Wit & Attitude Quote by Lawrence Eagleburger

Eagleburger isn’t arguing strategy so much as prosecuting a case against Washington’s favorite vice: half-measures that drag on long enough to become policy. The bluntness of “the fact of the matter” is diplomatic code for impatience; he’s clearing his throat before delivering a verdict. And “fooling around” is the dagger. It’s deliberately unserious language for lethal business, meant to shame a bureaucracy that hides behind process, committee, and calibrated ambiguity while time does the real governing.

The line lands because it reframes morality as timing. “At the beginning” isn’t just a tactical claim about surprise and leverage; it’s a critique of the political clock. Early action is when costs are lowest and narratives are still malleable. Wait, and you inherit a fortified opponent, divided allies, and a public that’s been trained to see the problem as permanent background noise. The “opportunity” he says was wasted isn’t simply a military window; it’s the fleeting moment when consensus and clarity briefly overlap.

Contextually, Eagleburger is speaking from a late Cold War/early post-Cold War mindset in which Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi represented the archetype of the rogue leader: sponsor of terrorism, regional disruptor, and a test of American credibility. His subtext is that deterrence requires decisiveness, not episodic outrage. The bite of the quote is its insinuation that dithering doesn’t preserve options; it burns them, leaving only worse choices dressed up as prudence.