AMES, Iowa — People who attended a lecture by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright may have been a little surprised by its content.
When Albright took the podium Friday in the Sun Room at the Iowa State University Memorial Union, there was a deviation from the expected content of her lecture- - with the focus being more on what Albright felt were the problems with America. Albright’s lecture, “The Restoration of America’s Standing in the World,” focused on her negative feelings toward the war in Iraq and her support of Hillary Clinton.
“I was under the impression that it was going to be something different,” said Heather Fremont, freshman in engineering. “I myself am not a Hillary supporter, I came to hear what Madeleine Albright had to say about restoring America.”
Other topics were also discussed Friday afternoon, including the increasing power of Iran and foreign policy, but the lecture’s title turned out to be at the very least misleading.
Albright expounded on her own feelings on the blemishes of Bush’s presidency and the war in Iraq.
“I believe that Iraq is going to go down in history as the greatest disaster in American foreign policy,” Albright said. “For me to say that, it means that I think it’s worse than Vietnam.” Albright said the comparison was not in terms of the numbers of people killed, but in terms of unintended consequences.
Former Iowa Senator Johnie Hammond gave an introduction and established Albright’s expertise on foreign policy.
“Madeleine Albright has had a long and distinguished career,” Hammond said. “She has taken many stair steps up in her responsibility toward world peace.”
One point Albright addressed was the correlation between the 2008 election and the inheritance of the war in Iraq.
“Obviously the biggest problem we face is Iraq,” Albright said. “Last night [Sept. 13] we heard from the president something that many of us have suspected for some time: Plan B is to turn this over to the next president of the United States. There is not an exit strategy.”
Albright encouraged the students in the audience to vote and said it was the least that they could do.
“The great responsibility you [students] have is to get involved,” Albright said. “If you decide not to get involved, you might as well forget it.”