Former Secretary of State James Baker '52 expressed reservations about the chances for American success in Iraq in a lecture held in McCosh 10 last night.
"Civil war, I think, remains a possibility — not a probability in my opinion, but a distinct possibility," Baker said.
An audience member later asked Baker, who was secretary of state during the Gulf War, whether he regretted that the United States did not remove Saddam Hussein from power at the time.
"You want me to justify our decision not to go to Baghdad in 1991? I would refer you to what is happening today ... Our military didn't want any part at that time in occupying that big Arab country," Baker responded.
He cited criminality, ethnic strife and Islamic jihadism as serious obstacles to a peaceful Iraq.
"We ought not to think we're going to see a flowering of Jeffersonian democracy along the banks of the Euphrates," Baker said, adding that a longterm American military presence in Iraq is "unavoidable."
Baker declined to answer an audience question regarding the growing clamor from retired American generals for the resignation of defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld '54, due to his handling of the Iraq war. Baker said it would be inappropriate for him to comment due to his close relationship with people at all levels of the Bush administration.
The former secretary of state identified five international dilemmas in addition to Iraq that pose great challenges for U.S. foreign policy — international terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, support for global economic growth, environmental protection and maintenance of bilateral relationships.
Baker said these challenges should be viewed in the context of "the paradox of American power," the unrivaled military and economic preeminence of the United States and its vulnerability as an open, democratic society.
With regard to economic growth, Baker said the United States should seek additional trade liberalization under the aegis of the World Trade Organization, as well as a free-trade zone for the entire Western hemisphere.
Baker said he would not engage in debate about global warming, because he does not understand the science behind the issues, but described himself as "a hunter and a fisherman who believes that mankind should carefully shepherd its resources."
While acknowledging that the United States can not convince India to abandon nuclear weapons, Baker said he had questions about the propriety of a recent U.S. agreement to provide assistance to India's civil nuclear power program.
"What we're doing is rewarding a country that wouldn't sign the NPT [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty] and developed a nuclear weapon," Baker said.
Baker, a University alumnus whose father was a member of the Class of 1915, poked fun at alumni resistance to change.
"It takes 100 alumni to screw in a lightbulb: one to screw it in and 99 to complain how much better the old days were," he joked.
Original URL: http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2006/04/14/15231/