it was a privilege to know him, and i know that mrs. sadat was a close partner, a confidant a person who partook of these decisions and that respect she represents today also, a great message that president sadat conveyed to us. namely the call for strategic boldness. now, turning to your question, at this stage, if you ask me about american egyptian relationship, i would not be advocating strategic boldness at this moment, because everything has to come in its right moment. i think mrs. sadat earlier in her brief comments used two words which in my judgment cabs capsulate what is needed. and these two words were patience and space. we have to give egypt space to define itself at a time of considerable political turmoil and uncertainty. and, therefore, also patience. we have to wait until that works itself out. but having said that, i think it's absolutely essential that we do what we can to preserve a close strategic relationship with egypt because egypt is the major player in the region. and a good american egyptian relationship is one of t

the sadat forum, mrs. sadat is here, but egypt is not only an important country in the middle east, but there are p essential choices regarding egypt. before i ask you now what we should be doing, the crisis that came out of the ngo. i want to look a little bit before the revolution, i know that you have been a key player in mediating the camp david accords between egypt and israel at camp david maryland. and when you look at american farm policy over the last several decades, it's been anchored around a particular relationship with egypt and

i think mrs. sadat in her brief comments used to words which in my judgment, calculate what is needed. the two words were patience and space do we have to give egypt space to define itself at a time of considerable political turmoil and uncertainty. and therefore, also patients. we have to wait until that works itself out, but having said that, i think it is absolutely essential that we do what we can to preserve the close, strategic relationship with egypt, because egypt is the major player in the region. a good american-egyptian relationship is one of the key foundations of a meaningful american policy for the region. we have that relationship, we can also move on other issues. one of the issues in which we try to move forward together with egypt, and we did not get as far as we had hoped, and subsequently we even stalled is the question of the israeli- palestinian reconciliation and peace. there is not going to be real peace without that in the middle east. worse than that, in absence of that, other

mrs. sadat to you. [applause] >> thank you. i have to put my glasses on. thank you, dean, for your kind words, for your kind words and for your support of the sadat chair and international studies. ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce our honorable panelists of this event. but before i do so, i would like to say a few words about the air of awakening that been sweeping much of the arab world. especially my great country, egypt. [inaudible] egypt is of course going through challenges. both economically and politically, as it transitions to democracy. i know that our panelists will discuss some of these challenges, but i want to make a few comments. besides the enormous difficulty, i am being optimistic about the future of egypt. and in the greatness of our peoples. as i witnessed the remarkable changes that have already taken place in just over one year, i think much of been accomplished. though much more needs to be done. from the outside, the inevitable transition seems frustrat

sadat and telhami. it's a special honor to host on our campus two giants of american foreign policy, dr. zbigniew brzezinski, former national security adviser to president jimmy carter and mr. stephen hadley, former national skaurt adviser to president george w. bush. thank you, gentlemen, very much for joining us today. we really do appreciate it. [ applause ] >> this forum could not be more timely. unfortunately could not be more timely. the united states is facing enormous challenges in the united states as the arab awakening continues to change politics in the region. the violence in syria, can i say the butchery in syria, has left the international community should do to end the bloodshed, and the challenges posed by iran's nuclear program have many talking about the prospects of war. let's all hope that does not happen.