Washington - Retired general Brent Scowcroft was president George HW Bush's national security adviser when the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989. In an exclusive interview with the German Press Agency dpa, Scowcroft, 84, provided an account of the rapidly unfolding events from inside the White House. Below are excepts:
"So nobody knew what was open or wasn't open until the crowds started to build and people started to go through." - On the ambiguity of East Germany's announcement that it would open the borders.
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"What we were all worried about was that if we gloated over what was happening it could produce a reaction from the Soviet Union." - On avoiding triumphant language that could produce a backlash by the Soviet Union.
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"It was George Bush." - On the push behind the US decision to support German reunification.
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"It moved so fast that it caught all of us by surprise." - On the collapse of communism throughout Eastern Europe after the Berlin Wall came down.
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"We pursued a lot of policies in ways that rubbed the Russians' noses in the humiliation." - On post-Cold War US policies, such as NATO expansion, that led to a souring of US-Russian relations.
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"I think we are still very much on the learning curve." - On America's role as the world's only superpower.
