John Abizaid

Certainly our goal is to leave Iraq, but we can't leave Iraq with our forces until we know that the Iraqi security forces are capable and efficient enough to defend the sovereignty of the nation. ↗

— John Abizaid

#certainly #defend #efficient #enough #forces

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

#army #body needs #everybody #home #i

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

— John Abizaid

#best #i #i think #individual #key

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

#bring #cause #enemy #essentially #every

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

#america #authority #blame #currently #important

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

#arab #cause #clear #community #effort

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

#clear #concerns #disrupt #event #hard

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

— John Abizaid

#additional #create #environment #friction #political

The United States is the most powerful nation on Earth and it just can't walk away from the Middle East and central Asia and the Horn of Africa. ↗

— John Abizaid

#asia #away #central #earth #east

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

#extremists #fashion #former #iraq #members