In Santa Rosa, ex-defense secretary William Perry optimistic on Egypt

<p>Former U.S. Defense Secretary William J. Perry told a Santa Rosa audience Saturday that a democratic Egypt would be less likely than ousted President Hosni Mubarak to build nuclear weapons.</p><p>Perry, 83, a defense secretary in the Clinton administration, told members of the World Affairs Council of Sonoma County that a few Middle Eastern countries, including Egypt, might seek to acquire nuclear weapons if Iran succeeds in building them.</p><p>Should Iran do so, Perry said, he believes Israel “will conduct a military strike against the facilities in Iran.” Such a strike would produce unintended consequences, he said, “nearly all of which range from bad to horrible.”</p><p>Perry, a senior fellow at Stanford University's Spogli Institute for International Studies, spoke at the council's annual dinner. The event was attended by about 160 people at the Fountaingrove Inn.</p><p>Perry served as defense secretary from 1994 to 1997. He previously worked a year as deputy secretary and had been under secretary of defense for research and engineering from 1977 to 1981.</p><p>Now a co-director of the Preventive Defense Project, Perry focused his address on his work to eliminate nuclear weapons.</p><p>But in response to a written question from the audience, he did touch on the popular uprising in Egypt and called himself an optimist with regard to that country's future.</p><p>Later in a brief interview, he said, “I can only be heartened by the successful outcome of their revolution.”</p><p>Much still must be done, he said, but the creation of a democratic Egypt “would be a blessing for the region and the world as a whole.”</p><p>In response to another question, Perry suggested Iran is “very vulnerable” to economic pressures and could be forced to drop its nuclear armament program if China and Russia would work with the U.S.</p><p>And he called Pakistan “the most dangerous place in the world” in regard to nuclear proliferation, both because of the nuclear weapons and materials it possesses and the insurgency there by Islamic extremists.</p><p>In his presentation, Perry recalled that during the Cold War he had believed the need for nuclear weapons outweighed the dangers. But after the fall of the Soviet Union, “I believed it was no longer necessary to take those risks.”</p><p>As defense secretary he oversaw the dismantlement of 8,000 nuclear warheads both at home and abroad, including the removal of all warheads in Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan.</p><p>About five years ago he joined with former secretaries of state George Shultz and Henry Kissinger and former Sen. Sam Nunn to work for nuclear disarmament.</p><p>He spoke enthusiastically of the Senate's recent passage of the New START treaty with Russia. However, he acknowledged that the chances were less than 50-50 that the Senate would approve a comprehensive test ban treaty.</p><p>To many, the goal of a world without nuclear weapons seems “mission impossible,” he said. But he maintained it was a worthy challenge and one he intends to keep working on rather than retiring “in that Garden of Eden known as Palo Alto.”</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 521-5285 </p><p>or robert.digitale@</p><p>pressdemocrat.com.</p>