ASPEN – Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Thursday that the world is more dangerous now than it was before the war against Iraq.
The war has led to divisions in the Middle East – and missing Iraqi weapons could be a bigger threat than they were in Saddam Hussein’s hands.
Joining a panel of dignitaries at a conference held by Fortune magazine, Albright said she agreed with the Bush administration’s characterization of deposed Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein as “an evil dictator.” But she said she didn’t believe he posed an imminent threat to the United States.
Because weapons of mass destruction haven’t been found in Iraq, Albright said, she worries where they could be. The Clinton administration also believed Hussein was amassing them, she said.
“Have they been dispersed?” she asked. “Are they in the hands of somebody that is a greater threat to us?”
Albright joined dignitaries and thinkers from around the world, all critical of President Bush, on a panel discussing America’s role in a changing world.
The seminar was held by the Aspen Institute, a think tank based here and in Washington, D.C.
Albright shared the stage on a panel that included former colleagues from Canada and England; Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif.; the secretary general of the League of Arab States; Queen Noor, widow of King Hussein of Jordan, and the dean of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
The packed auditorium was no less prestigious, including Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and former Defense Secretary William Perry.
“I believe that the most serious security threat to all of us … is a transnational terror group getting to real weapons,” Perry said from the audience.
“That is why the United States is so much concerned about North Korea or Iran or Iraq getting a nuclear weapons program,” he said. “But why do we have to face this by ourselves?”
That was the question dogging panelists as they pondered the United States’ role as the last remaining superpower and questioned how to boost the United Nations to protect the peace.
Several criticized Bush for invading Iraq without winning U.N. support. Albright acknowledged that under Clinton, she called for attacking Kosovo without U.N. backing but said NATO’s support gave that attack legitimacy.
Amre Moussa, secretary general of the League of Arab States, said America has lost touch with much of the world and alienated many nations.
“For America to get the like and understanding of the world, the world must get the like and understanding of America,” he said. “It’s two-way traffic.”
