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" Every civilian's death diminishes us, collectively. "
David Petraeus
Every
Death
Collectively
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" 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
" I think carpet bombing is an absolutely tremendous idea if the enemy accommodates you by laying himself out like a carpet in the middle of the desert without any civilians or infrastructure around him. Sadly, the Islamic State has learned that that is a losing proposition and does not accommodate us in that way. "
David Petraeus
Way
Desert
Enemy
" In many... cases, of course, the Arab Spring has brought about instability rather than greater stability. And rather than bringing about government that is more representative and more responsive to the people, you're seeing, frankly, the opposite, or you're seeing all-out war. "
David Petraeus
Spring
War
People
" 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
" I am not going to second-guess my old battlefield comrades from Iraq and Afghanistan; each has his own reason for what he has done. "
David Petraeus
Done
Going
Reason
" As we used to say when I was privileged to be the commander there, Nineveh province has the most diverse human terrain in all of Iraq - Sunni Arab majority to be sure, but also Shia Arabs, numerous Kurdish communities, and they are broken out into several different political parties. "
David Petraeus
Say
Broken
Different
" America is not in decline. "
David Petraeus
Decline
America
" I am not a politician, and I will never be, and I say that with absolute conviction. "
David Petraeus
Will
Say
Politician
" A certain degree of intellectual humility is a good thing. "
David Petraeus
Good
Humility
Intellectual
" I really started to get a sense of how, if you will, special Zarqawi was, I guess, sort of midway through 2004. "
David Petraeus
Started
Will
Sense
" I do talk to individuals still in the business of tracking individuals in the homeland and abroad. A lot of them have felt that they were hanging on by their fingernails a bit in terms of tracking all the potential threats out there. "
David Petraeus
Hanging
Potential
Talk
" The tragedy is that political leaders failed so badly at delivering what Iraqis clearly wanted - and for that, a great deal of responsibility lies with Prime Minister Maliki. "
David Petraeus
Political
Great
Responsibility
" No greater privilege than I had as a soldier and then as a spymaster and to some degree now in the business world. "
David Petraeus
Now
Soldier
Privilege
" 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 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
" 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
" The idea is to go to bed every night with fewer enemies than you had in the morning. "
David Petraeus
Morning
Enemies
Bed
" To do de-Baathification without an agreed process of reconciliation threw tens of thousands of people out of their jobs, out of their homes, out of their future, and even robbed them of their position in society. "
David Petraeus
Out
Future
Society
" Ethno-sectarian violence is a particular concern in Iraq, as it is a cancer that continues to spread if left unchecked. "
David Petraeus
Concern
Violence
Spread
" I don't comment directly on actions or statements of candidates. "
David Petraeus
Statements
Actions
Candidates
" 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
" Iraq's Sunnis need to be brought back into the fold. They need to feel as though they have a stake in the success of Iraq rather than a stake in its failure. "
David Petraeus
Success
Back
Failure
" 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
" 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
" 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
" I've been in a position before where a president has turned to me in the Oval Office in a difficult moment, without any pleasantries, and said, 'I'm asking you as your president and Commander in Chief to take command of the international security force in Afghanistan.' The only response can be, 'Yes, Mr. President.' "
David Petraeus
You
Me
Moment
" Counter-insurgency, as you know, is a roller-coaster affair. "
David Petraeus
You
Affair
Roller-Coaster
" I refuse to use terms like 'optimist' or 'pessimist' and instead prefer 'realist.' "
David Petraeus
Like
Use
Realist
" Nothing means more to those in harm's way than the knowledge that their country appreciates their sacrifices and those of their families. "
David Petraeus
Way
Knowledge
More
" 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