124 quotes found
"They US soldiers] started to commit suicide on the Baghdad walls. We will encourage them to double their suicide attempts."
"I now inform you that you are too far from reality."
"Lying is forbidden in Iraq. President Saddam Hussein will tolerate nothing but truthfulness as he is a man of great honour and integrity. Everyone is encouraged to speak freely of the truths evidenced in their eyes and hearts."
"The American press is all about lies! All they tell is lies, lies and more lies!"
"The information was correct but the interpretations were not. I did my duty up to the last minute."
"He's my man. He was great. Somebody accused us of hiring him and putting him there. He was a classic."
"In an age of spin, al-Sahaf offers feeling and authenticity. His message is consistent — unshakeable, in fact, no matter the evidence — but he commands daily attention by his on-the-spot, invective-rich variations on the theme. His lunatic counterfactual art is more appealing than the banal awfulness of the Reliable Sources. He is a Method actor in a production that will close in a couple of days. He stands superior to truth."
"I would like to address the peoples of the world, especially the Arab peoples and the US people. Their silence over the violations against the oppressed Iraqi people who suffered greatly cannot be accepted by any fair-minded and zealous person. Therefore, all must take these violations seriously and express themselves even through peaceful demonstrations, sit-ins and protests. I urge those people to distance themselves from their rulers who support the West and the occupation forces."
"Saddam is a war criminal and there are no two people who can argue over this."
"I seek the spread of freedom and democracy in the way that satisfies God. [Americans] have planned and paved the ways for a long time, but it is God who is the real planner -- and the proof of this is the fall of the American twin towers[...]a miracle from God."
"I renew my call for the occupier (the United States) to leave our land. The departure of the occupier will mean stability for Iraq, victory for Islam and peace and defeat for terrorism and infidels."
"He is somebody who has fought against the occupying forces," says Abdul Salam al-Kubaisi, spokesman for the Association of Muslim Scholars, the leading Sunni clerical body. "All other Shi'ite leaders are seen [by Iraq's Sunnis] as collaborators because they cooperate with the Americans."
"Others contend that Sadr, working on a longer time scale than the Americans, is just lying low until the United States draws down its troops and declares its combat role concluded in Iraq. Then, this analysis continues, Sadr can launch the civil war he wants. "The reason I am distrustful of Sadr is that we know that in private conversations, he has said, 'There are two million who must die,'" said an Army officer who served in a key position in Iraq. This wasn't hearsay, he said, indicating that it came from an intercept of communications."
"America betrays its friends. It sets them up and betrays them. I’d rather be America’s enemy."
"We pray to God almighty to give us strength so we can meet the ambitious goals of our people, who have suffered a lot."
"Do not imagine that this problem is solely an Iraqi problem because the terrorist front represents a threat to all free countries and free people of the world... Thousands of lives were tragically lost on Sept. 11 when these impostors of Islam reared their ugly head. Thousands more continue to die in Iraq today at the hands of the same terrorists who show complete disregard for human life."
"Our respect for human rights requires us to execute him."
"Al-Qaeda is still the biggest threat for Iraq and the region."
"I'll be frank and say that we were deluded when we signed the contract [with the U.S.]. We should have sought to buy other jet fighters like British, French and Russian to secure the air cover for our forces; if we had air cover we would have averted what had happened."
"Despite what we are suffering through, we haven't heard from our political partners with any support. They are not partners in facing the crisis, but they are partners in spending the wealth of Iraq."
"I am not an enemy of Turkey; I am a friend of the Turkish people"
"I do not accept the language of threatening and blackmailing from the government of Turkey."
"The Turks have tried military operations in the last 23 years. Now, it's time for the Turkish people to ask their military what they did in the last 23 years, and why they didn't solve it."
"If Turkey came up with a peaceful initiative and the PKK rejects that, then all the Kurdistanis will take up a position against the PKK."
"We will not let the Turks interfere the issue of Kirkuk. I am not afraid of their (Turkey's) military or diplomatic power, because they interfere in matters that do not concern them. Kirkuk is an Iraqi city of Kurdish identity, all geographic and historic facts prove that Kirkuk is part of Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey has no right to interfere in this matter. If Turkey allows itself interfere in the matter of Kirkuk because of a few thousand Turkmen, we will do the same with regard to Diyarbakir (Amed) and other Kurdistani cities in Turkey because of 30 million Kurds."
"Declaration of a state(Kurdistan) is the legitimate right of the Kurdish nation. This goal should be realized, but without resorting to violence."
"I am against driving Israel into the sea. This policy is wrong, illogical, and unreasonable. Why annihilate a people?"
"Leave Saddam in power? So that he would be free to continue killing, free to invade his neighbors, so that he would be free to — I am sorry — develop nuclear weapons? No."
"Al-Qaeda is a virus and it is spreading. If we fail to stop it, we will pay a very heavy price."
"I'm realistic, but at the same time, I'm optimistic. I believe we can overcome the problems. I do not shrink from the level of interest and political economy of the violence that has been caused by successive crises over the past ten years. These interests have prevented the progress of Iraq and the welfare of the citizens, but I am optimistic to the children of the country that they will understand the depth of the problems."
"Fixing Iraq would go a long way towards fixing much of the Middle East."
"Is the Iraqi state succeeding? I think there are some prospects for this country to be moving in the right direction. But the legacies of the past, the problems are really, really monumental... We need to deliver. Otherwise we will not be able to justify what we do in the eyes of our public. And public opinion does matter in Iraq. People speak their minds. People are engaged, are interested... Life is coming back... Every time I go out of the presidential palace in Baghdad — and I do try to go out as often as I can — I do see normalcy coming back, more and more. I do think there is a window of opportunity — it should be cherished. We’ve not had it like this for a long, long time... It’s precious, but precarious."
"We need to stop the flow of suicide bombers, we need to stop the fatwas (religious edicts) coming from Saudis to justify the killings of innocent Iraqis."
"These Americans are cowards, because if they were courageous, they would have confronted us face-to-face, rather than coming at us from behind"
"I'm a victim of a criminal act conducted by this party, which is in power right now. So put it on trial. Its leader was the prime minister and his deputy is the prime minister right now and they killed innocent Iraqis in 1980"
"Do you expect me, after all my history as a militant and as one of the Iraqi leaders, to go to an American prison – to go to Guantanamo? I would rather die"
"The Dujail case is part of a chain of assassination operations against officials and I am one of the victims, the president of the state in any country, if faced with an assassination attempt, should take procedures to punish those who conduct and help this operation. According to the law, people who support this assassination can also be convicted."
"It is imperative that there is intervention into our dire situation and treatment ... We hope that you will help us. We have been in prison for a long time and we have been cut from our families. No contacts, no phones, no letters. Even the parcels sent to us by our families are not given to us. We need a fair treatment, a fair investigation and finally a fair trial. Please help us"
"He didn't move. He couldn't talk. He didn't say a word to her. He just looked at her. It is so sad that he had to go this way"
"I suppose I can just about bear to watch the “inspections” pantomime a second time. But what I cannot bear is the sight of French and Russian diplomats posing and smirking with Naji Sabry, Iraq’s foreign minister, or with Tariq Aziz. I used to know Naji and I know that two of his brothers, Mohammed and Shukri, were imprisoned and tortured by Saddam Hussein–in Mohammed’s case, tortured to death. The son of Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz was sentenced to twenty-two years of imprisonment last year; he has since been released and rearrested and released again, partly no doubt to show who is in charge. Another former friend of mine, Mazen Zahawi, was Saddam Hussein’s interpreter until shortly after the Gulf War, when he was foully murdered and then denounced as a homosexual. I have known many regimes where stories of murder and disappearance are the common talk among the opposition; the Iraqi despotism is salient in that such horrors are also routine among its functionaries. Saddam Hussein likes to use as envoys the men he has morally destroyed; men who are sick with fear and humiliation, and whose families are hostages."
"Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who feared God, to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land."
"If any one owe a debt for a loan, and a storm prostrates the grain, or the harvest fail, or the grain does not grow for lack of water; in that year he need not give his creditor any grain, he washes his debt-tablet in water and pays no rent for this year."
"If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out."
"Laws of justice which Hammurabi, the wise king, established."
"This (Code of Hammurabi) was a collection of laws and judicial decisions whose aim was to present Hammurabi as a role model of a just king, serve as a basis for a more uniform legal system across the Babylonian Empire, and teach future generations what justice is and how a just king acts."
"Hammurabi's Code cannot by any means be regarded as a faltering attempt to frame laws among a young and inexperienced people. Such a masterpiece of legislation could befit only a thriving and well-organized nation, given to agriculture and commerce, long since grown familiar with the security afforded by written deeds drawn up with all the niceties and solemnities which clever jurists could devise, and accustomed to transact no business otherwise. It is inspired throughout by an appreciation of the right and humane sentiments that make it surpass by far the stern old Roman law."
"People, I am the son of the people. I pledge before God that I will sacrifice myself for your sake. I shall offer my life in defence of the Iraqi people."
"We cooperate with our brotherly Arab states... on the basis of the individual interests of those Arab states."
"The Iraqi people consist of brotherly nationalities which have amalgamated in order to defend the existence of the eternal Iraqi Republic. [This is] why we always declare 'long live true Iraqi unity, for in it lies our strength."
"Death to the imperialist! Return Kuwait to its homeland!"
"I don't want to be the joke of the world, and I don't want to be thought of as another Hitler swallowing up people."
"I do not wish parties or tendencies, whatever the color, to penetrate into the ranks of the armed forces under any circumstances."
"We, the people, were denied of the right even to mention the word peace or peace partisans and everyone related to them had to suffer from imprisonment as if it were an unpardonable crime. But now, after the people have been liberated from slavery, and after July 14 has dawned on us, this Republic and her sons have been liberated and have been marching on the path of freedom ever since."
"Peace is victorious always and for ever. Do you remember that aggression gained success and was not crushed by the last blow? Aggression, whether collective or unilateral, is inevitably to be crushed. If you just glance at courts and judges you will see that these courts and judges were formed to crush aggression or anyone who things of aggression. These courts and judges are only working for the sake of peace and ending aggression. This noble idea should prevail all over the world."
"No doubt, I am proud of the people. I am from the people and I am the son of the people. I will work for the sake of the people. I will sacrifice my life for the liberty of this people and safeguarding, protecting and preserving it from all evils."
"Brothers! I have the honour and I am proud to be in your ranks, and I pledge the Almighty that I will always struggle for the sake of peace. As for the forces of the Army which we have prepared, we prepared them to face those who attacks [sic] peace. We are a peaceful and a neutral state. We attack no one, but anyone who attacks us and starts aggression, we will stop him."
"The freedom of an individual merges in the freedom of all and serves the freedom of all."
"I had previously announced that I am above trends and leanings, above party politics and political parties. This is because I strive for the people as a whole to serve them."
"I am with all the parties of all trends if their aims are to serve the homeland, freedom and peace. Nothing will keep me far from them, neither religion, political parties, language nor nationality; I am with them and we will always march forward hand in hand in the procession of freedom and peace."
"Brothers! The days have gone when the workers and the toilers used to suffer bitterly. We protect all of the them. And I am under the protection. All of us are under the protection of the people, we work for the people and derive strength from them."
"The worker and the employer are now brothers who cannot be separated one from the other. The days of exploitation of the whole for the benefit of the individual have gone. The worker and the employer are now brothers, working side by side in harmony and solidarity for the people and the immortal Iraqi Republic."
"Brother workers! If you wish to stamp out imperialism, you have to exert yourself to work an extra hour. This will undermine the structure of the foreigner and the coloniser. An extra working hour can undermine the structure of the imperialists and threaten their existence."
"No longer shall the intrigues and mischief-making of the imperialists deceive us. No longer shall our work be interrupted under flimsy pretexts. We are working to attain a bright and better future, ensuring freedom and prosperous living not only to ourselves but to posterity."
"Brothers! The Army and the people have merged into a single entity. They have become a source of strength which is worrying the foreigners. The foreigner, along with imperialism, therefore began to resort to other means to split up our ranks so as to overcome us. But these attempts on the part of the imperialists to split up our ranks have gone long ago. Imperialism now tries to split up our ranks by calling for narrow parties and restricted groupings. The purpose of this is to play one against the other, while the foreigners and the imperialists will sit as spectators. But we shall thrust a stone in the mouth of imperialism. We shall overcome imperialism and we shall close this gap in its face. The parochial groupings and party affiliation at this time are of no benefit to the country... the purpose of this is to create disunity and weaken our strength and play one against the other. We are in a period of transition. We have resolved to protect the gains of our Revolution at any rate."
"Some people have come to me and said: "O leader, we wish you would form a party, thus saving us from these parties and groupings. My answer was that we are in a period of transition and that my party is the entire people, and I belong to the party of the people. All of us are the party of God, party of right and justice."
"The woman, your sister, has achieved victory. She will share with you, sooner or later, the responsibilities of administration. The peasant, likewise, has achieved victory, and so has the employer. Formerly, the employer used to fear for his life and for his property. Now, the employer and the worker are brothers working together in both prosperity and adversity to protect the gains of the Iraqi Republic. They work constantly not for any transient selfish interest but for the interest of the people."
"Brothers! We want from you more work. We want from you work and perfection. We want from you continuous work. Every day must be utilized to accumulate benefits for this homeland and this people."
"As to these traitors, their days are gone and they have been dwarfed in front of the people. The people have become armed with patience and faith. I insist on the co-operation and tolerance among people. As to the execution or non-execution of the traitors, this is a matter which is left for us to decide."
"All of you now what the situation was before the Revolution. All of you know of the regime which we have exterminated. It was that regime which was mercilessly destroying all the sincere people who stood in its way in the course of the struggle for God, for the people and for the homeland."
"We are not against parties nor are we against the loyal groups, we are always with them, helping them across the ocean of this life. We do not like that the trends and leanings of these parties should get into the ranks of the Army under any circumstances. The reason for this, brothers, is to preserve the unity of the Army and make it always ready to serve the people and the freedom of the people."
"We do not wish to become subordinate to any power. We will be friends with the powers of the world. We will be sincere friends to the powers that are sincere in their intentions and their friendship to us."
"We are in a new era. The Almighty has destined us to serve this country and helped to succeed in our Revolution, which aimed at destroying injustice and tyranny, from which we suffered for many long years."
"The wealth of the country was robbed and wasted in the interest of imperialism and the foreigner. In fact, everything in this country was exploited for the foreigner. The son of the people was living in miserable conditions. He was humiliated and insulted. Had we been patient for a time, it would have only been for the greatest explosion, as our people exploded with the Army in one day and destroyed the idols who were following the foreigners."
"Patience will benefit you in every hour, every time and every opportunity. It helps you to overcome your opponent, howsoever strong he may be. It will help you in times of distress and hardships, in battles and in war and peace."
"Brethren: I advise you to avoid attacking any of your brothers even if he harms you or surpasses the limits of ingratitude. The strength of any one amongst you is the strength of the other."
"This country has become an independent Republic with complete sovereignty. This has been laid down in our Interim Constitution. This country is to be shared by the citizens, the Arabs and the Kurds. This entity is indivisible in any way. No one can divide nor disintegrate the Republic of Iraq from the North to the South and from the East to the West."
"My Brethren: The enemy who failed to penetrate through this point resorted to creating intrigues and dissension among the brothers and causing doubt in the minds of the people. So, one says that this is a Nationalist, the other says that this is a Communist, while yet another says that this is a Baathist or a Democratic. I say that this (the individual) is a Patriot - the son of this country."
"The work which is done here and the help which is extended to our brothers are our aims. Take our sister Algeria which is struggling against oppressive forces and making best efforts for liberation and independence. We extended our aid to Algeria with full sincerity and faith in justice. We have pledged to continue our help to Algeria until Algeria is liberated."
"We will achieve our goals, one of which is the collective rule and the end of autocracy and dictatorship. The people are the ruler, the absolute master, and an individual has no right to direct the affairs of the people. The individual, how long he may live, will die but the people will remain. We are working for the future generations and for the welfare of the people. We fought in Palestine for the sake of the people and to regain their liberty. We are still fighting and will not spare any effort, nor would we fail in our work for the sake of God and nor would we fail to be selfless in the service of the people, our guide."
"We may have pledged to support the freedom of the people so that we ourselves may enjoy the results. We are working for the sake of God and for the sake of the people. We do not need to be known, nor do we need propaganda. We work for the sake of God and we know that how long we may live, we will ultimately die and the people will remain. The absolute rule is by the people and not by individuals."
"Iraq strives to safeguard the interests of her sons within the framework of true national unity and the general interests of its brothers within the Arab framework. I ask you, are there any frontiers of a foreign country between us and Syria? Is there any foreign country between us and Syria? Where is it? Are there any frontiers of a foreign country between Egypt and Sudan, or between Egypt and Libya? All are the frontiers of our brothers."
"[The newspapers] are talking of nationalism as if it were the property of an individual or as if it were confined to one group only. Nationalism is the property of all. Nobody can take possession of it just as a glittering word which attracts the hearts of stupid people."
"The Snake Charmer. The man who stands between Iraq and all-out Communism is a lean, hard-muscled and ascetic professional soldier with a fixed, snaggle-toothed smile. His name Abdul Karim Kassem. On the face of it, Karim Kassem, 44, seems a weak reed on which to rest the free world's hopes. Modest in deportment, moderate in conversation, Kassem is nonetheless inordinately and naively suspicious... Cursed by shyness and a weak, high-pitched voice, he is sadly lacking in the rabble-rousing skills on which most successful Arab politicians rely. Most serious of all, he is totally inexperienced in affairs of state."
"While there is much to admire about Qasim and the positive impact that he had on Iraqi society, he was, at the end of the day, a dictator, however benign."
"He was having his breakfast in an open restaurant together with the poor people, daily laborers and soldiers... He was visiting the bakeries and asking the owners to make the loaves of bread bigger."
"He was honorable, sincere, with high dignity and integrity. He was always, in his speeches, repeating that he was poor, living with the poor, living in a poor neighborhood, that he knew their sufferings."
"And so the unopinionated, unsassuming Qasim whom I knew in 1958 gradually got the taste of being the only man in the country. In other words, we built a dictator... Our people are in truth builders of dictators."
"Unlike other so-called Iraqi leaders he was not pretentious: he did not live in the Prime Minister's usual residence but in his modest house in the Al Batawein district. He did not amass wealth. He put his salary in his pocket so he could distribute it to the poor. When he was executed he only had a dinar and a quarter on him."
"He apparently believed he was destined by fate to fulfill a great mission assigned to him by Allah; his dedication finally reached the martyr-complex stage."
"The people related to Qasim on the basis that he alone personified the revolution. Qasim wanted it this way, and the people seemed comfortable with this setup. Qasim, however, in electing to rule as the sole leader, alienated many of the so-called Free Officers who made the revolution with him. This made him draw even closer to the people."
"His supporters view him as a defender of the poor who fought for the state’s rights against the interests of the West. His detractors view him as the first in a series of disastrous would-be strongmen who led Iraq on to the path to instability that culminated in dictator Saddam Hussein."
"We must consider him a good example for politicians and leaders in the government... Each official in the current state of Iraq should review what this man has done for Iraq."
"He himself was living in the depths of a barracks from which he would not emerge, and among squads of soldiers from which he himself did not know whether they were still loyal to him. His system was like a house made of boards, damaged from the inside by woodworms, and it itself was mined by the weight of worries. It was bareley impossible to have a consistent, sustained conversation with him. He was nervous like no other, and he moved from one topic to another every ten minutes. He would get up and wander aimlessly around the room, and would hardly sit back down before he would get up again. It was clear that this man's nerves were bad. Perhaps his mind was injured as well. He could no longer control himself. As for his political concepts, to the extent that I was able to understand them, they were amazing"
"O, ye people! verily I am the Lord's ruler upon His earth and I govern ye through His grace and guidance and I am His treasure over His tribute which I divide according to His pleasure and bestow with His permission. And verily the Lord hath made me as a lock upon it: when He willeth to open me, he openeth me that I may give unto ye, and when it pleaseth Him to fasten me, He fasteneth me. Wherefore turn ye to the Lord, O ye people! and ask of Him on this glorious day in which he hath given unto ye of His grace, as he hath made known to ye in His Book when he saith, "this day I have perfected your religion for ye and have completed my mercy upon ye, and I have chosen for ye Islam to be your religion", that He may vouchsafe unto me justness of conduct, and guide me to rectitude and inspire me with clemency unto ye and kindness towards ye, and open me to the bountiful unto ye, and the distribution of your allowances in equity, for he hearkeneth and granteth."
"Kings can tolerate everything but three practices– revealing a secret, an outrage on his harem, or a blow aimed at his power."
"When thy enemy stretches out his hand to thee, cut it off if thou art able, otherwise kiss it."
"Nobody seeks my help with a petition or offers an excuse that is more pressing than he, reminding me of a favor I did him so that it would be followed by its sister (i.e, one like it) and so good would be done to its asker because withholding of later things removes gratitude for earlier ones."
"In the year 159 (AD 776) Al Mahdî sent an army by sea under ‘Abdul Malik bin Shahãbu’l Musamma’î to India… They proceeded on their way and at length disembarked at Barada. When they reached the place they laid siege to it… The town was reduced to extremities, and God prevailed over it in the same year. The people were forbidden to worship the Budd, which the Muhammadans burned."
"Our party, the oldest in Iraq, was established in 1934. It stands for the rights of working people; for the country's independence; for its development; and of course, in the current situation, we are calling for a change to the - we're calling for a citizens' state based on justice and . We believe that over the past 12 years, the political process was based on an ethnic and sectarian system. I think this so-called "quota system" is responsible for the crisis the country is now facing. It created the grounds for corruption and lack of development. Change should begin by reforming state s to achieve social justice and real socioeconomic development."
"We had to get rid of occupation and regain and enhance our sovereignty. We have now ended up with a capitalist system. We are calling for social justice, a system in terms of creating jobs and enhancing the productive base of the economy."
"Since 2003, we are fully dependent on oil. Agriculture, industry, manufacturing have all regressed, accounting for not more than 1.25 percent of GDP. Our strategy is to reactivate agriculture, manufacturing and other productive activity, and at the same time provide protection to the people. In terms of social advancement, we want to strengthen s and . Iraq should not be a consumer-only market for the production activities of neighbouring countries."
"We are in a country that's in deep crisis at this particular juncture; all indicators are bad, not only in terms of terrorism and security. There is high unemployment; marginalised people; poor social s; very bad infrastructure. All these big challenges constitute a platform under which you can build a very wide-ranging coalition for the ."
"We should give priority to legislation concerning social security."
"As far as the government is concerned, the first challenge is to form a government which is based not on an ethnic and sectarian affiliation. We should have a government committed to oversee the reform and social development programmes."
"We have a good image among the population - we should distinguish between voting and image, not everyone who appreciate us actually votes for us."
"The country faces big challenges and we can address these challenges together with parties from different backgrounds and ideologies who share the concerns and interest as the people of Iraq."
"We are saying we are for bilateral relations with all countries but based on respect of Iraq's sovereignty and non-intervention in our internal affairs. It is possible to have friendly relations with all our neighbours on the basis of mutual respect. We are saying we can keep balanced relations and we can have trade and other commercial relations with all countries but we don't accept s in our country."
"Our interest must not risk Iraq's interests. If we can build an Iraq on the basis of our own independence and sovereignty, I think this Iraq will be respected by others, whether it be the Americans, Iranians or any other country. And this is what we are working to achieve. We have to work with the Iraqi people - so far they have been divided and all other external forces found it easy to intervene because they found receptive ears. What we are saying is that we should reinforce Iraqi unity."
"We are saying and insisting that all forces should belong to Iraq's interest first. And this should apply to all forces and I think when we are talking about building the state, building armed forces, loyalty to Iraq's interest - this should apply to everybody. As far as I know all, other political forces including Hashd accept these principles. Iraqis will decide who controls Iraq - no one from outside."
"I endured afflictions and sowrrow When death took Haylanah to itself. I parted from my happiness when I lost her And care not now what it may be. She was my world: and when she sank Into her grave, I parted from my world. Verily people have multiplied, but I Behold no creature after her. By Allah, I shall not forget thee As long as the wind shaketh the boughs on the upland."
"O, mistress of the mansion in Firk, And mistress of the Sultan and his kingdom For God's sake, spare to slay me For I am neither Daylam nor Turk."
"I certainly hold an Iraqi national thought and I am an Arab belonging to Iraq. I do not believe in an Islamic state in Iraq. I believe that an Islamic state will harm Iraq a lot and may harm the region. Therefore, I look forward to having a national project in Iraq that controls the future of the country in a civilized and modern form and respects the heritage of Iraq."
"I am not prepared to serve a sectarian regime. If we can achieve a broad, clear mandate for national unity, where it doesnt matter if someone is Kurd or Arab, Sunni or Shiite, then I am ready to take any post."
"We must build a state that is in the position to defend democracy. And the institutions of this state must have a place for all Iraqis... ."
"Only one thing is prohibited these days in Iraq: to speak with President Mubarak or the kings of Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Mention the word Arabism and you will be accused of being an intelligence agent."
"Palestine[-Israeli conflict]? One step forward, three steps back."
"America is the last remaining superpower."
"We have an army without airplanes and without tanks. What sort of strength is this?"
"For me, Iran's influence is not positive. I am certainly not an advocate of Iranian policies. I am even sure that they have a red line and a veto on me. But I think the world should engage and talk with Iran and try to see and feel where the fears of Iran lie. The Iranians are logical people. We should try to convince them that proliferation does not serve their purpose in the end."
"As far as the pressure from Iran goes, I can assure you that there was a very clear red line: Allawi and the Iraqi List were not to be allowed to come into power."
"...I am no proponent of a theocracy. I am a secularist. I wanted an independent Iraqi government, not a lackey of Tehran."
"I can tell the difference between senseless terror and justifiable rebellion."
"I'm a doctor and a politician. Weapons are foreign to me."
"I am an Arab and Arab minded person, but I am not a racist, a Shiite, but I am not sectarian."