John Abizaid Quotes

Our forces will not be on the sidelines.
John Abizaid

Forces, Sidelines

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.
John Abizaid

Experience, Person, Quite

Morale is good; troops are confident; leaders are capable.
John Abizaid

Good, Leaders, Capable

As far as Zarqawi is concerned, there is a network of extremists; it's not just Zarqawi.
John Abizaid

Far, Concerned, Network

But I am satisfied that the information that we have that this is the work of Zarqawi, is accurate.
John Abizaid

Work, Satisfied, Accurate

But my Arabic is pretty good. It's good enough to have conversations with people, to understand what they say, to understand what they're feeling.
John Abizaid

Good, Feeling, Understand

Everybody needs to understand that I learned Arabic from the United States Army as a second language. I never spoke it at home.
John Abizaid

Home, Understand, Learned

I think what actually works best is local-level individual targeting of key leadership nodes.
John Abizaid

Leadership, Best, Actually

So, these political activities will create friction in and of themselves, and in this environment of friction there'll be additional violence.
John Abizaid

Political, Violence, Themselves

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.
John Abizaid

Powerful, Away, Nation

Well, the hardest thing to do, as we know from our own experience on 9/11 is protect everything all the time.
John Abizaid

Time, Experience, Protect

You don't build a new power plant in the United States overnight. It takes years to build.
John Abizaid

Power, United, Takes

You know as well as I do that counterinsurgency is a very nuanced type of military operation.
John Abizaid

Military, Operation, Type

Being on the run, having to change the way that you do business, being unable to plan in a safe and secure environment, always looking over your shoulder, knowing that some day somebody's going to knock on your door and it's going to be your last.
John Abizaid

Change, Business, Last

But all that having been said, you can't, in a city of a million people like Karbala, or 5 million like Baghdad, you can't be in all places at all times.
John Abizaid

Said, Times, City

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.
John Abizaid

Today, May, Enough

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.
John Abizaid

Focus, Security, Building

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.
John Abizaid

Life, Truth, Future

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

Time, May, Happen

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.
John Abizaid

Goal, Enough, Nation

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.
John Abizaid

Nothing, Here, Speak

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.
John Abizaid

Done, Control, Understand

I think you will see a lot of strains develop in the political process that will result in violence everywhere in the country - but it's controllable, it's workable and it will lead to a much better future for these people.
John Abizaid

Future, Political, Country

In other words, for every 10 enemy you kill you bring on 20 new recruits to their anti-coalition cause then essentially you are working against yourself.
John Abizaid

Yourself, Enemy, Words

It's also natural in that part of the world to blame what people view as the... as the most important authority in the region, and that currently is the United States of America.
John Abizaid

Important, Blame, America

Share with your Friends

Everyone likes a good quote - don't forget to share.

Biography

Nationality: American

Born: April 1, 1951

Links

Find on Amazon: John Abizaid

Cite this Page: Citation

Popular Topics

Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

Related Authors

George S. Patton
Douglas MacArthur
Robert E. Lee
George C. Marshall
Norman Schwarzkopf
William Tecumseh Sherman
John Paul Jones
R. Lee Ermey
More

Get Social with BrainyQuote

BrainyQuote Desktop

BrainyQuote Mobile

Site

Quote of the Day

Social

BQ on Pinterest

Syndication

Funny Quote Feed

Love Quote Feed

Nature Quote Feed

About Us