Alina Romanowski Quotes
The U.S. military will be stepping into a morass. Iraq presents as unpromising a breeding ground for democracy as any in the world. It has never really known democracy or even legitimate, centralized rule for any great duration.
Alina Romanowski, Staff member of the National Defense University, Statement at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy Seminar, October 2002, Quoted in Thomas E. Ricks, Fiasco- The American Military Adventure in Iraq
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Scowcroft and Colin Powell had been key military and security advisors to President George W. Bush’s father when he was President. The younger Bush had no foreign policy or military experience, and he and his party assured the public that with men like Scowcroft and Powell advising him, all would be well. However, when Bush thought of invading Iraq, Scowcroft and Powell strongly advised him against it, but the younger Bush ignored the advice of these men who had served the nation so well under his father. Scowcroft’s warning could not have been more accurate.
In this remarkable quotation, the king whose own invasion by Iraq was only stopped by American troops in the Gulf War, tells the Arab world that the American occupation which was endorsed by the Iraqi government was illegal. Many others in the world and even many in the U. S. agreed about the illegality, but the King claims to be one of the major allies and supporters of the United States. What he says for Arab and Islamic consumption is different from what he tells American and other Western diplomats. See {620141} for another example.
The British had sent troops to Iraq expecting to be greeted by a grateful population who would then obtain relief from the warring factions which had destabilized the area. However, in a historical precursor to the George W. Bush invasion of Iraq, the British troops became the targets for all sides in the complex power struggle of the area. Hence Churchill’s description as an “ungrateful volcano”. At the time, the oil of Iraq had not been discovered and England was the world’s largest superpower.
The problems of Iraq regarding internecine ethnic struggles have not changed in 60 years. See {586486} for another example.
The General’s warning was not taken seriously at the time and the George W. Bush administration made him a persona non grata. But his warning turned out to be very prescient and the United States got so badly bogged down in the Iraq War.
She was referring to the aftermath of the Iraq War.
Alina L. Romanowski is an American career diplomat. In 2019, she was confirmed by the Senate to serve as the United States Ambassador to Kuwait.
