Joe Bob Briggs Quotes

9/11 was a gamechanger in so many terrible ways, not just for the United States and for our own national security apparatus but for the whole world. And those attacks blew apart any notion of separation between foreign and domestic threats, any notion that such attacks only happen to other people in other countries.

The War on Terror is one of the most critical national security efforts in our history.

You don't want to pretend that 9/11 ended in 2002 with the first anniversary. So how do you frame the post-9/11 world and play a productive role in discussing it?

It's very important to go back and keep in mind the distinction between handling these events as criminal acts, which was the way we did before 9/11, and then looking at 9/11 and saying, 'This is not a criminal act,' not when you destroy 16 acres of Manhattan, kill 3,000 Americans, blow a big hole in the Pentagon. That's an act of war.

There is no doubt that our nation's security and defeating terrorism trump all other priorities.

Mr. Speaker, we are a blessed Nation. We have not suffered another attack on our soil since September 11, and we are grateful. We have killed or captured dozens of members of al Qaeda and the Taliban. Our military and intelligence forces are working both hard and smart.

Before 9/11, absolutely, there were concerns about terrorism; but the world fundamentally changed.

We can fight the War on Terrorism in other places around the world or we can fight it here in America. The right choice is to fight those terrorists where they are.

We have not yet, as a nation, made a generation-long commitment to this terrorist threat.

We are much safer in the United States, but not yet safe.

To the American people … nine years after 9/11, nine years of spending, and nine years of beefing up security you are still unsafe even in the holiest and most sacred of days to you, Christmas Day….

9/11 was a sort of hinge event in American history, and all jihadi terrorist plots or attacks are kind of filtered through that lens.

If we leave Iraq, terrorists will follow us home.

I recommended to the president [George Bush] that our focus had to be on al-Qaida, the Taliban and Afghanistan. Those were the ones who attacked the United States of America on 9/11.

Barack Obama can't beat ISIS. He's a lousy president.

Terrorism is an immediate problem that people are very concerned about, and I am as concerned about that as anyone else. But it isn't an either or situation.

For anybody here who's very worried about domestic priorities, just consider we have created, with this war on terrorism, more fighters, more countries embroiled. They're learning new weapons. They're learning new techniques. They're coming here in social media. The lone wolf thing is expanding. And once that blows here, then forget about domestic priorities.

I grew up in Canada and I was 10 years old when 9/11 happened. And I think that really changed the landscape for Arabs around the world, obviously, but especially Arab actors, I think we started getting viewed a little different. Like, my whole experience just as a kid before 9/11 and after 9/11 was drastically different.

I think it is important to recall the context of those challenging times immediately following 9/11. For me, I had just returned to Washington from an overseas posting and I reported for duty on the morning of 9/11. I knew in my gut when I saw the video of the first plane hitting the tower in Manhattan that it was bin Laden.

The work of the FBI, to put it mildly, is complex and covers just about every threat we face.

My government accords top most priority to national security. Therefore, effective steps are being taken to tackle terrorism and naxalism.

For me, there is nothing that encapsulates both our misguided response to the attacks of September 11th and the entire Iraq war itself more than a sense of lost opportunity.

If the war on terror is endless, you could forget about democracy.

It has been clear for some time now that we have to do more for domestic and external security. I am prepared for that.

You know, OK, I made a few jokes - and they killed 3000 Americans. Fair trade.