Sen. Lieberman Addresses CFR - U.S. Strategy in Middle East

Speaker: Senator Joseph Liebermann, (I-CT)
Presider: Jonathan Karl, ABC News

September 29, 2010
Council on Foreign Relations

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SENATOR JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN (ID-CT): Thanks, Jon. Thank you, Jon. Thanks to everybody. And I can't resist -- anytime anybody says I'm somebody who doesn't need an introduction, I'm reminded of being in a room with Henry Kissinger a few years ago here in Washington when the person got up and said, "If there's anybody in the world that doesn't need an introduction, it's Henry Kissinger. So I give you Dr. Henry Kissinger."

And Henry got up and said, "You know, I suppose it's true. I don't need an introduction, but I like a good introduction." (Laughter.) So I thank you for that introduction.

It's a pleasure to be back at the Council on Foreign Relations to talk about the future of American power in the Middle East.

As I was preparing my remarks today, I was reminded of a story about the pre-history of the CFR. The council, as some of you may know, grew out of a project begun by President Woodrow Wilson shortly after the United States entered World War I. President Wilson's idea was to assemble some of the best and brightest minds from academia to advise him about what the shape of the postwar order would be and what role America should play in it.

This initiative included a working group on precisely the subject I would like to discuss this afternoon -- the future of the Middle East. The group's composition was unique: Ten distinguished academics, including an historian of the Crusades, two professors of ancient Persian literature and a specialist on Native American tribes. What the group did not include, however, was anyone who knew anything about the contemporary Middle East at that time. (Laughter.)

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