Contact: Phil Hearn
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Mississippi State President Robert H. "Doc" Foglesong believes the "binding agent" among freedom-loving nations of the world today is a shared belief that terrorism is a common threat that must be defeated.
The retired four-star U.S. Air Force general, just back from a trip to Russia, expressed that view and others during a lecture-and-discussion session with about 50 international political science students at historic Moscow State University.
He also discussed American foreign policy in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist assaults on New York City and Washington, D.C., then fielded questions on a wide variety of issues that included the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the Patriot Act, Iran, the strategy of pre-emptive military strikes, nation-building, and energy resources.
"I was asked if we should have gone into Iraq," said Foglesong, who visited Russia last week as co-chair of the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs. He was named to the post earlier this year by President Bush.
"My answer was that given the level of information and details that we had at the time, I can understand why the decision was made to go," he said in an interview after arriving back on the Starkville campus. "But, in hindsight, that decision was based upon bad intelligence. We've messed this up in a number of ways, but we can't just walk away now.
"Nobody questioned why we went into Afghanistan; the world was with us," added the 33-year military veteran who will be inaugurated Friday [Oct. 6] as MSU's 18th president.
"The binding agent among all of us--including Russia--is that we all agree that terrorism is a bad thing," he said. "The binding agent that has pulled us all together is a commitment by all free countries to fight terrorism."
Foglesong retired Feb. 1 as commander of U.S. Air Force Europe and was named MSU president March 28. He was appointed co-chair of the presidential commission April 25, and led that group on its fact-finding mission to Russia. He concluded the trip by turning over 500 DNA kits to Russia to aid the country in identifying the remains of soldiers missing in action.
The West Virginia native said he was invited to speak at the 251-year-old Moscow institution by the university's rector, Viktor Sadovnichy. He described the event as an "open-minded," non-confrontational session in an "academic environment."
While there, Foglesong said he and Sadovnichy also discussed the possibility of setting up a summer student exchange program between MSU and the Moscow university, which is located among the "Seven Sisters" group of Stalinist-era skyscrapers.
"We've agreed to start drafting a memorandum of understanding for such a program, which would be subject to approval" of the state College Board, he observed.
Other views expressed by Foglesong during his university visit included:
--On the U.S. Patriot Act, "I told them the act was designed to protect the United States and that we had 3,000 reasons for doing that, namely the fatalities we suffered on 9/11, but that we've learned we need to balance security with our civil liberties."
--On pre-emptive military strategy, "I'm willing to discuss the issue of pre-emptive strategy, once you've walked a mile in our shoes. You have to be able to trust the country that has a pre-emptive strategy."
--On the world threat posed by Iran, "I don't know how to deal with a country whose leader (President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) advocates elimination of another country (Israel)."
--On nation building, "I see nation building primarily as a State Department issue. The Department of Defense has a part to play, but the State Department is better mechanized to facilitate the kinds of things needed to stand up as a nation--establish a legal system, establish a banking system, etc."
--On energy issues, "I'm a big believer in renewable and alternate energy sources. I told them the U.S. is fortunate to be sitting on 26 percent of the proven coal reserves in the world. I told them I'm a big proponent of nuclear energy because I believe the technology is safe enough to allow us to develop and produce electrical power through nuclear energy. I also subscribe to solar energy and hydro-electric sources of energy."
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For additional comments, contact Dr. Foglesong at 662-325-3221.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.