Robert M. Gates Quotes

Traditional Islam is a mixture of all obedience to Allah, and if that requires militancy, so be it.

You are right, but the weakness does not come from the millions of Muslims in the world. They do not mind being radical, they have no fear to speak out and to protest and to jihad.

The jihadists come from many European countries, Russia included, and some even from the United States; hundreds of them - if you take Europe, Russia and the U.S. - are fighting in the ranks of extremist groups.

I am not big on the idea that a rapid injection of democracy will reform radical Moslems.

It is now abundantly clear the source of Muslim terrorism is situated within the body politic of Islam and its adherents, irrespective of how many times, on the one hand, some Muslim spokespersons try to obscure this reality and, on the other, politicians of whatever stripe for electoral purposes behave as ostriches with their heads in the sand

The Saudis are the primary sponsor of the Sunni version of Islamofascism.

Islam has been transformed from a religion to an ideology.

Pakistan’s military and intelligence services have, for decades, used religious parties for recruits.

I tend not to believe radical Muslim movements.

On Islam, it is true that I am tough. Perhaps tougher than I should be if my only aim was to get votes.

When I was writing 'The Satanic Verses,' if you had asked me about the phenomenon that we all now know as radical Islam, I wouldn't have had much to say. As recently as the mid-1980s, it didn't seem to be a big deal.

The West is in for a long, irregular confrontation - not with terrorism, which is simply a tactic, but with radical Islam.

Osama bin Laden fervently hoped that attacking the United States would create pressure on American leaders to reduce their support for Middle Eastern regimes. Bin Laden believed that without that American support, the Arab regimes would collapse and would be replaced by Taliban-style rulers.

ISIL is not 'radical Islam.' Hamas, Hezbollah, Fatah, the Muslim Brotherhood - these are radical Islamic groups. They resort to armed struggle and terrorism to move toward their goals. But they are also deeply political organizations that have internal rules, standards, and codes of conduct.

The Muslim Brotherhood has decades of violent history covertly operating in the United States and is recognized by experts as having 100 times more active members than Al-Qaeda.

There is no problem with Islam itself or with the Muslims, but these are difficult times, and the difficulty stems from radical Islam.

We are not at war with Islam. We are at war with people who have perverted Islam.

Islamic fundamentalists … had no interest in democracy except as a one-way ticket to power.

We have identified over two dozen Americans who have converted to Islam and then have participated in Jihadist terrorist activities.

If there were an election held in any country of the Muslim world between the existing leaders and Osama bin Laden, bin Laden would win hands down

An Islamic world is growing more conservative, religious, and hostile towards the United States with each passing day.

You would be wrong to assume democracy would be the only alternative if the old regimes [in the Middle East] fell. There is a much better-organized alternative already waiting, and that is ... fundamentalism.

Islamic fundamentalism is going to make a hell of a lot of trouble for the peace of mankind …. The so-called mullahs and Muslim scholars in the mosques want to keep the people ignorant because that is where they get their power. They are ruining the modern generation of Muslims who were born and bred here, telling them they have no loyalty to this country. Unless you do something about Muslim fundamentalism, there is going to be a huge fifth column in our midst.

It is only through the complete and surgical isolation of the extremist element within Islamic nations and societies that a way can be found out of the tidal wave of terror and hatred that is being built up.

I have never said that the terrorists' interpretation of Islam is the accurate or correct one. But I have pointed out that the terrorists portray themselves quite successfully among Muslims as the exponents of true and pure Islam, and moderates have mounted no successful response as yet.