Peter Singer Quotes

What I've learned, and will try to remember from now on, is that defending your country's credibility is never sufficient reason to fight a war.

Some in my party threaten to send a message that they don't know a just war when they see it, and more broadly that they're not prepared to use our military strength to protect our security and the cause of freedom.

It was essentially for self defence that we went to war in Afghanistan and would go to war in Iraq.

Today, war of necessity is used by critics of military action to describe unavoidable response to an attack like that on Pearl Harbor that led to our prompt, official declaration of war, while they characterize as unwise wars of choice the wars in Korea, Vietnam and the current war in Iraq.

What is the 'noble cause' for which you sent our country to war?

A sane person doesn't think war is a good idea. I'm not a pacifist. I feel that there are situations where fighting is inescapable, but we don't go looking for those things.

The utterly fallacious idea at the heart of the pro-war argument is that it is the duty of the anti-war argument to provide an alternative to war. The onus is on them to explain just cause.

Lightly armed nations can move toward war just as easily as those which are armed to the teeth, and they will do so if the usual causes of war are not removed.

I believe in not attacking a country pre-emptively unless you're sure of what you're doing and you're working with allies.

I don't think anybody can take the word of Saddam Hussein and his regime, and certainly an American president and allies who are obligated to worry about the safety and security of our countries, cannot take the word of this dictator, who lies, pathologically lies.

In my judgment, the greatest risks are international terrorist groups like al Qaeda and Hezbollah. The war in Iraq has taken our attention off those priorities.

War should be the politics of last resort. And when we go to war, we should have a purpose that our people understand and support.

If we engage in a conflict that we know this is a threat to America, we should make it so one-sided that it gets over very quickly.

The major wars that the U.S. became involved in are all ethically defensible.

If there is no direct threat why are we invading?

If the American people really come to a settled belief that Bush lied us into war, his presidency will be over.

Although I voted against the initial resolution approving the war in Iraq, I have consistently voted to support our troops with much-needed armor and supplies.

I feel like war should occur only for the most vital and necessary reasons, and only then.

If the president is going to use so much language of theology and the Bible, then let's use that language for a serious discussion about the war in Iraq. And that was never done.

A war is justified if you're willing to send your son. If you're not willing to send your son, then how do you send someone else's?

I do not believe, given her past decisions and comments on the reasons to go to war in Iraq, that Dr. Rice will be able to represent the United States without a predetermined bias from the war.

Our modern states are preparing for war without even knowing the future enemy.

I had earlier concluded that a war with Iraq would be a distraction from the successful and expeditious completion of our aims in Afghanistan. Now I had come to question whether the White House was telling the truth.

I would dodge, not lie, in the national interest.

War, except in self-defense, is a failure of moral imagination.