Tuesday, March 23, 2004 | 11:07 a.m.
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev on Monday said the United States was wrong to invade Iraq before exhausting all diplomatic efforts and without the support of much of the international community.
Speaking through a translator to a crowd of about 5,400 at UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center, Gorbachev said the United States should have tried harder and longer "to find a political solution and a diplomatic solution" before going to war, he said.
"Those ... were not fully used," he said. "It is not always possible to find a quick solution."
Referring to the United States going ahead with the war without the support of the United Nations, Gorbachev said the result of the American invasion has been a "crisis of international relations."
He said that nations such as France, Germany and Russia have continued the political and diplomatic dialogue.
"We are trying to find a solution to this crisis," he said.
Gorbachev went on to say that we should have expected the Iraqis would reject a U.S. occupation. He said that while the world would not reject Americans working with other nations, it would reject unilateral action and an attempt to dominate the world.
Gorbachev's criticism of American policy decisions on Iraq was met with applause from some and disdain from others. A few dozen people walked out on Gorbachev's speech while he spoke about the United States and Iraq.
"Diplomacy rather than guns was a great statement," said Thomas Keaveney, 52, of Las Vegas.
Lisa Bakke, 41, of Las Vegas, said: "I thought he was great and it would be better if more politicians picked up on what he was saying."
But others disagreed.
"I didn't like the negative remarks about Iraq. I felt they (other nations) should have helped," Las Vegan Trudy Cunningham, 70, said. "We got enough of that (criticism) here we don't need it from him too."
Chuck Davison, president of the Rebel Football Foundation and one of the few who got to meet Gorbachev before the speech, said, "When we went to Iraq I was 100 percent behind it."
"But he's entitled to his opinion. ... And I think it was good that he said that," Davison, 53, said, adding that in America it's a right to be able to say whatever one believes.
Despite disagreeing with Gorbachev's opinion, Davison said, "It was one of the biggest highlights for me, to shake hands and meet him, someone who has won the Nobel Peace Prize."
Gorbachev won the prize in 1990.
While Gorbachev's comments on Iraq stirred the strongest responses, his roughly hourlong speech touched on many issues facing the world today, including terrorism and the environment.
Backwardness and poverty are the roots of terrorism and solution is not military action, Gorbachev said, adding that globalization has exacerbated the gap between rich and poor.
He also said that "man is overloading nature" and predicted the environment is headed toward a irreversible crisis in the next 10 or 20 years.
But Gorbachev shared an optimistic view of each individual's power to impact the world.
In this time of great change, "we can make a difference," Gorbachev said.
During the early 1980s while the nuclear arms race was in full swing, "disaster seemed inevitable," he said. But nuclear war didn't happen.
"We should never panic," he said.
The speech was part of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' Barrick Lecture Series. Following the lecture Gorbachev was given an honorary doctorate of laws from UNLV.
In addition to the lecture, Gorbachev was in Las Vegas to help promote the Russian Heritage Highway Foundation. Gorbachev is honorary co-chairman of the foundation, which will benefit a 435-mile road connecting Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Tom Tait, who conceived the Russian Heritage Highway Foundation plan and serves as its president, answered criticism raised Monday by an environmental organization that board members may exploit the region along the Russian road.
Scott Silver of Bend, Ore.-based Wild Wilderness, an environmental advocacy group, said in a telephone interview that he fears "the McDonald-ization and Wal-Mart-izination" of the highway and that board members would take profits while taking advantage of Russian culture.
Following a news conference with Gorbachev on Monday, Tait said calling attention to a highway for cultural significance would actually prevent commercial exploitation.
He cited Nevada's first scenic byway -- Lake Tahoe's Eastshore Drive -- as an example of a highway that took on a National Scenic Byways designation and has since been carefully scrutinized to prevent commercial sprawl.
"I think that things are better along roads that receive the designation," Tait said. "People watch and care more for the areas around them."
Tait said members of public become better environmental stewards for places that have received a special designation.
Gorbachev said residents of the regions surrounding the Russian highway are looking forward to partnering with tourism experts from around the world to better develop the region between Moscow and St. Petersburg.
"The business community is very interested in using international experience to make this project happen," Gorbachev said through an interpreter on Monday.
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