Ryan Zinke Quotes

The Obama presidency has seen the U.S. military's elite tactical forces increasingly used in an attempt to achieve strategic goals. But with Special Operations missions kept under tight wraps, Americans have little understanding of where their troops are deployed, what exactly they are doing, or what the consequences might be down the road.

What he's really talking about - and I'm speaking for Mike Flynn, not Donald Trump - is that he's saying, essentially, we have to have options. We have to have a lot of options. And, frankly, we do. We do have a lot of options.

We need a military strategy to defeat terrorists on the ground.

When I was in government, what we would used to mystically call 'the kinetic option' was way down on our list. In my personal thinking - in my personal thinking, I need to emphasize that - I have begun to consider that that may not be the worst of all possible outcomes.

The Navy Seals don't travel with 200 people, they wouldn't be able to execute the kind of tip-of-the-spear missions they do.

I've served in 25 nations. I've seen where people don't trust their government. We're there. In the military, the last option is to send in the SEALs.

It makes sense for people who are good at fighting to go out and do it-because if they're good at it, that means the fewest number of other people die.

I was never able to convince myself that there was a cost-free alternative course, as from 1961, or that any of the different strategies since proposed, especially those involving stronger military action, would have made sense.

We have always said that in our war with the Arabs we had a secret weapon - no alternative.

My experience is that if the military didn't want to use force and was confronted with a president that did, the military would come back with what I would call the 'bomb Moscow' scenario. They would say it had to be done with conditions that were so extreme, you obviously wouldn't do it.

If the president is going to use so much language of theology and the Bible, then let's use that language for a serious discussion about the war in Iraq. And that was never done.

Violence is for mugs. War is for mugs.

At a time when the insurgents are saying that time is working against them, my Democratic colleagues are introducing a measure to set a timetable for withdrawal in Iraq that will undercut the momentum that the insurgents themselves say we have built in Iraq.

As we've seen, deploying large armies abroad won't always be our best offense. Countries typically don't want foreign soldiers in their cities and towns.

I've always been fascinated with Navy SEALs in general and their role in Afghanistan in particular.

People say, 'Surely there's the right reasons for going to war?' And my perspective is, 'Surely there's a better way of asking that question?'

The SAS is the most elite of the special forces in the world. They are not people who go out and advertise; they keep it inside. They don't want anybody to know about them.

Any information about U.S. special operations forces is highly sensitive.

President Obama has never summarized the Obama Doctrine with such clarity, but here is what it would look like: 'I will undertake any military attack against our enemies, regardless of the risks and collateral damage, so long as it is over by the time I have to announce it.'

I do not believe that diplomacy equals weakness…. If you are going to use force you better make sure that it is effective.

Diplomacy and force are two sides of the same coin.

Do the American people really want their President ... to have no other option than to go to war or do nothing?

Diplomacy, when matched by force, can achieve our objectives.

I am too realistic to believe in pacifism. But, nevertheless, the use of force should always be the last resort.

A campaign against terrorism requires checks on ”over stretch” and a viable exit strategy.