarian Arab regimes in the Middle East, and our leverage to make peace between the Palestinians and Israelis would be increased.
At the moment the U.N. inspectors were kicked out in '98, this is the proper language: there were substantial quantities of botulinum and aflatoxin, as I recall, some bioagents, I believe there were those, and VX and ricin, chemical agents, unaccounted for. Keep in mind, that's all we ever had to work on. We also thought there were a few missiles, some warheads, and maybe a very limited amount of nuclear laboratory capacity.
After 9/11, let's be fair here, if you had been President, you'd think, Well, this fellow bin Laden just turned these three airplanes full of fuel into weapons of mass destruction, right? Arguably they were super-powerful chemical weapons. Think about it that way. So, you're sitting there as President, you're reeling in the aftermath of this, so, yeah, you want to go get bin Laden and do Afghanistan and all that. But you also have to say, Well, my first responsibility now is to try everything possible to make sure that this terrorist network and other terrorist networks cannot reach chemical and biological weapons or small amounts of fissile material. I've got to do that.