Mitt Romney Quotes

The terrorism from 9/11 has metastasized. It's metastasized in Iraq and Syria, in Nigeria, in Somalia, in Yemen and in other places in North Africa. We need a very comprehensive strategy to deal with that threat.

The main thing we should be focused on is the strategy to destroy ISIS. And I laid out a plan that the Reagan Library before the tragedy of Paris, and before San Bernardino to do just that. It requires leadership, it's not filing an amendment and call it a success.

Terror is a tactic. We can not wage "war" against a tactic.

We finally are where we need to be. We have a strategy and a commitment to go after ISIS.

Immediately after taking office, I will ask my generals to present to me a plan within 30 days to defeat and destroy ISIS.

[Donald Trump] is talked about enormous loss that we've had in this country by allowing radical Islamic extremists to run rampant without having a coherent plan for how to destroy them, not just to contain them, but to destroy them. And the implications of that for all families who are losing service members is significant.

One of the lessons we've learned from the last 25 years of terrorism is that groups that have safe havens are able to develop external attack capabilities in a way that groups that don't have safe havens are not. So we need to find a way to squeeze them significantly in their safe haven. Taking away territory that really matters to them is really, really important because it prevents them from focusing on external attacks.

This is my number one priority. I've got a lot of things on my plate. But my top priority is to defeat ISIL and to eliminate the scourge of this barbaric terrorism that's been taking place around the world. Groups like ISIL can't destroy us. They can't defeat us. They don't produce anything. They're not an existential threat to us. It is very important for us to not respond with fear.

We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy ISIS.

Our war on terror begins with al-Qaida, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped, and defeated.

What we have done is when the threat has been directed at the United States, i.e., the terrorist threat from ISIL or Al-Qaeda in Syria, is to go after them.

None of us believe countering terrorism is about party politics

If [President Obama] does not go on the offensive against ISIS...they are coming here. This is just not about Baghdad, this is just not about Syria, this is about our homeland. And if we get attacked because he has no strategy to protect us, then he will have committed a blunder for the ages.

Russia is probably one of the first countries to have been confronted with this problem of terrorism. It took some time before the international community realised the danger terrorism poses.

The hardship, the fighting against vigilance should stop, and terrorism should be fought decisively.

I take the threat of terrorism very seriously, and no one is more committed to hunting down terrorists and bringing them to justice, wherever they live, than I am.

I think the Turks' willingness to take seriously action on the borders to stop the flow of foreign fighters joining ISIL is significant.

We're going to achieve our goal. We are going to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL.

Once we affirm the goal of trying to make sure that you don't have jihadis infiltrating terrorist flows, we need to make sure we're doing it in a thoughtful way that's thinking about the 10 and 15 and 20 years long battle we're going to have against jihadists.

Russia doesn't negotiate with terrorists. It destroys them.

I do take the threat of terrorism seriously. You cannot eliminate that threat or diminish that threat by bombing a country.

If we want to end terrorism we need to bring quality education so we defeat the mindset of terrorism mentality and of hatred.

I can tell you who's planning terroris attacks. The leaders of ISIL. And I can tell you where they're at. They're in Raqqa, Syria. So for God's sakes, Mr. President Barack Obama , change your strategy. Come up with a ground force to go in and destroy the caliphate before we get hit here at home. That would be my advice to you.

We do not create terrorism by fighting the terrorists. We invite terrorism by ignoring them.

Our strategy right now is to accelerate the campaign against ISIS. It is a threat to all civilized nations.