Lawrence O'Donnell Quotes

America’s war in Afghanistan will come to a responsible end.

America's foreign policy lacks the backbone to do the right thing in Afghanistan - which is leave.

To avoid a military conflict, Saddam Hussein has no other choice than to leave the country.

Of course, it's imperative that we stabilize Iraq and quickly reduce our armed role there.

I don’t see any role for American peacekeepers in the Middle East because there is no peace to be kept.

America never formally surrenders, so we have to call surrender something else. In Vietnam, we called it Vietnamization.

Let's address the issue of how America deals with the Iraqis and how we deal with the region, recognize the fact that this is a misadventure, which it is in our interest to terminate and not to repeat. That's a rather important conclusion to draw, and a very important lesson.

I imagine, like all his predecessors, Barak Obama would like to achieve greatness in bringing peace in the Middle East. I hope it will not be at the expense of Israel.

(Obama) really has no experience or knowledge or judgment about the issue of Iraq and he has wanted to surrender for a long time.

Military solution in Iraq has been disproven and discredited.

The major problem for America is we're losing two wars. We're losing in Afghanistan, we're losing in Iraq. And there seems very little likelihood that we're going to increase the number of troops we have in either place to the point that we can prevail.

Obama's decision to leave, to not sustain the victory that resulted after eight years of fighting, from 2003 to 2011 in Iraq, was another incredibly stupid decision. It was totally based on politics, not based on any notion of national security. It's a nightmare for our national security. And then you have the Libya intervention.

The United States did not act in Iraq in 1988 when gas was being used on the Kurds or when gas was used in the Iranian-Iraq War.

In 2011, General Alston, four-star commander in Iraq, recommended to the President, a force level of over 20,000. The President rejected it and pulled out all the forces with what is now known as a disastrous consequence in Syria.

Spaniards were condemned for appeasing terrorism by voting for withdrawing troops from Iraq in the absence of U.N. authorization - that is, for taking a stand rather like that of 70 percent of Americans, who called for the U.N. to take the leading role in Iraq.

Jimmy Carter proposed withdrawing the troops from South Korea. He was stopped by the United States Congress.

The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it.

Charlie Rangel is angry about the Iraq war, the one that Henry Kissinger has told us we can't win. Thanks, Henry, but most Americans figured that out before you did. Rangel saw combat in Korea. Kissinger has only seen combat on TV. That might have something to do with why Kissinger thinks our troops should stay in Iraq even though we can't win.

I intend to vote against authorizing the president to use military force in Syria. The Obama Administration has not provided a clear or convincing strategy for inserting our military into the conflict. I am also deeply concerned about the extent to which al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists are involved in the rebellion.

There's no doubt that our hearts are with the residents of Gaza. We and the whole world are unable to get to a situation in which Gaza can be rehabilitated. There needs to be an international initiative with Israel's participation, in order to bring an end to the enmity against us.

Without resolving Kashmir dispute, lasting peace cannot be maintained in the region.

The U.S. would still like to see Assad go at some point. That would be our desired outcome.

The Iraq war can only be won diplomatically, politically and economically, and the president needs to come to that realization.

Voting against the resolution authorizing the use of military force in Iraq was one of my proudest moments as a senator. It is long past time to close this tragic chapter in American history.

I think the war in the Mideast, how we got into it and how we're going to address the current problems, are issues that every American should be concerned about.