Alex Gibney Quotes

The President should spend his time going after the terrorists rather than sharing sensitive counter terrorism information with countries that sponsor terrorism.

You either deny terrorists any acceptance in the international life, or you make your double standard policy work the way it has been working - 'I don't like that guy in this country, so we will be calling him a dictator and topple him. This guy in another country also dictatorial, but he's our dictator.'

Nothing is more important to national security and the making and conduct of good policy than timely, accurate, and relevant intelligence. Nothing is more critical to accurate and relevant intelligence than independent analysis.

On the contrary, it might even be a projection of what the truth is of the Bush Administration's complacency and ineptitude on the terrorism in its first 9 months in office.

The first weekend after the attacks of September 11, George W. Bush had a meeting at Camp David with his top advisors, including Colin Powell, the secretary of state. And there was a lively debate about Iraq policy, in which some people from the Pentagon were arguing that the war against terrorism should include Saddam Hussein.

We have no control over the outcome of anything. Like the planet and global warming, we don't control that. If politicians want a war we don't control that. Acts of terrorism, we can't control them.

You don’t have enough evidence to convict them in a court of law. On the other hand, they can kill you….It’s inherently a very difficult problem. At the end of the day the United States must be true to its own values.

Counter-terrorism is not solely a military matter.

We cannot permit hostage taking to shape the foreign policy of this country.

If Pakistan claims to be a crucial partner in the international coalition against terrorism, how can it continue to use terrorism as an instrument of state policy against India? How can the international coalition condone Pakistan-directed killings of thousands of innocent civilians – women and children included – to promote a bizarre version of ‘self-determination’?

Legal issues aside, the American people and government should never abide the use of torture by our military or intelligence agencies. A decent society never accepts or justifies torture. It dehumanizes both torturer and victim, yet seldom produces reliable intelligence. Torture by rogue American troops or agents puts all Americans at risk, especially our rank-and-file soldiers stationed in dozens of dangerous places around the globe. God forbid terrorists take American soldiers or travelers hostage and torture them as some kind of sick retaliation for Abu Gharib.

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.

In choosing to use violent extremism as an instrument of policy, the government of Pakistan, and most especially the Pakistani Army and ISI, jeopardizes not only the prospect of our strategic partnership but Pakistan’s opportunity to be a respected nation with legitimate regional interest.

The United States is as weak as the Soviet Union. If enough pressure is applied to them, they will pull out of the Middle East.

Managing diplomacy today is far more difficult than during the Cold War. Technology, jet travel, and a globalized economy make it possible for terrorists in a remote corner of Pakistan or Syria to plan a terrorist attack on Times Square.

Telling families of hostages that the United States will not pay ransom is as tough as anything I do..

The counterterrorism strategy known as CONTEST aimed to reduce the risk to the UK and its interests overseas from terrorism, so that people can go about their lives freely and with confidence.

Our national security is not a partisan issue.

Unfortunately, the state of national security under the Trump administration is far from strong.

National security is not just things that go boom. It is not just terrorists and foreign adversaries.

The entire planet is drawn to Indian culture and soft power. The global community looks to us for solutions to international problems - whether terrorism, money laundering or climate change. In a globalised world, our responsibilities are also global.

We had no domestic attacks under Bush.

I would have promised those terrorists a trip to Disneyland if it would have gotten the hostages released. I thank God they were satisfied with the missiles and we didn't have to go to that extreme.

If we leave Iraq, terrorists will follow us home.

The United States government does not negotiate with terrorists.