Jim Mattis Quotes

I would argue it should be a policy to defeat ISIS where they are, where they exist and prevent them from coming into the United States.

We have shown, given these last three years, that we were succeeding in fighting terrorists. While during the first 30 years of the former governments they didn't.

The scale of the ISIS threat is not yet matched by a clarity of approach for securing their defeat.

The fight, this war, this fight against the remnants of terrorism will go on for some time.

We are ready to engage in international co-operation against terrorism with a view to safeguarding national interests and regional security and stability.

The problem was you didn’t have an approach against Al Qaeda because you didn’t have an approach against Afghanistan. And you didn’ have an approach against Afghanistan because you didn’t have an approach against Pakistan. And until we could get that right, we didn’t have a policy.

One thing is certain: we will not be successful in this fight against ISIS and other extremist groups unless countries in the region are a major part of the coalition.

We think there should be a better countering-violent-extremism effort, that there should be a lead agency tasked to handle that.

This issue of terrorism is as much an issue for Pakistan as it is a Western issue.

It's not in our interest, nor in the interest of other countries in the region, for terrorists to regroup again.

We need the cooperation of the Pakistanis. If we don't have any, we lose insight into the actions of those who would do our country harm.

I have clearly said we faced terrorist enemies who use Islam to justify slaughtering innocent people and we have to stop them and we will. We have to defeat radical jihadist terrorism.

If they listen to the military people, we probably wouldn't be having an ISIS right now.

At least, it is encouraging to me that President [Barack] Obama has put Afghanistan front and center in this broader so-called War on terror, and that he is taking a different approach to Afghanistan.

Why don't you meet Osama bin Laden, invite him to Brussels or to the White House and engage in talks, ask him what he wants and give it to him so he leaves you in peace?

People don't seem to understand that it's a damn war out there. Maybe my methods aren't socially acceptable to some, but it's what I have to do to survive. I don't go out there to love my enemy. I go out there to squash him.

In defeating terror, Israel's cause is our cause.

If you come from a wealthy country with open borders, unless you seriously believe you can kill, imprison or occupy all your enemies, you have to make a world with more friends and fewer enemies - with more partners and fewer terrorists.

I do believe that if you reach a just and fair settlement between the Israelis and the Palestinians it will have a massive influence on countering extremism. Which is not to say that the Israel-Palestinian situation is the source of the problem, but it is very potent fuel.

Terrorism and war have something in common. They both involve the killing of innocent people to achieve what the killers believe is a good end.

The people of Israel will have to be convinced that the Palestinians are ready for peace.

In the fight against ISIL, we cannot rely on an Assad regime that terrorizes its people; a regime that will never regain the legitimacy it has lost. Instead, we must strengthen the opposition as the best counterweight to extremists like ISIL, while pursuing the political solution necessary to solve Syria's crisis once and for all.

There is not going to be any pass for Palestinian leadership in fighting terror.

Imagine if somebody were to really sit down with Osama bin Ladin and say, 'Listen man, what is it that you're so angry at me about that you're willing to have people strap bombs to themselves, or get inside of airplanes and fly them into buildings?' That would be the miracle if we can get, sit down and talk to our enemies and find a way for them to hear us.

I often write about reconciling. Reconciling, or maybe half-reconciling between antagonists, between people who are deadly enemies.