Paul Bremer Quotes

The crises in North Korea, Iran, the Middle East, show how quickly things can change and how they can go wrong. We must be prepared. And right now the Army is not.

Our safety requires a long-term military presence in the Middle East because that's where the plans to attack us are emanating.

Thinking about the war now and the occupation later is not an acceptable solution.

It has been an honor to work in the Obama Administration and to serve this President, particularly during a period of unprecedented change in the broader Middle East. Obviously, there is still work to do but I promised my wife I would return to government for only two years and we both agreed it is time to act on my promise.

Our policies toward Iraq simply are to protect the region and to protect Iraq's people and neighbors.

What is the Obama Doctrine? It seems to be one of disengagement, to try to ignore the hot, religious, dry, poor countries from Algeria to Pakistan.

Wars should be over in three days or less... and the American people must be all for it from the outset.

All war represents a failure of diplomacy.

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

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned, it seems, to direct the Middle East policy of the Obama administration.

Everyone should unconditionally accept that Israel is an indispensable element of the Middle Eastern mosaic.

I look askance at any movement which assists in making the peacemaker among nations merely a national warrior.

Victory is the most important aspect in Iraq, because victory in Iraq will help us have victory in the War on Terror.

A president cannot sit on his hands and be seen as passive in the face of ruthless action by a foreign dictator.

No one will remember that President Obama supported the Arab Spring if it eventually fails and the region collapses back into the political Dark Ages. If we actively engage these movements with advice, with money, and, when necessary, with military force, then we get a vote in how it all turns out.

On the contrary, I tried on numerous occasions to convince the American president not to go to war. I did what was within my capabilities to avoid that happening.

Our national aims can be realized only by military means. The matter needs no further elaboration or interpretation.

Power alone is respected and ... in order to gain peace, the United States has no alternative but to wield it

A commitment in Iraq was inevitable. We had to establish a base at Basra, and control that port to safeguard Persian oil in case of need.

The duty of defense is maintain peace and avoid war.

Security provided by peace treaties is preferable to security enforced by troops.

No war is exactly like another.

The only alternative is war or national dishonor; and between these two, what American can hesitate.

The use of armed force to make decisions in the political field must be eradicated from this continent.

Someone should tell the president that U.S. forces would need to be in Iraq for two to five years, and they will not have an easy time there.