Valerie Plame Quotes

If anything caused ISIS, it was the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.

The invasion of Iraq, particularly, gave a big shot in the arm to the jihadi extremists.

The rise of ISIS is a result of - Obama and Clinton making a decision to pull our troops out without preparing Iraq is a colossal mistake.

What happened in Iraq and Syria was that the world remained silent as ISIS expanded.

The only one who thinks the world is safer since the occupation of Iraq is Bush.

The mistake that was made was, of course, leaving Saddam in charge of affairs over there.

We must win in Iraq. If we withdraw, there will be chaos; there will be genocide; and they will follow us home.

There is no question that Iraq is one of the main problems. You'd have to be blind not to see what a magnet and generating force it's become for terrorist groups.

To destroy the Islamic State, you have to fix Syria. You have to look at the reasons that created the Islamic State. This is a huge task.

Our actions to overthrow secular dictators in Iraq and Libya, and attempts now to do the same in Syria, have resulted in tremendous loss of life, failed nations, and even worse humanitarian crises while strengthening the very terrorist organizations that have declared war on America.

I profoundly do not believe that the United States could make things better in Syria by being there. And we have an evidentiary record of what happens when we're there - nearly a decade in Iraq.

ISIS is a monstrosity. It didn't come from nowhere. It's one of the results of the U.S. hitting a very vulnerable society - Iraq - with a sledgehammer.

I've been fighting amidst a lot of opposition from both Hillary Clinton as well as some Republicans who wanted to send arms to the allies of ISIS. ISIS rides around in a billion dollars worth of U.S. Humvees. It's a disgrace. We've got to stop - we shouldn't fund our enemies, for goodness sakes.

Saddam Hussein was the one person after whom the United States went, and they ruined the country.

The Gulf War is responsible for the huge and horrifying rise in Islamic terrorism.

President Bashar Assad's regime is in the unique position of being targeted both by Israel and supporters of al Qaeda.

The Middle East is more angry than ever. I'm afraid that the sort of deceit on the route to war was linked to the lack of preparation for afterwards and the chaos and suffering that continuous - so it won't go away will it?

I don't think that the war serves U.S. interests. I think Osama bin Laden's interests and the Iranian interests are very much served by it, and it's becoming a huge drain on our resources both material and political.

Afghanistan and Iraq were lumped together in what was called a 'global war on terrorism.'

ISIS controls a territory roughly the size of Maryland where 8 million people live. If it's attacked and toppled, who will fill the void?

That was not part of the U.N. resolution; it was not part of the mandate to go on to Baghdad and, frankly, if we had gone into Baghdad and pushed Saddam Hussein off, we would have inherited an even bigger mess than the mess we inherited with the refugee problem.

By ending the Hussein regime, the United States has taken away yet another incubator of terrorism.

A U.S. invasion of Iraq could turn the whole region into a cauldron, and thus destroy the war on terrorism. A military campaign very likely would have to be followed by a large-scale, long-term military occupation.

We should not have attacked Iraq without the okay of the United Nations. Now we have to live with that mistake. We're living with it, and too many of our guys are dying with it.

Washington seems to think that they will be welcomed with open arms in Iraq, but that they shouldn’t count on it. It is foolish to think of creating a modern democracy in an artificial country with a divided society like Iraq. Do you realize that, by invading Iraq, they might yet precipitate a civil war.