Stanley A. McChrystal Quotes

To leave Afghanistan as a playground for terrorists and adventurers was simply not possible anymore.

If we want to build the Iraqis' confidence about our intentions in their country, if we want to stop adding fuel to the fire of insurgency and terrorism, we must clarify our intent.

I think, technically, we have won the war because people are going back into their neighbourhoods. Boko Haram as an organised fighting force - I assure you that we have dealt with them.

I am one who believes that we are, in fact, engaged in a worldwide war against terrorism. We must have the serenity to accept the fact that war is not going to go away if we ignore it.

I just think it would be unrealistic to suggest we're going to eliminate every last domestic insurgent in Afghanistan. Certainly, the history of the country would indicate that's not a very realistic objective, and I think we have to have realistic objectives.

We owe our troops more than rhetoric; we owe them a real plan. The Administration has yet to put forward a strategy for achieving stability in Iraq, ending the conflict, and handing over sovereignty to the people of Iraq and the new Iraqi government.

Anyone who believes that the eternal question of war and peace in Europe is no longer there risks being deeply mistaken.

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

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 cannot lose Afghanistan

We succeeded in fighting terrorism - we will succeed in reconstruction.

Our troops shouldn't be mired in taking land for the Afghan military, providing force protection and fighting a permanent insurgency.

The best thing America can do to put the Middle East on a path that leads to more democracy, less terrorism, human rights and economic growth is to get the hell out of there while showing an absolute crystal clear determination to defend American interests with force whenever they are threatened.

Faced with the collapse of Iraq into something like Lebanon - or worse, Somalia - the Bush administration opted for a new counterinsurgency strategy. Violence was reduced because, for the first time since the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, Iraqis felt that there was a force capable of dominating the situation and ensuring basic order.

As proud and capable as it is, I think the idea that the military can build new countries is a tall order, and it's the sort of thing that we would only expect from a military that we have superresourced and thought of as supercapable.

We have to bring stability to Iraq, otherwise we will be faced with a future dilemma of sending our loved ones into harms way to stop a civil war or the rise of a new tyrant born from the instability that we created.

The war against terrorism is one we must win.

We can stay in Afghanistan and stabilize the situation, or we can get out and win, or we can get out and lose.

I built Kosovo for 10 years.

You can't succeed in beating the insurgents unless you can convince the people that they can be protected.

And we need to maintain our foothold in the fight against terrorism and terrorist groups and respond to any degradation of Iraqi security or stability.

We are not in Afghanistan for the sake of the education policy in a broken 13th-century country. We are there so the people of Britain and our global interests are not threatened.

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.

The old NATO was primarily configured to deter a Soviet attack against its members; the new NATO is focused on countering any threats such as terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, rogue states, and other dangers that emanate from beyond Europe’s borders.

With an insurgency, people are the prize. We can win every battle and still lose the war.