John Abizaid quotes

Nobody's more mindful of the sacrifices of our troops than those of us that command them. (John Abizaid)
But the truth of the matter is that there is there is an opportunity for them to participate in the economic and political future of the country and certainly in the security life of the country. View quote
John Abizaid
So, these political activities will create friction in and of themselves, and in this environment of friction there'll be additional violence. View quote
John Abizaid
I don't believe Iran is a suicide state. View quote
John Abizaid
We've got to ensure that the quality and the capability of these forces will be good enough to withstand the challenges that the insurgents and the terrorists will present to the new Iraqi government. View quote
John Abizaid
Morale is good; troops are confident; leaders are capable. View quote
John Abizaid
I think you also understand that one of the key things that's got to be done in Iraq is to build a mentality of understanding that the military needs to be subordinate to civilian control and respectful of its own people. View quote
John Abizaid
You don't build a new power plant in the United States overnight. It takes years to build. View quote
John Abizaid
The power to prevent violence is a power that no police force seems to have anywhere in the United States. View quote
John Abizaid
Clearly the Secretary of Defense, my boss, would like nothing better than to get Osama bin Laden and to get... to ensure the complete defeat of al-Qaida, because we know that al-Qaida is planning operations against the United States even as we speak here. View quote
John Abizaid
Capturing any member of any terrorist cell or any insurgent cell that we may happen to come across is always very, very valuable, and the thing that interests me is that in most instances after a time people talk and they tell us what they know. (John Abizaid)
Everybody needs to understand that I learned Arabic from the United States Army as a second language. I never spoke it at home. View quote
John Abizaid
We'll try to include Iraqi officers in our staffs. We will do everything we can to empower Iraqi security forces to stand up on their own and operate where they can alone. View quote
John Abizaid
Oh, the transition concerns me because as we move towards an important political event, it's clear to me that the terrorists and insurgents will move as hard as they can to disrupt this process. View quote
John Abizaid
And so I think that if the person has the funds, the network, and the equipment to do this, and also the experience, which is the key factor, then they can be quite deadly. View quote
John Abizaid
You know as well as I do that counterinsurgency is a very nuanced type of military operation. View quote
John Abizaid
Certainly our goal is to leave Iraq, but we can't leave Iraq with our forces until we know that the Iraqi security forces are capable and efficient enough to defend the sovereignty of the nation. View quote
John Abizaid
Undoubtedly, there are members of the former regime that are cooperating in some fashion and then there are extremists that are within Iraq that are cooperating with them. View quote
John Abizaid
But clearly the fact that we've gone from zero Iraqi security forces on duty in May to up to 200,000 today is an enormous accomplishment, but it's not enough. View quote
John Abizaid
But the key shift in focus will be from counter-insurgency operations to more and more cooperation with Iraqi security forces and to building Iraqi security capacity. View quote
John Abizaid
Well, the reports are correct that we're conducting very robust military operations on the Afghan side of the border in areas where we think al-Qaida is operating and Taliban remnants are. (John Abizaid)
It's clear to me now that we've got to reach out to the Arab Sunni community in particular in an effort to cause some moderate political activity to take place so they join the future of Iraq. View quote
John Abizaid
The United States is the most powerful nation on Earth and it just can't walk away from the Middle East and central Asia and the Horn of Africa. View quote
John Abizaid