‘You Have to Rethink War’

What is your view on Iran?
I'm very concerned about Iran. But I also have said repeatedly that there is a whole host of options between going to war, in a conventional sense, and not talking to them. We need to engage diplomatically, and also need to engage in other ways.

What are the other ways?
Everything [should be considered], from economic sanctions to covert actions to more forceful diplomacy. Mostly it's about understanding and listening to the Iranian people and responding to them. You know opinion polls in Iran are very favorable to Americans. The last thing you want to do is push the Iranian people toward this terrible, corrupt regime. They have to import their gasoline because they can't build refineries. They're exceedingly corrupt, and the Iranian people know that, so there are huge opportunities if you look at the internal dynamics of Iran.

What do you make of the U.S. election campaign? Is anybody courting you?
Courting is probably too strong a word. Both Republicans and Democrats know that I won't be drawn into that. I'm willing to talk to anybody. But I have no interest in going back into government.

One of the arguments going on now is that Barack Obama doesn't have sufficient foreign policy credentials. And it's true that he's not surrounded by people who are considered the top tier of the foreign policy establishment, or from the military. He doesn't have senior Army or Marine—
Let me ask you this: how wise have they been? I know your point, but most of these guys are still thinking in archaic terms.

Do you have a sense that he's more prone to the kind of holistic approach to foreign policy that you're talking about?
I don't know for sure, but I'm hopeful. I've testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in public hearings, and I've been dinged a couple of times by Democrats. His questions were not only precise and deep, but the courtesy and respect he afforded me in that forum I was grateful for. He didn't have to do that. It wasn't necessary, but he listened; he asked good questions. I don't want to read too much into that encounter, but it made a positive impression on me. [Crumpton considers himself an independent.]

When you say deep questions, what—
The nature of the enemy, what is their motivation? The kind of questions he ought to be asking. What's driving the enemy, and what's the enemy strategy? We didn't get into this in the testimony, but this goes back to Sun Tzu: you've got to know what the enemy's strategy is and attack the strategy. You don't just attack the enemy. You don't just attack IEDs. He was trending in that direction. And I didn't get a lot of questions from [other] guys going that way. It was, "How come you haven't got bin Laden?"

© 2008