Quotes by John Abizaid, page 2

John Abizaid - american Soldier

Life period: 1951

It's got the hallmark of al-Qaida and Zarqawi all over it - two independent attacks within four minutes of one another widely separated using suicide bombers.

Militarily we are not in any danger of losing. We can't be defeated militarily based on what the enemy currently throws against us.

Quote by John Abizaid about danger, enemies

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

Quote by John Abizaid about good, good luck

Of course to Americans the term outsiders means outside Iraq. But to an Iraqi it means someone not from this local area.

Quote by John Abizaid about americans

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.

Quote by John Abizaid about events

Our forces will not be on the sidelines.

Quote by John Abizaid about force

Our troops will do what they need to do to include stepping in between warring factions if that's what's required.

Quote by John Abizaid about need

So the skills required of our translators, interrogators, and human intelligence operators in Iraq are enormously demanding.

Quote by John Abizaid about intelligence, human imperfections

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

Quote by John Abizaid about violence

The real target is creating enough chaos in Iraq so that an extremist government can emerge there that would be friendly and conducive to the form of ideology that bin Laden, Zawahiri and Zarqawi believe in.

Quote by John Abizaid about ideology, chaos, real estate

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.

Quote by John Abizaid about fashion

We had expected that there would be more car bombs used in the attacks based on the very broad intelligence tips that we had.

Quote by John Abizaid about intelligence

We'll try to include Iraqi officers in our staffs. We will do everything we can to empower Iraqi security forces to stand up on their own and operate where they can alone.

Quote by John Abizaid about force, security

We've got to ensure that the quality and the capability of these forces will be good enough to withstand the challenges that the insurgents and the terrorists will present to the new Iraqi government.

Quote by John Abizaid about force, quality, present, good, good luck

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

Quote by John Abizaid about experience, things, time

Well, the reports are correct that we're conducting very robust military operations on the Afghan side of the border in areas where we think al-Qaida is operating and Taliban remnants are.

Yet, we believe that that's probably the vigilance of Iraqi security forces and some of our proactive measures the night before probably saved lives.

Quote by John Abizaid about prudence, force, security, night

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