Brent Scowcroft, a veteran Republican voice on US foreign policy, said the United States “isn’t smart enough” to solve the Syria crisis and “would pay a heavy price for [military] intervention,” in an interview with Al-Monitor Washington correspondent Barbara Slavin. Scowcroft, national security adviser to former US presidents George H.W. Bush and Gerald Ford, criticized hawkish advisers to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney regarding Syria and Iran, without naming names. Known for his pragmatism, he also urged caution in dealing with Egypt, flexibility in Iran nuclear talks and an arms control process to regulate the use of cyber warfare. Excerpts from the interview follow: 

Al-Monitor: The constitutional court ruled today that one-third of Egypt’s parliament was not properly elected and there are presidential elections coming up. Is there anything the US can do to shape what is going on there or do we just have to be bystanders?

Scowcroft: I’m not sure we should try to shape what’s going on. It’s particularly Egyptian, the forces that are there, some of them traditional, some of them new...The role of the army is complicated. We forget that in a way, it’s been a military government since [Gamal Abdel] Nasser… If we are asked, we should encourage in proper ways but intervening will create more problems in the long run than the good it can do…We’ll wring our hands a number of times but I suspect it will come out in the end with some moderate sort of a solution.

Al-Monitor: On Syria, Rich Williamson (an adviser to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney) says we should be arming the rebels and the Wall Street Journal says we are already providing logistical help and considering giving intelligence to them.