LITTLE ROCK — The United States is the only world power, but the nation's power is not limitless, former secretary of state James Baker said at the Clinton library Thursday night.
"As we forge foreign policy, we need to be concerned with strategic overreach," said Baker, who served under former President Bush. "We must be comfortable in using our power [but realize that] we can't solve every problem in the world," Baker tolda crowd of about 200 in Little Rock.
Baker, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991, is a former chief of staff and was secretary of the Treasury Department under former President Reagan. Baker wasco-chairman of the Iraq Study Group in 2006 with Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic representative from Indiana.
Baker pointed out that the United States swiftly defeated the Iraqi army in the current war in Iraq, but that the inabilityto quell insurgent forces "is an example of our limitations."
After the speech, when asked whether U.S. forces were overextended in the Middle East, Baker said, "No." But he added that the U.S. needed to make sure it hasenough reserve resources to handle any unforeseen problems.
"We need to be prepared to go it alone," Baker said, offering several maxims, which he said should be considered when determining how the U.S. uses its political, economic and military might. But also, he said that the U.S. needed to "appreciate the extreme importance of allies."
Allies help share the cost of economic and military actions, and "If you have allies, that can help secure legitimacy for your actions," he said.
The United States also needs to work with "authoritarian regimes" when needed and maintain bilateral communication with hostile governments, Baker said. "You don't make peace with your friends. You make peace with your enemies.
"Talking to hostile states ... is not appeasement. It is good foreign policy," he said, noting the importance of working with Josef Stalin's regime in the Soviet Union to defeat the Germans during World War II.
"In a perfect world, we'd only work with Democracies, but the German threat justified it," Baker said.
Closing the speech, Baker said "domestic support is essential to foreign policy," calling thepublic "the final arbitrator."
We head into a time of "unparalleled opportunity and risk in world affairs," Baker said. "Power is precious and finite. Spreading it too thin can lead to disaster."
Baker was the second speaker in the Frank and Kula Kumpuris Distinguished Lecture series, which brings national and international figures to Little Rock's University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service.
Former President Clinton was the inaugural speaker in August.
"We wanted a place where all views could be expressed," said Dean Kumpuris, son of Frank and Kula Kumpuris. An at-large city director, Kumpuris along with his brother and sister endowed the lecture series with a $500,000 matching gift in honor of their parents.
"We wanted people to have the opportunity to hear a mature person give their thoughts. You don't have to agree, but you can at least consider what they said. Hopefully, that's how you start changing things," Kumpuris said.
The speech was open to the media, though guests came by invitation only. The public will be able to hear Baker's speech on the school's Web site www.clintonschool.uasys.edu where it will be posted along with other speeches, school officials said.
Arkansas, Pages 13, 17 on 11/09/2007