Robert Baer Quotes
There is a tendency in any conflict, especially in a democracy, to fight the enemy you can, not the enemy you should.
Baer, Robert. The Perfect Kill: 21 Laws for Assassins. Blue Rider Press, 2014.
During the presidential debates George W. Bush stated that he would be very hesitant to use the military for nation building around the world. Less than a year later, the Bush administration, faced with the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, launched a massive attack on the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. After fighting and winning the war, the military soon realized that they would in fact be involved in nation building. However, with the assistance of the United Nations much of the humanitarian burden was lifted from the U.S. military.
After his first inauguration in 1933, Roosevelt asked the former Supreme Court Justice for his advice.
The first Jew to run for the Vice Presidency on a major party ticket.
Israel had again been attacked by Arab armies and at the same time the parties were in peace negotiations. Some argued that there should be a cease fire while negotiations were ongoing, but Rabin explained that if the two did not go on simultaneously and independently, neither might go well.
TR was then a Lieutenant Colonel and the regiment he organized was an unusual combination of Ivy League College men, cowboys from the West, and Black Buffalo Soldiers.
At the time, some House Republicans had taken an untenable and unpopular position and forced the government to shut down by not passing laws authorizing the expenditures. He had been asked his advice for President Obama who seemed to be winning this particular political squabble.
Robert Booker Baer is an American author and a former CIA case officer who was primarily assigned to the Middle East. He is Time's intelligence columnist and has contributed to Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. Baer speaks eight languages, won the CIA Career Intelligence Medal and is a frequent commentator and author about issues related to international relations, espionage, and U.S. foreign policy. He hosted the History reality television series Hunting Hitler. He is an Intelligence and Security Analyst for CNN. His book See No Evil was adapted by the director Stephen Gaghan and used as the basis for the film Syriana, with George Clooney playing Baer's character.
