Ehud Barak Quotes

We can't go all over the world killing people because we disagree with them.

No right can come by conquest, unless there were a right of making that conquest.

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

For a war to be just three conditions are necessary - public authority, just cause, right motive.

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

What is the 'noble cause' for which you sent our country to war?

The only defensible war is a war of defense.

For a war to be just, three conditions are necessary—public authority, just cause, right motive.

The utterly fallacious idea at the heart of the pro-war argument is that it is the duty of the anti-war argument to provide an alternative to war. The onus is on them to explain just cause.

I believe in not attacking a country pre-emptively unless you're sure of what you're doing and you're working with allies.

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.

War, except in self-defense, is a failure of moral imagination.

I see no reason to use offensive tools unless you're defending the country or in a state of war, or you want to achieve some really important thing for the good of the nation and others.

Today, war of necessity is used by critics of military action to describe unavoidable response to an attack like that on Pearl Harbor that led to our prompt, official declaration of war, while they characterize as unwise wars of choice the wars in Korea, Vietnam and the current war in Iraq.

We do not kill an Iraqi.

The great question, is there anything at all which is worth fighting such a war about, with the devastating loss it will bring? I believe yes, there are some freedoms which to sacrifice would be EVEN worse.

If you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization, then be prepared to accept barbarism.

Nobody will be allowed to use Pakistan soil for any form of aggression toward any friend or foe.

You say it is the good cause that hallows even war? I say unto you: it is the good war that hallows any cause.

The absolute pacifist is a bad citizen; times come when force must be used to uphold right, justice and ideals.

A sane person doesn't think war is a good idea. I'm not a pacifist. I feel that there are situations where fighting is inescapable, but we don't go looking for those things.

I’m not opposed to all wars; just dumb wars.

Formerly, a nation that broke the peace did not trouble to try and prove to the world that it was done solely from higher motives…Now war has a bad conscience. Now every nation assures us that it is bleeding for a human cause, the fate of which hangs in the balance of its victory…No nation dares to admit the guilt of blood before the world.

International law seeks to avoid the use of force but does not preclude it.

A rational fear of an imminent danger is said to be a justifiable cause of war.