[…] Realism of the Scowcroft sort presided over the Iran-Iraq war with its horrific casualties and watched indifferently as genocide was enacted in northern Iraq. It allowed despots free rein from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan, and then goggled when this gave birth to the Taliban and al-Qaida. If this was 'fifty years of peace,' then it really was time to give war a chance. [My ellipses and emphasis]
" Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it." - George Santayana
