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All John Abizaid Quotes
You know as well as I do that counterinsurgency is a very nuanced type of military operation.
John Abizaid
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Morale is good; troops are confident; leaders are capable.
John Abizaid
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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
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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.
John Abizaid
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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
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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
56% of people like this quote
I think what actually works best is local-level individual targeting of key leadership nodes.
John Abizaid
55% of people like this quote
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
53% of people like this quote
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
53% of people like this quote
So, these political activities will create friction in and of themselves, and in this environment of friction there'll be additional violence.
John Abizaid
53% of people like this quote
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
53% of people like this quote
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
52% of people like this quote
Well, the hardest thing to do, as we know from our own experience on 9/11 is protect everything all the time.
John Abizaid
52% of people like this quote
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
51% of people like this quote
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