David Petraeus Quotes

#1. After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair.

David Petraeus

#2. If you don't want to have to kill or capture every bad guy in the country, you have to reintegrate those who are willing to be reconciled and become part of the solution instead of a continued part of the problem. And then, above all, the resources.

David Petraeus

#3. The art of coalition command - whether it is here in Afghanistan, whether it was in Iraq or in Bosnia or in Haiti - is to take the resources you are provided with, understand what the strengths and weaknesses are and to employ them to the best overall effect.

David Petraeus

#4. Well, the oil, the oil spot, if you will, is a, is a term in counterinsurgency literature that connotes a peaceful area, secure area. So what you're trying to do is to always extend that, to push that out.

David Petraeus

#5. The president and I sat down in the Oval Office, and he expressed very clearly that what he wants from me is my best professional military advice.

David Petraeus

#6. The job of the leader is to get the big ideas right.

David Petraeus

#7. Iran, as we have already discussed, has carried out very, very harmful activities inside Iraq. Funding, trainings, arming and, in some cases, even directing the activities of the special groups associated with the Jaish al-Mahdi and the Sadr Militia.

David Petraeus

#8. This cannot be the United States being the air force for Shia militias, or a Shia on Sunni Arab fight.

David Petraeus

#9. This is actually true of the overall fight against al-Qaeda and trans-national extremists, that as you put pressure on them in one location, they'll seek safe haven sanctuaries in other areas. So you do have to continue to pursue them. But they have less capability.

David Petraeus

#10. The fact is that Iran doesn't want to see the Taliban come back any more than do most Afghan citizens.

David Petraeus

#11. But clearly, this is what this is about. It's about pushing the security bubble out. It's about rooting out every last guy, so that there's not even somebody who can fire a single, solitary RPG round from some little qalat out here.

David Petraeus

#12. If you look at casualties, you find countries that had much higher loss rates per capita than the US. Denmark comes to mind, the United Kingdom, they have suffered heavy losses at various points, the Germans as well.

David Petraeus

#13. I will not ever run for political office. I can assure you.

David Petraeus

#14. Political progress will only take place if sufficient security exists.

David Petraeus

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

David Petraeus

#16. People often ask, why aren't you reading about what it is you're working on right now? And the truth is, you only get three pages a night before your eyelids close.

David Petraeus

#17. I just don't know whether it was all destroyed years ago - I mean, there's no question that there were chemical weapons years ago - whether they were destroyed right before the war, (or) whether they're still hidden.

David Petraeus

#18. I am not a politician, and I will never be, and I say that with absolute conviction.

David Petraeus