Frank Carlucci
Frank Carlucci
Frank Charles Carlucci IIIserved as the United States Secretary of Defense from 1987 to 1989 in the administration of President Ronald Reagan. Prior to that, Carlucci served in a variety of senior-level governmental positions, including Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity in the Richard Nixon administration, Deputy Director of the CIA in the Jimmy Carter administration, and Deputy Secretary of Defense and National Security Advisor in the Reagan administration...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth18 October 1930
CountryUnited States of America
And we ought to work our diplomacy first and I think it's a reason it's going to respond increasingly to our diplomacy particularly with the president's direct involvement in the peace process, and I think that's extraordinarily important.
But at the same time, I think we recognize we can't impose democracy from without, particularly American-style democracy. We need to work with those elements in the region that are moving towards a reformed process and there are a number of them.
I think the real target of al-Qaeda is Saudi Arabia by the way. They hate us and we're a vehicle to get at Saudi Arabia. I think Osama bin Laden really wants to topple that regime and have his people move in, but that's a whole other story.
My understanding is that what was provided was general order of battle information, not operational intelligence. I certainly have no knowledge of US participation in preparing battle and strike packages and doubt strongly that that occurred.
I can remember when I was National Security Adviser, the intelligence community told us... they put out an intelligence report saying that Iran would never back off from attacks on shipping in the Gulf if we use force.
The problem is that neither the M1 nor the M60 or indeed neither any tank, has sufficient ground pressure to drive a [bulldozer] blade into even marginally hard ground. They are not bulldozers, they are tanks, whether you are talking about the M1 or the M60's. So if you are going to dig in a tank, you need to have some kind of equipment.
And I argued with that intelligence estimate and I think it is a responsibility of policymakers to use their best judgment on the basis of the intelligence they've received.
Look at what the Omar of Qatar is doing, for example - the King of Morocco, Jordan, Bahrain. There are reform movements taking place, efforts to broaden the political participation of the populations of the region.
It took us 50 months in Germany, post World War II to go from the end of the war to a national election.
Of course, China is a key to the North Korea if we're going to solve that riddle, but they could also be helpful on Iraq, which is why it's important that we maintain a constructive dialogue with China.
Over a period of time, I think the popular will in Iran will prevail.
There's clearly something to be said for success and following through on your commitments.
The Crown Prince has said he needs to broaden political participation in the governing of Saudi Arabia.
We would like to have friendly regimes with enough broad participation of their populations to maintain long-term stability, so that we would have not only access to the region's wealth, but we would be able to ensure the security of our good friend Israel.