Ralph Maraj Quotes

We are talking about using military force, but we are not talking about war. I think that is an important distinction.

... nor do I believe we have a right to use military force to compel the reception of our relief agencies.

We are not at war with Egypt. We are in an armed conflict.

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

My basic feeling about military intervention is that it should be a last resort, undertaken only to stave off large-scale bloodshed.

War is but an instrument of international policy.

Such recognition is not necessary in order to enable the United States to intervene and pacify the Island.

Military force is not the first option, but it is there if needed.

We have to deal with it diplomatically if we can, militarily if we must.

… the financial cost of a [military] strike isn’t a reason to acquiesce in mass murder in Syria.

Every war I have ever covered – Kosovo, Bosnia, Sierra Leone and Liberia – withstood all diplomatic efforts to end it until Western military action finally forced a resolution.

Is a military solution the only way to stop nations from doing bad things?

You have to make sure you know why you are going to war and then use decisive force to end it as soon as possible.

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

There was never a good war, or a bad peace.

Countries that intervene militarily rarely do so out of pure altruism.

War is the ultimate tool of politics.

It's not the job of the U.S. military to do nation-building or produce democratic utopias.

I can't tell you if the use of force in Iraq today will last five days, five weeks or five months, but it won't last any longer than that.

We don't have any intention whatsoever to use military force to solve the Palestinian problem. But when it comes to terror - when it comes to terror, I believe that military - the right military steps is a very, very complicated kind of warfare, where I make every effort not to escalate the situation.

It is one thing to be against unilateralism and against nonhumanitarian interventionism - but it is quite another thing to be against humanitarian interventionism.

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

We must be prepared to face our responsibilities and be willing to use force if necessary.

War is failure of diplomacy.

When you decide to get involved in a military operation in a place like Syria, you've got to be prepared, as we learned from Iraq and Afghanistan, to become the government, and I'm not sure any country, either the United States or I don't hear of anyone else, who's willing to take on that responsibility.