Rachel Maddow Quotes

War is much too serious a thing to be left to military men.

From a very strategic level, I believe the military is part of the solution to better outcomes around the world, but at a higher level, it's really about economies.

I built Kosovo for 10 years.

I want the troops from Great Britain and the U.S. to be successful, but by the same token, Afghanistan has always been a screw-up.

When you decide to get involved in a military operation in a place like Syria, you've got to be prepared, as we learned from Iraq and Afghanistan, to become the government, and I'm not sure any country, either the United States or I don't hear of anyone else, who's willing to take on that responsibility.

For the security of the UK, it matters a lot for Somalia to become a more stable place.

We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.

The real peril of war lies not in military defeat. It lies in war itself, whether we win or lose.

It's not the job of the U.S. military to do nation-building or produce democratic utopias.

You know, I agree with President Obama that in Iraq and Afghanistan, at some point in time, we have to take the training wheels off and we have to allow those countries to stand on their own two feet.

I don't think we would have had to be an occupying power if we had done the right thing in 1991.

Our soldiers have done a valiant effort in fighting terrorism and bringing a semblance of law and order to the chaos in the region and it would be shortsighted to lay out a specific timetable to bring U.S. troops home prematurely before their mission is accomplished.

Politicians do not enter into wars lightly. It is usually the military themselves who are keener to become involved.

I have never believed you go to war in Iraq, you go to war in Afghanistan, and believe that you can deal with those battlefields, those countries, in microcosms, or narrow channels.

War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men.

I certainly don't like a label that suggests I believe that the military is the solution to most of the world's problems.

I think all foreigners should stop interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq. Those who want to come and help are welcome. Those who come to interfere and destroy are not.

There are two things that will always be difficult for a democratic people to do: to start a war and to finish it

The United States can't go in and impose order on chaos every place in the world.

I would be very careful about using our troops as nation builders. I believe the role of the military is to fight and win war and therefore prevent war from happening in the first place

We find ourselves in places in the world where our interests require, maybe, limited application of force, involved in strange missions, missions difficult to define and state criteria and exit strategies. So it's much more difficult now. It's not that clear.

The possibility of the United States winning the war and losing the peace is real and serious

I would hope that we have in place the adequate resources to become an army of occupation because you’re going to walk into chaos

We’re not going to need as many people to do peacekeeping as we needed to fight the war.

I don’t think our troops ought to be used for what’s called nation-building. I think our troops ought to be used to fight and win war.