Richard Engel Quotes

Author Image

Richard Engel

Profession : Journalist

Birth : September 16, 1973

Every war has its demons.

Richard Engel

'Shabiha' is a difficult word to translate into English. It comes from the word Syrians used to describe the luxury Mercedes favored by the Assad family's operatives that the enforcers of the regime used to move money, smuggle weapons and intimidate opponents.

Richard Engel

Every war has revolutionary justice.

Richard Engel

Initially, before the modern state of Iraq was created, there were three separate provinces here: a Shiite in the south, a largely Sunni one in the middle, and a Kurdish one in the north.

Richard Engel

Egypt has a presidential system. The president runs the state. Who the president is matters profoundly.

Richard Engel

The Muslim Brotherhood, or 'the Brotherhood' for short, is an Islamic group founded in Egypt in 1928. It has been pursuing a secret campaign to take over the government since its creation.

Richard Engel

Egypt is the most populous Arab nation, the seat of Sunni Islamic doctrine, and has tremendous political, religious and social influence on the rest of the region. For better or worse, it will lead the rest of the Middle East by example. So goes Egypt, so goes the region.

Richard Engel

War can be fun for certain people. It's a magnet for sadists, losers, and angry dreamers.

Richard Engel

Every country where the the United States maintains troops has a status of forces agreement.

Richard Engel

On one level, bombing ISIS is easy. The U.S. knows where the group operates. There's no need for a ten-year hunt like the one for Osama bin Laden. The terror group has two capital cities: Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria. Al-Qaeda never had such an obvious home address.

Richard Engel

Many in the U.S. military believe ISIS needs to be immediately, and repeatedly, smashed by American drones and warplanes.

Richard Engel

The U.S. spent billions of dollars to build a secular, professional national Iraqi army but failed because, despite all the U.S.-supplied guns, tanks and planes, the Iraqi military fell apart when challenged by a band of terrorists.

Richard Engel

Hezbollah and the government are only two of 18 political factions in Lebanon, most of them armed. There are militant Christian groups, Palestinian radicals, al-Qaida, Druze militias and even armed bands of Marxists still operating in Lebanon.

Richard Engel

Hamas is a Palestinian political party with an aggressive militant wing.

Richard Engel

Hamas has long been Israel's enemy, but in the wake of the Arab Spring, the group is empowered like never before.

Richard Engel

Fences and walls can be effective and even soothing, at least for those who build them.

Richard Engel

Every child is taught if you try to please everyone, you end up upsetting everyone.

Richard Engel

What is the Obama Doctrine? It seems to be one of disengagement, to try to ignore the hot, religious, dry, poor countries from Algeria to Pakistan.

Richard Engel

Any information about U.S. special operations forces is highly sensitive.

Richard Engel

Some Iraqi troops aren't willing to fight for their government. But many Shiites appear willing to fight for their religious leaders.

Richard Engel