Haider al-Abadi Quotes

The invasion of Iraq, particularly, gave a big shot in the arm to the jihadi extremists.

The presence of American troops is fueling the insurgency in Iraq, as acknowledged by General Casey and numerous other experts, and is helping terrorist recruiters build their numbers across the globe.

Choosing to arm and train the Islamist opposition against dictator Moammar Gadhafi unleashed its most ruthless terrorist elements.

The Sunnis no longer recognize the centralized government as a legitimate power. The Shia militia that is moving around is calling out war crimes that are anti-Sunni. So, the Sunnis are in a tough spot. Do they move to an ISIS, which is a radical Islamic terrorist organization? Or do they defend themselves? Or do they give up?

Iraq is in a civil war. There is no road in that country that is safe.

Even the majority of the Sunnis have grown tired of foreign terrorists operating in Iraq.

I would not be surprised to see Syria break apart entirely.

The Iraqi government will try and retake some of the cities have that been captured by ISIS. That means the Shiite government dropping bombs on civilian areas, on Sunni cities. There will likely be a response with car bombings here in Baghdad, and this could be a long fight.

Insurgencies have a way of going on for a long time historically.

Libya became a rat's nest of extremism after NATO helped depose dictator Moammar Gadhafi, and it now exports weapons, jihadists, and ideology to Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

I think Syria is now the training ground for the world... These rebel forces are more of a threat than anything.

There is no question that what we are seeing - the horrible advance of ISIS - goes back, if you will, to the original sin of the invasion of Iraq.

Indeed, by refusing to tackle Assad's brutality, we may actively alienate more of the Sunni population, driving them towards ISIS.

President Bush was disgusted by the Assad regime's oppression of the Syrian people as well as its support for terrorism, interference in Lebanon, and encouragement of jihadist attacks on Americans in Iraq.

The reality in Iraq is that we are creating new terrorists and severely damaging the public impression of the United States in the Muslim world.

The fate of Syria hangs in the balance, but it is entirely possible that the fall of the Assad regime will result in anarchy and cause Syria to turn into a second Afghanistan, a base for anti-Israel terrorism.

We are tangled in a very significant Islamic insurgency in Iraq.

There were no international terrorists in Iraq until we went in. It was we who gave the perfect conditions in which Al Qaeda could thrive.

The situation in Iraq is dangerous but the regional situation is also very complicated and precarious.

Nor should the U.S. military be forced to remain in Iraq essentially as an army for one side of a civil war.

There is no question that Iraq is one of the main problems. You'd have to be blind not to see what a magnet and generating force it's become for terrorist groups.

I think a weakened, fragmented, chaotic Iraq, which could happen if this isn’t done carefully, is more dangerous in the long run than a contained Saddam is now.

A U.S. invasion of Iraq could turn the whole region into a cauldron, and thus destroy the war on terrorism. A military campaign very likely would have to be followed by a large-scale, long-term military occupation.

The U.S. military will be stepping into a morass. Iraq presents as unpromising a breeding ground for democracy as any in the world. It has never really known democracy or even legitimate, centralized rule for any great duration.

In beloved Iraq, blood is flowing between brothers, in the shadow of an illegitimate foreign occupation.