Quotes by John Abizaid

Capturing any member of any terrorist cell or any insurgent cell that we may happen to come across is always very, very valuable, and the thing that interests me is that in most instances after a time, people talk and they tell us what they know.

And over time, I think, as Iraqi security capacity builds, you’ll see American and coalition presence there decline.

We’ll try to include Iraqi officers in our staffs. We will do everything we can to empower Iraqi security forces to stand up on their own and operate where they can alone.

Nobody’s more mindful of the sacrifices of our troops than those of us that command them.

So, these political activities will create friction in and of themselves, and in this environment of friction there’ll be additional violence.

As far as Zarqawi is concerned, there is a network of extremists; it’s not just Zarqawi.

We’ve got to ensure that the quality and the capability of these forces will be good enough to withstand the challenges that the insurgents and the terrorists will present to the new Iraqi government.

You don’t build a new power plant in the United States overnight. It takes years to build.

Oh, the transition concerns me because as we move towards an important political event, it’s clear to me that the terrorists and insurgents will move as hard as they can to disrupt this process.

But my Arabic is pretty good. It’s good enough to have conversations with people, to understand what they say, to understand what they’re feeling.