John Abizaid Quotes

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John Abizaid

Profession : Soldier

Birth : April 1, 1951

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

John Abizaid

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

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.

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.

John Abizaid

Every American soldier wants as much public support as he can possibly have. That's the soldiers on duty in Iraq, and that's me, as well. We fight better knowing that our people back home support us, back us, and understand what we're doing. It's hugely important.

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.

John Abizaid

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

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.

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.

John Abizaid

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

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

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

I don't believe Iran is a suicide state.

John Abizaid

We need to make it very clear to the Iranians, the same way we made it clear to the Soviet Union and China, that their first use of nuclear weapons would result in the devastation of their nation.

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.

John Abizaid

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

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

Our forces will not be on the sidelines.

John Abizaid

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

John Abizaid

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

John Abizaid