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" At a certain point, you have to take the rearview mirrors off the bus and focus forward, and that's what we've sought to do. "
David Petraeus
You
Point
Mirrors
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" Proud parents document the arrival and growth of their future CIA officer in all forms of social media that the world can access for decades to come. "
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Future
Parents
" A certain degree of intellectual humility is a good thing. "
David Petraeus
Good
Humility
Intellectual
" The proximate cause of Iraq's unraveling was the increasing authoritarian, sectarian, and corrupt conduct of the Iraqi government and its leader after the departure of the last U.S. combat forces in 2011. "
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Cause
Last
Government
" In the 101st Airborne Division headquarters in Mosul, we had a sign on the wall. It was a question that we would ask ourselves before every new operation or policy initiative. It asked: Will this policy or operation take more bad guys off the streets than it creates by its conduct? "
David Petraeus
Question
Bad
Division
" There is not a military commander alive today who is genetically predisposed to say that he has enough ISR and assets, and particularly not in the Central Command theater. "
David Petraeus
Genetically
Today
Alive
" Beyond Iraq, I am also profoundly worried about the continuing meltdown of Syria, which is a geopolitical Chernobyl. Until it is capped, it is going to continue to spew radioactive instability and extremist ideology over the entire region. "
David Petraeus
Going
Beyond
I Am
" The challenge of Mosul and Nineveh is the considerable number of ethnic groups, religious sects, tribes, and other elements that make up the province. "
David Petraeus
Ethnic
Up
Religious
" The Congress, the executive branch, and our fellow citizens have done an enormous amount to support our troopers and their loved ones. And all of us are grateful for that. "
David Petraeus
Done
Congress
Grateful
" Committing to a particular goal publicly puts pressure on oneself. It becomes an enormous action-forcing mechanism and often helps you achieve more than you might have had you kept your goals to yourself. "
David Petraeus
Goal
Yourself
You
" I refuse to use terms like 'optimist' or 'pessimist' and instead prefer 'realist.' "
David Petraeus
Like
Use
Realist
" We're all outriders out there, and what we have is all these large number of tasks - that's the herd; that's all the cattle - a whole bunch of individual, hundreds if not thousands of projects at any given time ongoing that we're trying to complete. So we're trying to keep the cattle herd, keep it all just going in the right direction. "
David Petraeus
Direction
Time
Right
" In many respects, Afghanistan represents a more difficult problem set. It does not have a number of the blessings that Iraq has in terms of the oil, gas, land of two rivers, the human capital that Iraq built up over the years, the muscle memory of a strong government - albeit one that was corrupted over time. "
David Petraeus
Blessings
Time
Strong
" I'm living the dream. "
David Petraeus
Living
Dream
" I don't vote. "
David Petraeus
Vote
" As you will recall, soon after the 9/11 attacks, an international coalition led by the United States conducted an impressive campaign to defeat the Taliban, al Qaeda, and other associated extremist groups in Afghanistan. "
David Petraeus
Impressive
Campaign
Defeat
" Mubarak would meet with me when I was at Central Command. He would lean and put his hand on my knee, as if a father figure, and say, 'General, don't ever forget the Arab Street. Listen to the Arab Street.' I'd like to go to him now and say, 'Mr. President, what about that Arab Street, what's that all about?' "
David Petraeus
Me
Father
Street
" Iraq is a country I came to know well and the place where I spent some of the most consequential years of my life. "
David Petraeus
Life
Country
Know
" I am not a politician, and I will never be, and I say that with absolute conviction. "
David Petraeus
Will
Say
Politician
" The fact is that Iran doesn't want to see the Taliban come back any more than do most Afghan citizens. "
David Petraeus
Back
Want
Fact
" We need to learn from our experiences and take responsibilities for our actions and drive on. "
David Petraeus
Actions
Need
Drive
" Counter-insurgency, as you know, is a roller-coaster affair. "
David Petraeus
You
Affair
Roller-Coaster
" We're here so that Afghanistan does not once again become a sanctuary for transnational extremists the way it was when al-Qaeda planned the 9/11 attacks in the Kandahar area, conducted the initial training for the attackers in training camps in Afghanistan before they moved on to Germany and then to U.S. flight schools. "
David Petraeus
Way
Become
Flight
" Ungoverned spaces in the Islamic world will be exploited by people who wish us ill. They will not be contained. "
David Petraeus
People
Us
Wish
" The process to resolve post-Islamic State issues will be difficult and intense. "
David Petraeus
Difficult
State
Will
" You cannot deal with an industrial-strength extremist problem just with force of arms. You have to have that political component as well. "
David Petraeus
Well
Problem
Political
" Central to achieving progress in Afghanistan - and to setting the conditions necessary to transition security tasks from the international community to the Afghan government - is increasing the size and capability of ANSF. "
David Petraeus
Community
Government
Progress
" The central problem in Syria is that Sunni Arabs will not be willing partners against the Islamic State unless we commit to protect them and the broader Syrian population against all enemies, not just ISIS. "
David Petraeus
Protect
Enemies
Against
" Even before the missteps that I've had, I was never going to run for office. My family is adamantly opposed to it, and frankly, my politics don't necessarily work for the primaries of either of our parties. "
David Petraeus
Office
Family
Work
" The bottom line is that Daesh's defeat requires not just hammering them on the battlefield but, simultaneously, revived political reconciliation with Sunnis. "
David Petraeus
Political
Line
Defeat
" There were very few people who were both intercollegiate athletes and Star Men. "
David Petraeus
Star
Athletes
Few