If there's ever an example that military power alone cannot be successful in Afghanistan, I think it was the Soviet experience.
Robert M. GatesRead
If Iraq and Afghanistan have taught us anything in recent history, it is the unpredictability of war and that these things are easier to get into than to get out of, and, frankly, the facile way in which too many people talk about, 'Well, let's just go attack them.'
Interpretation
What this quote means
War is complicated and often underestimated in its consequences.
This quote highlights the complexities and unpredictable nature of war, emphasizing how easily nations can engage in conflict without fully understanding the difficulties of withdrawal and resolution. It critiques the simplistic attitudes people often have towards military action, reminding us of the serious ramifications that accompany such decisions.
Themes
WarUnpredictabilityConflictWithdrawalMilitaryComplexityConsequences
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion about military intervention, one might say, 'As Robert Gates noted, it's vital to understand the unpredictability of war.'
More from Robert M. Gates
All quotes →In my opinion, any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should 'have his head examined,' as General MacArthur so delicately put it.
Robert M. GatesRead
No president is well-served by groupthink or by everybody singing from the same sheet of music they think he's on.
Robert M. GatesRead
I will always be an advocate in terms of wars of necessity. I am just much more cautious on wars of choice.
Robert M. GatesRead
I've been very sensitive for a long time to the repeated pattern, during economic hard times or after a war, of the United States' essentially unilaterally disarming.
Robert M. GatesRead
There is no international problem that can be addressed or solved without the engagement and leadership of the United States and everybody in the world knows that, its just fact of life. So sometimes I think we could conduct ourselves with a little more humility.
Robert M. GatesRead
Similar quotes
Not long ago I learned from a certain person in considerable detail about the worthlessness of your character. All the same, it is you who have given me strength, you who have put the rainbow of revolution in my breast. It is you who have given an object to my life.
Osamu DazaiRead
Not all the blood of beasts On Jewish altars slain, Could give the guilty conscience peace, Or wash away the stain: But Christ, the heav'nly Lamb, Takes all our sins away, A sacrifice of nobler nam' And richer blood than they.
Isaac WattsRead
There is no difference between someone who eats too little and sees Heaven and someone who drinks too much and sees snakes.
Bertrand RussellRead
To die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.
Walt WhitmanRead
Liberty consists in doing what one desires.
John Stuart MillRead
God created hand, head, and heart; the hand for the deed, the head for the world, the heart for mysticism.
Abraham KuyperRead