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" 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
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" 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
" President Obama has said that our aspirations should be realistic. We are not going to turn one of the poorest countries in the world, that was plunged into 30 years of war, into an advanced, industrialized, Western-style democracy. What we want to achieve is Afghanistan's capacity to secure and govern itself. "
David Petraeus
World
War
Democracy
" 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 think it's reality that Iran is going to have influence in Iraq. All elements of Iraq accepted that. "
David Petraeus
Influence
Iran
Reality
" 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
" The bottom line is, you really have to commit to something if you're going to be successful in it. "
David Petraeus
Successful
Bottom
Going
" 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
" I think no commander ever is going to come out and say, 'I'm confident that we can do this.' "
David Petraeus
Out
Think
Say
" When Western politicians propose blanket discrimination against Islam, they bolster the terrorists' propaganda. "
David Petraeus
Discrimination
Politicians
Islam
" All Americans should take great pride in the men and women serving our nation in Iraq and in the courage, determination, resilience and initiative they demonstrate each and every day. It remains the greatest of honors to soldier with them. "
David Petraeus
Day
Men
Women
" 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
" In counterinsurgency operations, the human terrain is the decisive terrain. "
David Petraeus
Operations
Terrain
Decisive
" This is actually true of the overall fight against al-Qaeda and trans-national extremists, that as you put pressure on them in one location, they'll seek safe haven sanctuaries in other areas. So you do have to continue to pursue them. But they have less capability. "
David Petraeus
True
You
Fight
" 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
" Setting aside moral considerations, those who flirt with hate speech against Muslims should realize they are playing directly into the hands of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. The terrorists' explicit hope has been to try to provoke a clash of civilizations - telling Muslims that the United States is at war with them and their religion. "
David Petraeus
Speech
Hands
War
" I don't comment directly on actions or statements of candidates. "
David Petraeus
Statements
Actions
Candidates
" It wasn't just Shia that would go to Tehran and see the commander of the Quds Force and others and the legitimate government leaders. It was also Kurdish leaders and Sunni Arabs who would even link up with Qassim Suleimani, the commander of the Quds Force - maybe not in Tehran but in Turkey or somewhere else. "
David Petraeus
Somewhere
See
Others
" If you look at casualties, you find countries that had much higher loss rates per capita than the US. Denmark comes to mind, the United Kingdom, they have suffered heavy losses at various points, the Germans as well. "
David Petraeus
You
Mind
Find
" I considered our British comrades to rank with the finest men and women of any armed service in the world. And I know that my fellow American soldiers - and those of the other coalition countries under my command - valued very highly the professional expertise, capability, courage, and determination of our British partners on the battlefield. "
David Petraeus
Women
Courage
Determination
" Leaders of the various Iraqi elements will likely have their own militias, and there will be endless rounds of brinkmanship on the road to post-Islamic State boundaries, governing structures, and distribution of power and resources. "
David Petraeus
Power
Own
Will
" Partners from the Islamic world are of particular importance. Indeed, they have huge incentives to be involved, as the ongoing struggles are generally not clashes between civilizations. Rather, what we are seeing is more accurately a clash within a civilization: that of the Islamic world. "
David Petraeus
World
Civilization
Seeing
" 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
" During the surge and in the years after the surge, Iraqi forces fought and died for their country at vastly higher numbers than did U.S. and coalition forces. We know that they can fight. "
David Petraeus
Country
Years
Numbers
" Life is a competitive endeavor. "
David Petraeus
Life
Competitive
Endeavor
" Every civilian's death diminishes us, collectively. "
David Petraeus
Every
Death
Collectively
" Needless to say, it was the greatest of privileges to serve with the selfless men and women - Iraqi and American and those of our coalition partners, civilian as well as military - who did the hard, dangerous work of the surge. There seldom was an easy period; each day was tough. "
David Petraeus
Work
Women
Tough
" Counter-insurgency, as you know, is a roller-coaster affair. "
David Petraeus
You
Affair
Roller-Coaster
" We can put a stake through the heart of Islamic State as an army. We can put a stake through the heart of its leaders. You can take away its territory. But you can't put a stake through the heart of the ideas, of the ideology, that sadly, tragically, still has some attraction for some small numbers in the Islamic faith. "
David Petraeus
Ideas
Army
Faith
" People often ask, why aren't you reading about what it is you're working on right now? And the truth is, you only get three pages a night before your eyelids close. "
David Petraeus
Truth
People
Reading
" We will win again in Iraq; I do think that Iraq can definitely be handled. I think that it can be kept intact. "
David Petraeus
Kept
Win
Again