Strategic Intervention Quotes

It can be dangerous to weaken the strong in our attempts to strengthen the weak.

I am not proposing to replace war with peace. I propose to replace war with a smarter fight. A fight using other instruments, more intelligent instruments to convince people not to use drugs.

Economic assistance is one of the most effective weapons at our disposal to influence European political events in the direction we desire.

I see in our relation with the [Austrian] Bund an error of Prussia's which, sooner or later, we shall have to repair ferro et igni ["sword and fire"], unless we take advantage betimes of a favorable season to employ a healing remedy [i.e. war] against it.

The overall feckless strategy against ISIS in Syria and Iraq enabled the Islamist organization to expand its domain and drive out more religious minorities.

He who only wishes and hopes does not interfere actively with the course of events and with the shaping of his own destiny.

Give it a kick at the right place and it'll work.

The habit of ubiquitous interventionism, combining pinprick strikes by precision weapons with pious invocations of high principle, would lead us into endless difficulties. Interventions must be limited in number and overwhelming in their impact.

There is not one thing we can do to fix the problem, it has to be an ambush!

We cannot become the world's policeman, but where our values and our interests are at stake, and where we can make a difference, we must act and we must lead. That is our job and we are better, stronger and safer because we are doing it.

These are a small, trained group of killers trying to hold back the tide of history.

Because you can't intervene everywhere, you don't conclude you can't intervene anywhere.

In the Middle East, America has spent as of four weeks ago $6 trillion. Think of it. And, by the way, the Middle East is in what - I mean, it's not even close - it's in much worse shape than it was 15 years ago. If our Presidents would have gone to the beach for 15 years, we would be in much better shape than we are right now, that I can tell you.

When you're in a turnaround situation, you cannot incrementalize your way out of it.

We need a clear plan to put radical Islamic terrorism out of vogue, and it should be eliminated at its roots. American SOF are part of the puzzle, but they do not, by themselves, complete the picture.

I think that there have been a number of situations in which you've seen this administration intervene in a meaningful way, that has substantially furthered American interests and substantially improved the, uh, you know, the - the tranquility of the global community.