Anthony Cordesman Quotes

War inside countries is all too common.

I never call it an insurgency. I call it terrorism.

How can you have a war on terrorism when war itself is terrorism?

In the Middle East, the opposition is quite different than the opposition in advanced countries. In our countries, the opposition takes the form of explosions, assassinations, killings.

Terrorism often finds a home in states mired in civil war …

The word 'insurgency' had connotations that really sent a shiver down the spine of folks in Washington, in the United States - for good reason, because it means this is something much bigger than just a few terrorist cells.

How is it possible to have a civil war?

The borderline between guerrilla warfare and crime, between patriotism and terrorism, is often a very thin one.

War is terrorism, magnified a hundred times.

It is notorious that no war between countries elicits as much hate and cruelty as civil war, in which there is no lack of acquaintance between the two warring sides.

To make war upon rebellion is messy and slow, like eating soup with a knife.

Since war itself is the most extreme form of terrorism, a war on terrorism is profoundly self-contradictory.

A war between Europeans is a civil war.

Iraq is in a civil war. There is no road in that country that is safe.

Never short of guns and guerrillas, Afghanistan has proven fertile ground for a host of insurgent groups in addition to the Taliban.

Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?

I was watching TV and saw people with masks, weapons, and grenades. I thought, Is that really possible? Could we be here yet again? And go into civil war one more time?

They call them terrorists, I call them freedom fighters.

Insurgencies are nearly as old as warfare itself.

Turn on your television and see what happens when nations settle their internal differences with guns.

Failed states have become breeding grounds for conflict.

The PKK is the number one threat in terms of terror in our country.

We of course define all terror organizations as threats, but the PKK is the primary threat.

I never talk about shooting anybody, but I do acknowledge I was a member of the IRA, and as a member of the IRA, I obviously engaged in fighting back against the British army.

My father believed in armed struggle.