- Knew
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- Nov 07, 2020
Richard Engel Quotes
Most Famous Richard Engel Quotes of All Time!
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- Last Updated on May 30, 2021
- Moral
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- Nov 07, 2020
The dangers of an Afghan collapse are many: Afghan deaths, a loss of American prestige, a loss of NATO prestige, a moral blow to U.S. troops and veterans, a Taliban resurgence, huge setbacks for women, and greater power for Pakistan and Pakistani extremists.
- Old
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- Nov 07, 2020
Persia is 7,000 years old and will fight to survive.
- Community
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- Nov 07, 2020
Faced with the crippling sanctions, Iran could simply decide it is paying too high a cost to pursue its nuclear program and could opt for negotiations and reconciliation with the United States and other members of the international community. This is clearly the preferred option of American leaders.
- Been
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- Nov 07, 2020
A nuclear program has arguably worked as a deterrent for North Korea and other states - would Moammar Gadhafi have been deposed and summarily killed if Libya had had nuclear weapons? Iranians might not think so.
- Charter
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- Nov 07, 2020
Afghanistan does have an air force: It has two C-130s. I saw one of them. It was nice, a gift from the United States. But two planes don't even make a Caribbean charter airline, let alone an air force for a country at war.
- Estimates
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- Nov 07, 2020
In the 1990s, Islamists in Algeria won elections like the Brotherhood did in Egypt. The Algerian military refused to allow the Islamists to take power. A war erupted, killing between 100,000 to 200,000 people, depending on which estimates are to be believed.
- Egyptian
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- Nov 07, 2020
There was an insurgency under President Hosni Mubarak in the 1990s. Egyptian police and soldiers fought weekly battles with Islamists in the sugarcane fields and thick reeds along the Nile in rural southern villages like Minya, Sohag, Enna and Assiout.
- Egypt
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- Nov 07, 2020
There weren't many weapons in Egypt in the 1990s. Police controls on guns were very strict back then. That is no longer the case in Egypt today.
- Israel
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- Nov 07, 2020
President Bashar Assad's regime is in the unique position of being targeted both by Israel and supporters of al Qaeda.
- Israel
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- Nov 07, 2020
Israel specifically does not want Syria to hand over weapons, chemical or conventional, to Hezbollah.
- Israel
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- Nov 07, 2020
If Israel sees weapons moving toward its border, it acts.
- Every
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- Nov 07, 2020
Every war has its demons.
- Family
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- Nov 07, 2020
'Shabiha' is a difficult word to translate into English. It comes from the word Syrians used to describe the luxury Mercedes favored by the Assad family's operatives that the enforcers of the regime used to move money, smuggle weapons and intimidate opponents.
- Justice
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- Nov 07, 2020
Every war has revolutionary justice.
- Need
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- Nov 07, 2020
Syrians need to prepare for the aftermath if the Assad regime falls. Atrocities that could be considered war crimes have been committed in this country, and Syrians should rightly demand that the perpetrators be held accountable.
- Here
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- Nov 07, 2020
Initially, before the modern state of Iraq was created, there were three separate provinces here: a Shiite in the south, a largely Sunni one in the middle, and a Kurdish one in the north.
- Matters
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- Nov 07, 2020
Egypt has a presidential system. The president runs the state. Who the president is matters profoundly.
- Government
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- Nov 07, 2020
The Muslim Brotherhood, or 'the Brotherhood' for short, is an Islamic group founded in Egypt in 1928. It has been pursuing a secret campaign to take over the government since its creation.
- Charity
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- Nov 07, 2020
The Muslim Prophet Mohammed was a big believer in charity and firmly established helping those in need as a basis of the religion.
- Political
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- Nov 07, 2020
Egypt is the most populous Arab nation, the seat of Sunni Islamic doctrine, and has tremendous political, religious and social influence on the rest of the region. For better or worse, it will lead the rest of the Middle East by example. So goes Egypt, so goes the region.
- Fun
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- Nov 07, 2020
War can be fun for certain people. It's a magnet for sadists, losers, and angry dreamers.
- Nov 07, 2020
Every country where the the United States maintains troops has a status of forces agreement.
- Home
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- Nov 07, 2020
On one level, bombing ISIS is easy. The U.S. knows where the group operates. There's no need for a ten-year hunt like the one for Osama bin Laden. The terror group has two capital cities: Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria. Al-Qaeda never had such an obvious home address.
- Believe
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- Nov 07, 2020
Many in the U.S. military believe ISIS needs to be immediately, and repeatedly, smashed by American drones and warplanes.
- People
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- Nov 07, 2020
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?
- Billions Of Dollars
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- Nov 07, 2020
The U.S. spent billions of dollars to build a secular, professional national Iraqi army but failed because, despite all the U.S.-supplied guns, tanks and planes, the Iraqi military fell apart when challenged by a band of terrorists.
- Break
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- Nov 07, 2020
The Donetsk People's Republic is the self-declared pro-Russian government that wants to break away from Ukraine.
- Most
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- Nov 07, 2020
Hezbollah and the government are only two of 18 political factions in Lebanon, most of them armed. There are militant Christian groups, Palestinian radicals, al-Qaida, Druze militias and even armed bands of Marxists still operating in Lebanon.
- Long
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- Nov 07, 2020
Hamas has long been Israel's enemy, but in the wake of the Arab Spring, the group is empowered like never before.
- Nov 07, 2020
Fences and walls can be effective and even soothing, at least for those who build them.
- Everyone
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- Nov 07, 2020
Every child is taught if you try to please everyone, you end up upsetting everyone.
- Ignore
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- Nov 07, 2020
What is the Obama Doctrine? It seems to be one of disengagement, to try to ignore the hot, religious, dry, poor countries from Algeria to Pakistan.
- Information
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- Nov 07, 2020
Any information about U.S. special operations forces is highly sensitive.
- Government
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- Nov 07, 2020
Some Iraqi troops aren't willing to fight for their government. But many Shiites appear willing to fight for their religious leaders.
- Assumed
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- Nov 07, 2020
The United States encouraged Iraqis to rise up after Saddam Hussein's army was driven out of Kuwait. Washington assumed Saddam was weak after losing the 1991 Gulf War. Iraqis rose up, but Saddam's troops killed thousands - Iraqis say tens of thousands - in a counter-offensive.
- United
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- Nov 07, 2020
If Syria collapses completely, the United States and the world would have to consider who, and what, fills the vacuum.
- Black
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- Nov 07, 2020
Ethnically, Tuareg describe themselves as white. And they don't look Arab or black. Many Tuareg have light skin, light eyes and sharp angular noses and cheekbones. They are cousins of the Berbers of North Africa. Some legends say the Tuareg are the decedents of an ancient Roman legion that disappeared into the desert two millennia ago.
- Enough Money
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- Nov 07, 2020
Shaped like Texas, but twice as big, Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world. It exports almost nothing - mostly just cotton, gold and livestock - and doesn't have enough money to import much of anything, either.
- Grow
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- Nov 07, 2020
Mali exists mostly to itself. Few people go there. Few Malians leave. Most of Mali's 13 million people live, and seem to live quite happily, off the rice, corn and millet they grow and the long-horn cattle and goats they keep.
- Divide
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- Nov 07, 2020
The Sahara is Africa's great divide.
- History
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- Nov 07, 2020
Bhutto's regime is remembered for having one of the worst human rights records in Pakistan's history, and her government did not allow the media freedoms she criticizes Musharraf for crushing.
- Place
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- Nov 07, 2020
Anyone who follows the Middle East and Islamic world in general can't deny it is often a very violent place, that a band of instability now stretches from Algeria to Pakistan.
- Past
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- Nov 07, 2020
Turkey wants to see Bashar al-Assad go and wants to kind of expand its sphere of influence into Turkey so its Ottoman glory or Ottoman past are once again project into the Syrian provinces. That's kind of what Turkey's vision is.
- Love
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- Nov 07, 2020
You gotta love the names. They're so eager, earnest, and hopeful: Camp Prosperity, Camp Liberty, and Camp Victory are the names of just a few of the U.S. military bases in Baghdad.
- Myself
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- Nov 07, 2020
When I first arrived in Baghdad in January 2003, I thought I would soon rent a house and envisioned myself swimming in the Tigris to cool off after reporting in the city the caliphs called Madinit al-Salam, the City of Peace. A year later, I realized I wouldn't be taking any midnight dips - Madinat al-Salam no more.
- Horrific
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- Nov 07, 2020
9/11 was a terrible, horrific, tragic day.
- Conclude
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- Nov 07, 2020
Many senior government officials, CIA, FBI, counter terrorism officials - when they look back at the decade, they effectively conclude that the United States overreacted after 9/11.
- Friends
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- Nov 07, 2020
Bin Laden is dead, and most of his friends are dead. But did it need to cost a trillion dollars and two land wars, including one that didn't have to do with Al Qaeda? Probably not.
- Grow
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- Nov 07, 2020
Assad's regime helped ISIS grow by attacking other opposition forces and rarely targeting ISIS.
- Nov 07, 2020
Afghanistan and Iraq were lumped together in what was called a 'global war on terrorism.'
- Destruction
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- Nov 07, 2020
The truth was, there was never a connection between Iraq and Osama Bin Laden. There were no weapons of mass destruction, either.
- Fire
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- Nov 07, 2020
Insurgencies are easy to make and hard to stop. Only a few ingredients need to combine to create an insurgency; like oxygen and fire, they're very common and mix all too often. The recipe is, simply, a legitimate grievance against a state, a state that refuses to compromise, a quorum of angry people, and access to weapons.
- Nation
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- Nov 07, 2020
Based on the people l've spoken to, I think the impression is: Is America safer from Al Qaeda? Yes. Is America weaker as a nation because we have overspent and over-focused on Al Qaeda? Yes. I think that would be the conclusion that people seem to have come to and that I tend to agree with.
- Divisions
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- Nov 07, 2020
I don't think you're going to be seeing the U.S. employing large army divisions to deal with small terrorist groups again. I don't think they're going to be occupying foreign nations in order to dry up terrorist groups within them. I think that lesson has been learned.
- Iran
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- Nov 07, 2020
A lot of Iran's empowerment is a result of the war in Iraq.
- Nov 07, 2020
I think war should be illegal.
- Pacifist
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- Nov 07, 2020
I'm basically a pacifist.
- Nov 07, 2020
I don't think I'm invincible.
- American Policy
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- Nov 07, 2020
Unfortunately, the American policy towards Pakistan is just to worry and express concern, and that is not a clear policy at all.
- Gone
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- Nov 07, 2020
The Arab Spring is over. The days of the protesters with laptops and BlackBerrys in Tahrir Square are long gone.
- Minority
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- Nov 07, 2020
For decades, Saddam and his Sunni minority had imposed their will on Iraq, carrying on a 14-century tradition of Sunnis controlling Mesopotamia despite a Shiite majority.
- Free
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- Nov 07, 2020
Not surprisingly, in most Sunni regions there has little appetite for free U.S.-sponsored elections.
- He
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- Nov 07, 2020
President George W. Bush, in his now-rare public appearances and interviews, still refuses to acknowledge he did anything to help Iran. But it doesn't really matter what he thinks.
- Billions Of Dollars
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- Nov 07, 2020
The U.S. spent years and years and billions of dollars to build the Iraqi army only to watch it collapse and hand over so many of its weapons.
- Bush Administration
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- Nov 07, 2020
For eight years, you had the Bush administration with a very interventionist policy, driving into world affairs, driving primarily into the Islamic world, army first or fist first.
- Journalists
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- Nov 07, 2020
We're all bloggers and punks and rebels with cameras. There is absolutely no respect for career journalists anymore.
- Nov 07, 2020
We should have a time to reflect on the accomplishments of the military, of their sacrifices, of their failures.
- Look
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- Nov 07, 2020
When you look at Syria, and you look at all the militant groups on the ground, there are many groups in Syria that could pose a threat to the United States, not just Khorasan.
- Nov 07, 2020
Once you start bombing in Syria, when you start looking for targets, there will be a lot.
- Important
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- Nov 07, 2020
We know that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has some very dangerous, very important leaders who are tied directly to the top leadership of al Qaeda central, including a man who was formerly Osama bin Laden's secretary.
- Nov 07, 2020
There are many Israelis who are not keen on Barack Obama - they did not want to see him elected.
- Government
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- Nov 07, 2020
The U.S. invaded the wrong country, destroying an odious government that was not responsible for 9/11. I don't know how you recover from invading the wrong country, no matter how you spin it.
- Nature
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- Nov 07, 2020
War does horrible things to human beings, to societies. It brings out the best, but most often the worst, in our human nature.
- Passing
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- Nov 07, 2020
When students and liberals initially occupied Tahrir Square, it looked like it might be a passing thing.
- Fall
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- Nov 07, 2020
The U.S. presence and American missteps made ethnic violence in Iraq far worse than it would have been otherwise after Saddam Saddam Hussein's fall.
- Better
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- Nov 07, 2020
The Syrians are better suited to sort out their internal divisions than anyone else.
- Intelligence
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- Nov 07, 2020
Foreigners who speak Arabic in the Middle East are often assumed to be working for the C.I.A. or Israel's intelligence agency, the Mossad.
- Men
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- Nov 07, 2020
Kidnapping is always a threat in this life of reporting on men hurting one another because of religion and politics.
- Me
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- Nov 07, 2020
An Egyptian newspaper once publicly identified me as the C.I.A. station chief in Cairo. It seemed so stupid at the time. I was only 24, a little young to be a station chief, and, of course, I was never with the C.I.A.
- How
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- Nov 07, 2020
I had some training on how to cope with hostage-taking.
- End
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- Nov 07, 2020
After literally hundreds of firefights, Chosen Company became increasingly battle-hardened. And they also became increasingly suspicious of their Afghan counterparts, believing - with their lives on the line at the end of the day - that they could only truly rely on themselves.
- Had
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- Nov 07, 2020
By 2007, Iraqi society had completely collapsed.
- Awakening
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- Nov 07, 2020
There is no Afghan Awakening Movement.
- Carry
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- Nov 07, 2020
The Taliban mostly attacks international and Afghan security forces. They rarely carry out attacks in markets.
- Go
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- Nov 07, 2020
For years, Lebanese have known that Palestinian camps like Nahr al-Barid and Ain al-Helwe - hopeless slums crowded with generations of disenfranchised Palestinian refugees who can't go home because of Israel, and can't work because of Lebanese laws - are awash with gunmen, criminals and, since the war in Iraq, al-Qaida inspired jihadists.
- Police
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- Nov 07, 2020
Under a decades-old agreement, Palestinian refugee camps are supposed to administer and police themselves. Lebanese troops are technically not allowed to enter them.
- Army
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- Nov 07, 2020
Lebanon does not have a powerful army.
- Difficult
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- Nov 07, 2020
Under Islamic law, adoption is difficult.
- Egyptian
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- Nov 07, 2020
There are clearly many Egyptian free-thinkers and intellectuals - lots of wonderful Egyptian artists and architects and scientists.
- Many
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- Nov 07, 2020