Antonio Guterres Quotes
We are making it very clear to all countries that nothing justifies terrorism. There are no political reasons that justify it; there is no cause, no grievance that justifies it. And we will do everything possible to make sure that all countries of the world understand that.
Guterres, António. "Remarks to the Press." United Nations, 16 Aug. 2017, www.un.org.
He and the government had just given the OK for a targeted assassination of the Palestinian terrorist who had designed the bombs and recruited the suicide bombers which led to the deaths of over 100 Israelis. Shortly thereafter, a cell phone the engineer was using blew up killing him by the same method whereby he had killed so many. This was the first targeted assassination of terrorist leaders, which then became an operational policy.
Although the President was personally opposed to terrorism and his policies opposed terrorism, in his country most people supported terrorism and the Islamic schools—madrasas—taught intolerance, hate and terrorism. Even leading generals of the army were major supporters of terrorism. See {586700} as an example.
This quotation is used by some non Americans to illustrate a hypocrisy and double standard that they see the United States arguing for in dealing with terrorism. The PKK terrorists have been infiltrating from Northern Iraq (Kurdistan) into Turkey for years. Kissinger and most American leaders tried to dissuade the Turks from militarily moving into Iraq to cut off the terrorists there and deal the border. They preferred an international policy approach. However, after 9-11 when the U.S. mainland was attacked by terrorists, the United States not only reacted unilaterally, but invaded Afghanistan and Iraq supposedly to nullify the terrorists.
António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres GCC GCL is a Portuguese politician serving as the ninth secretary-general of the United Nations. A member of the Portuguese Socialist Party, he served as prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002.
