Richard N. Haass Quotes

Wars of necessity are essentially unavoidable. They involve the most important national interests, a lack of promising alternatives to the use of force, and a certain and considerable price to be paid if the status quo is allowed to stand. Examples include World War II and the Korean War.

What I've learned, and will try to remember from now on, is that defending your country's credibility is never sufficient reason to fight a war.

I think that war is diplomacy by other means, for sure, and there have been wars that have been fought for righteous reasons. There are wars that have had to be fought, and there will probably continue to be.

Most wars, after all, present themselves as humanitarian endeavors to help people.

When the commander-in-chief sends Americans to fight and die, it should be only to protect our vital national interests, not for his own personal, political gain.

It is not every cause of war that should lead to war.

We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth: We will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations—acting individually or in concert—will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.

War should be the politics of last resort. And when we go to war, we should have a purpose that our people understand and support.

The major wars that the U.S. became involved in are all ethically defensible.

I think most Americans believe that although it's better not to use military force if you can avoid it, that the world simply doesn't provide us the luxury of giving away military force as an important tool of foreign policy.

Do the American people really want their President ... to have no other option than to go to war or do nothing?

When our vital interests are challenged, or the will and conscience of the international community is defied, we will act; with peaceful diplomacy whenever possible, with force when necessary.

A United States President should never, never, never, never threaten the use of force unless he is prepared to follow up.

Lightly armed nations can move toward war just as easily as those which are armed to the teeth, and they will do so if the usual causes of war are not removed.

Unless a nation's life faces peril, war is murder.

If I took the 40 years of my dad talking to me about war and battles and taking me to battlefields and distilled it down into one question, it would probably be the idea of the necessary or unnecessary war.

If there is no direct threat why are we invading?

I feel like war should occur only for the most vital and necessary reasons, and only then.

I'm just very wary that once you start military operations in any country, it's very difficult to predict what the outcome is.

Diplomats are just as essential to starting a war as soldiers are for finishing it... You take diplomacy out of war, and the thing would fall flat in a week.

There are two things which a democratic people will always find very difficult - to begin a war and to end it.

You can't tell me that all the wars we are fighting are in America's national security interest.

Either a war has to be fought, or it doesn't.

While war is never anyone first choice, sometimes it is a necessary choice.

Some in my party threaten to send a message that they don't know a just war when they see it, and more broadly that they're not prepared to use our military strength to protect our security and the cause of freedom.