Peter Rodman Quotations

Maybe he was speaking to his people, who would like to see the violence subside,

One of the reason we want to turn over battle space to Iraqis is precisely so coalition forces can be less visible and less exposed.

We think both sides would gain by having more interaction. We would learn more about them, and perhaps they would learn more about us.

We hope this will separate them from the extremists.

We must prove that (economic) institutions can work and improve the lives of Iraqis at the fundamental level.

We think they are not achieving their objective and in fact the government is extending its authority politically around the country,

We see this as, the fight is still on, and he knows that, ... Operationally, our relationship with them is good.

We see it that the fight is still on and he knows that,

Today, we would calculate the operational challenges in light of new military capabilities and technologies China has acquired, just as we have always adjusted to new realities.

What the extremists are trying to do is to foment a civil war. But we don't see it. We don't see it succeeding.

We saw three successful elections last year... In that success of those elections, you can see the gravitational pole working on the Sunni Arab population pulling them into the political process.

We think that by and large the Iraqi security forces have performed well under a very severe test.

don't go to the latrine without voting in parliament. This is not helpful.

The stakes are enormous, the U.S. has a strategy, and we believe it's the right one.

Proximity talks can be enormously useful. There are people who don't want to talk face to face and who, when they talk face to face, they don't have anything productive to say to each other.

A year from now, it will be of interest whether you have more (able to operate independently) or not.

They're good, but ... the Taliban do still exist and they are capable of doing harm,

Not only do I not see civil war happening, I don't think they will succeed in derailing this political process. The next few days will tell if I am right.

I doubt that very much, I don't think that is what the issue is, and...

Obviously the extremists want to provoke sectarian warfare, and I am struck by the fact that over a three-year period, leaders of the (Iraqi) communities have been quite resistant to this. The test is whether the political process continues.