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I think no commander ever is going to come out and say, 'I'm confident that we can do this.

David Petraeus

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David Petraeus
Age: 71
Born: 1952
Born: November 7
Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Military Officer
Politician
New York City
New York
David Howell Petraeus
Confident
Ever
Come
Going
Think
Thinking
Commander
Commanders

More quotes by David Petraeus

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Don't forget Yemen, where there are also extremist elements, as we saw recently.
David Petraeus
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Pakistan are very keen to carry out the operations themselves. And there's significant effort on the part of the US and other countries to provide assistance that can enable Pakistan to do just that.
David Petraeus
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I did a week-long assessment in 2005 at (then Defense Secretary Donald) Rumsfeld's request. Following our return, I told him that Afghanistan was going to be the longest campaign of what we then termed the long war.
David Petraeus
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I will not ever run for political office, I can assure you of that.
David Petraeus
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Al-Qaida in particular remains dangerous, and there [in Iraq] is some residual militia and special group presence. There are still between 20 and 30 attacks per day, still periodic car bombs and still loss of innocent civilians.
David Petraeus
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We obviously don't want to cause problems for the Afghan government, President Hamid Karzai and the Afghan people. In fact, we want them to support our efforts on their behalf and not see us as unwelcome occupiers.
David Petraeus
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There has, indeed, been very substantial progress in Iraq over the past year - violence is down by 80 percent, civilian deaths by about the same, and so on.
David Petraeus
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Every civilian's death diminishes us, collectively.
David Petraeus
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The task [in Afghanistan] is to reduce civilian casualties while still not hesitating to respond to enemies who are trying to kill our soldiers.
David Petraeus
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There [in Afghanistan] is also a growing insurgency threat from al-Qaida, the Taliban and other extremist elements, some of which comes from the tribal areas of Pakistan, as well as from the Northwest Frontier province and Baluchistan.
David Petraeus
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The first official statements of President Asif Ali Zardari's new government have been firm and robust. Pakistan is obviously a renewed democracy.
David Petraeus
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Fighting in cities is a totally different endeavor than obviously fighting out in the open.
David Petraeus
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We cleared many of their towns and cities and rural areas of al-Qaida Iraq and other insurgents.
David Petraeus
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The Islamic State fighters in Mosul are dead men walking and I think they increasingly know it.
David Petraeus
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US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and I have repeatedly sought to emphasize that the progress in Iraq is fragile and also, possibly, reversible.
David Petraeus
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Let's remember that the reason we are there is that we have vital interests in Afghanistan, hugely important national interests, as do the other countries involved.
David Petraeus
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Reconciliation is what takes place, of course, at higher levels. President Karzai has been very clear about the red lines for reconciliation, accept the constitution, lay down their weapons, cut their ties with al Qaeda and essentially become productive or at least participating members of society in that regard.
David Petraeus
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Iraq has gone from being on the brink to being on the mend, and it clearly has some big advantages.
David Petraeus
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I am not a politician, and I will never be, and I say that with absolute conviction.
David Petraeus
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The question is always how you get the number of troops needed. They do not have to be coalition forces. We also have to expand the training program for the Afghan National Army and the national police, in particular. and Defense Secretary Robert Gates has already announced support for a significant increase in the Afghan army.
David Petraeus