Pop quiz. Guess the identity of person "xxxx." Find out the answer after the blockquote.
"We need a much, much, much more robust doctrine of public diplomacy," said xxxx, including programs not unlike the cold war's Radio Free Europe.
Xxxx said Donald Rumsfeld should resign as defense secretary in the wake of the Haditha killings to show the world "we take responsibility for mistakes and we're ready to change."
"It's a matter of having to rebuild alliances by rebuilding faith in our country. Other countries don't doubt our physical might. They doubt our judgment. That's where we've been so badly damaged."
Xxxx said a U.S. Supreme Court decision last week outlawing military tribunals for detainees suspected of terrorism was valuable.
"When we depart from the rule of law, does it help us or hurt us in our overall fight and objective, to take on terror?" said Xxxx. "It hurts us, and the court's decision is positive and will help us in the international community."
Xxxx said he proposed opening discussions with Iran immediately after 9/11, when thousands marched in the streets to show empathy for the United States. "There was an opportunity because the Iranians were worried about terror turning on themselves."
Xxxx said Bush refused to negotiate.
Xxxx said Bush correctly handled Afghanistan, "but then the hubris began. We defeated the Taliban almost too quickly, and (the administration) immediately turned their attention away from solidifying Afghanistan, nailing the Taliban and bin Laden, and turning to this new adventure (in Iraq).
"In retrospect, it's clear to me they had no intention of doing anything other than going to war in Iraq," Xxxx said. "This is going to (go) down as the single most tragic foreign policy mistake of this century."
Xxxx said that if the United States had not gone to Iraq, Saddam Hussein, "left unfettered," would have gained access to a nuclear weapon in five to seven years.
But if "we had kept the no-fly zone going, inspections, and if the Kurds had continued building a serious state that was growing, you would have continued to put pressure on Saddam, and I think we would have eventually brought Saddam down in a process where his own military would have decided he was too much of an impediment for them."
Xxxx said that with Saddam at least contained, "we could have been able to keep the rest of the world with us and focused on really doing what the President promised us. By now, we would have crushed the Taliban and would have had a much better chance of having eradicated the bulk of al-Qaida and bin Laden."
Is it Russ Feingold, John Kerry, Mark Warner, Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson, John Edwards, Chris Dodd, Tom Daschle, Tom Vilsack, or Al Gore?
None of the above, actually.
Click here to find out.