David Petraeus Quotes
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As we used to say when I was privileged to be the commander there, Nineveh province has the most diverse human terrain in all of Iraq - Sunni Arab majority to be sure, but also Shia Arabs, numerous Kurdish communities, and they are broken out into several different political parties.
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You cannot deal with an industrial-strength extremist problem just with force of arms. You have to have that political component as well.
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In the 101st Airborne Division headquarters in Mosul, we had a sign on the wall. It was a question that we would ask ourselves before every new operation or policy initiative. It asked: Will this policy or operation take more bad guys off the streets than it creates by its conduct?
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There were very few people who were both intercollegiate athletes and Star Men.
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People often ask, why aren't you reading about what it is you're working on right now? And the truth is, you only get three pages a night before your eyelids close.
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Iraq is a country I came to know well and the place where I spent some of the most consequential years of my life.
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Needless to say, innumerable challenges exist in all areas of governance, and much more needs to be done to help the Afghan government assume full responsibility for addressing the concerns of ordinary Afghan citizens.
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There is no question that the Islamic State will be defeated in Mosul; the real question is what comes afterward. Can the post-Islamic State effort resolve the squabbling likely to arise over numerous issues and bring lasting stability to one of Iraq's most diverse and challenging provinces? Failure to do so could lead to ISIS 3.0.
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Ungoverned spaces in the Islamic world will be exploited by people who wish us ill. They will not be contained.
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Committing to a particular goal publicly puts pressure on oneself. It becomes an enormous action-forcing mechanism and often helps you achieve more than you might have had you kept your goals to yourself.
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I've truly tried to be apolitical.
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When Western politicians propose blanket discrimination against Islam, they bolster the terrorists' propaganda.
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I refuse to use terms like 'optimist' or 'pessimist' and instead prefer 'realist.'
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Nothing means more to those in harm's way than the knowledge that their country appreciates their sacrifices and those of their families.
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We cannot kill or capture our way out of an industrial-strength insurgency.
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The central problem in Syria is that Sunni Arabs will not be willing partners against the Islamic State unless we commit to protect them and the broader Syrian population against all enemies, not just ISIS.
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The biggest of the big ideas that guided the strategy during the surge was explicit recognition that the most important terrain in the campaign in Iraq was the human terrain - the people - and our most important mission was to improve their security.
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Iraq does have many, many different tensions.
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We're here so that Afghanistan does not once again become a sanctuary for transnational extremists the way it was when al-Qaeda planned the 9/11 attacks in the Kandahar area, conducted the initial training for the attackers in training camps in Afghanistan before they moved on to Germany and then to U.S. flight schools.
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In counterinsurgency operations, the human terrain is the decisive terrain.
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We need to learn from our experiences and take responsibilities for our actions and drive on.
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The art of coalition command - whether it is here in Afghanistan, whether it was in Iraq or in Bosnia or in Haiti - is to take the resources you are provided with, understand what the strengths and weaknesses are and to employ them to the best overall effect.
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Reconciliation is what takes place, of course, at higher levels. President Karzai has been very clear about the red lines for reconciliation, accept the constitution, lay down their weapons, cut their ties with al Qaeda and essentially become productive or at least participating members of society in that regard.
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I am not going to second-guess my old battlefield comrades from Iraq and Afghanistan; each has his own reason for what he has done.