Daily Inspiration Quote by Brent Scowcroft

Technocracy dressed as humility can be one of Washington's most effective rhetorical weapons, and Scowcroft knows it. He frames the Iraq dilemma not as a contest of competing interests or ideologies, but as a matter of epistemology: we don't know, therefore we should defer. The move sounds modest, even responsible. It also quietly relocates accountability. If the next step goes badly, the blame can be distributed to "the people who did know him" rather than owned by those making the call.

The key phrase is "best bet". This isn't moral language; it's risk management. Coming from a national security elder, it signals the post-Vietnam, post-Cold War instinct to treat intervention like a high-stakes portfolio decision: minimize unknowns, rely on experienced hands, distrust grand theories. That sensibility is the Scowcroft brand, shaped by long service in administrations that prized stability and alliances over crusades.

The subtext is also an argument against American omniscience. By admitting ignorance about Iraq's "internal situation", he punctures the fantasy that intelligence briefings and satellite photos equal understanding. He elevates regional actors and diplomats as epistemic authorities, a subtle defense of multilateralism and expertise at a time when U.S. politics often rewards certainty theater.

Read in the shadow of Saddam-era brinkmanship and the later rush toward regime change, the line becomes a critique of hubris: the most dangerous decisions are the ones made by people convinced they already know.