Mark Shields Quotes

The idea that the United States is going to win the war in Iraq is just plain wrong.

If we don't stop extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions, we're going to have a serious problem coming down the road.

That's the problem with the American position; they think that they are the police of the world.

When it comes to the war in Iraq, the time for promises and assurances for waiting and for patience is over. Too many lives have been lost, too many billions of dollars have been spent for us to trust the president on another tired and failed policy that's opposed by generals and experts, Democrats and Republicans, Americans and many of the Iraqis themselves.

I think there has to be greater heed paid by the Security Council members to military advice.

Aggressive and irresponsible steps endanger the peace and stability of the world, and the international community feels the need to protect itself from Iran.

America’s military bases around the world are centers of stability in unstable regions.

Why does America always need to be the world's policeman?

Now Republicans are a more interventionist party than they have been at any time since George W. Bush left office.

I think that the decision to go to war in Iraq was a mistake.

I believe myself that the secretary of state, secretary of defense and - you have to make your own decisions as to what the president knows - (know) this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq yesterday.

The administration does not agree with those who suggest we should deploy hundreds of thousands of American troops to engage militarily in a ground war in Iraq.

I would have troops where they’re wanted, in our bases in Kuwait. I would have a contingency in case of an international terrorist attack. Our involvement in Iraq has led us to fail to focus on the true threat, al-Qaeda in Afghanistan... It was a mistake.

If military action in Iraq is launched without a new U.N. resolution, Canada will not participate.

What would be the difference if we retreated and let the French and Germans make decisions for the world? We tried that twice in the last century. Isolationsim, refusing to accept our role in the world, and delaying our response to evildoers ultimately cost fifty-three million lives in World War 2 alone. The preemption policy of the Bush administration, taking the war to the enemy and exporting democracy and freedom, has liberated fifty million.

The Gulf War was a clear precedent as well, and it let us begin to understand how the US government would go to war to secure strategic oil reserves and potential markets.

America is always fighting. We're the one that wants to go to World War III with Russia over Ukraine. So we're the ones always fighting. We're the ones putting up a lot of the money for NATO disproportionately - a lot.

According to CNN, Donald Rumsfeld said the war in Iraq did not go according to plan. And President Bush said, 'What? We had a plan?'

The United States is not longer going to be the world's policemen and our days of determining you're in or you're out around the world no matter what the level of direct American interest or connection are going to be very limited. Increasingly, Africa will be doing that.

When all is said and done, and statesmen discuss the future of the world, the fact remains that people fight these wars.

The only time Republicans will shake fists and point fingers is over a war delayed, one that isn't led by the US, or a war waged without the necessary conviction (read collateral damage).

Americans cannot be the policemen of the world. We cannot protect countries all over the world.

I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq.

If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step.

We cannot continue to be a policeman for the rest of the world.