Elliott Abrams Quotes & Sayings

Even today, when the Obama administration has liberalized travel to Cuba - and failed to reverse that liberalization when Alan Gross was imprisoned - there are limits. — Elliott Abrams

Thousands of members of Congress have come and gone over the years, their individual achievements hidden in committee reports, private compromises, amendments pushed through or blocked, and innumerable, unnoticed meetings. — Elliott Abrams

Israel will not and should not leave until it is clear that the West Bank can be policed by Palestinians and that the region will not be a source of terrorism against Israel, as Gaza and South Lebanon became when Israel left there. — Elliott Abrams

Cheney's memoir is not about 9/11, or solely about Bush's administration, but about his entire life and political career. — Elliott Abrams

There's always Tunisia. Amid the smoking ruins of the Middle East, there is that one encouraging success story. — Elliott Abrams

In Arab capitals, the failure of the United States to stop Iran's nuclear program is understood as American weakness in the struggle for dominance in the Middle East, making additional cooperation from Arab leaders on Israeli-Palestinian issues even less likely. — Elliott Abrams

It is a natural goal of Iran to try and expel the Fifth Fleet from Bahrain. — Elliott Abrams

Barack Obama's military triumphs will come neither in long wars nor even short ones, but in a series of raids. — Elliott Abrams

It seems clear to me that the Obama Administration has no human rights policy. That is, while in some inchoate sense they would like respect for human rights to grow around the world, as all Americans would, they have no actual policy to achieve that goal - and they subordinate it to all their other policy goals. — Elliott Abrams

When the policy is controversial, you have to go out and defend it. — Elliott Abrams

Rahm Emanuel seems to think he knows Israel very well, and that the way to treat that country and its democratically-elected government is the way he treats all opponents in politics: by attacking and attacking. — Elliott Abrams

The Erdogan government's first major step outside of the U.S. alliance was during the Bush Administration, when it wouldn't let Washington use Turkey as a launching ground for U.S. troops entering Iraq in 2003. — Elliott Abrams

Harry Truman, who was a Bible-believing Christian Zionist, defied the secretary of state he so admired, George C. Marshall, and won a place in Israel's history by recognizing the new state 11 minutes after it declared its independence in 1948. — Elliott Abrams

Al Qaeda's message that violence, terrorism and extremism are the only answer for Arabs seeking dignity and hope is being rejected each day in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain and throughout the Arab lands. — Elliott Abrams

Both Bibi and Obama realize that they are going to have to face the problem of Iran together. — Elliott Abrams

Huge numbers of embassy cables are labeled 'unclassified' or 'limited official use' and deal with mundane matters. — Elliott Abrams

Mass killing has very clearly not been eliminated, nor has the 'international community' developed a response that will avert it or bring it to a quick end. — Elliott Abrams

At Guantanamo Bay, we could create a West Berlin, a free small city within the Communist nation that could trade freely with the U.S. and elect its own officials. — Elliott Abrams

There isn't any way for the people of Nicaragua to find out what's going on in Nicaragua. — Elliott Abrams

Olmert made a proposal on the governing of Jerusalem that I do not believe his cabinet or the Knesset would have accepted. — Elliott Abrams

The United States needs to be far clearer: we cannot and will not support any government where Hamas has a real influence and the security forces stop fighting terror. — Elliott Abrams

When freedom of the press is threatened, the United States should be leading efforts to protect it. — Elliott Abrams

During most of the Bush administration, human rights and democracy in Egypt were on the front burner. — Elliott Abrams

The courage of the Syrian protesters is remarkable, for they face prison, torture, or death every time they lift a banner. — Elliott Abrams

The Iron Dome is great for the U.S. — Elliott Abrams

Does anyone believe that Kofi Annan scares Bashar Assad? — Elliott Abrams

There is no way around the contradictions and dangers inherent in Israel's decision to free over 1,000 prisoners in order to liberate Gilad Shalit. — Elliott Abrams

In critical ways, Obama has reversed not just Bush policy but every president's approach to the world since the Second World War, save for that of his soulmate Jimmy Carter. — Elliott Abrams

The U.A.E. is a firm ally of the United States and deserves better treatment than it received in the Dubai Ports World fiasco in 2006. — Elliott Abrams

In 2004, President Bush gave Prime Minister Sharon certain guarantees about American policy, but the Obama administration treated those as a kind of private letter having no binding policy impact. — Elliott Abrams

I would have thought that if you're going to try to punish the Syrians and prevent them from using chemical weapons again, the thing to do is a one-time strike. Maybe a cruise missile strike at one or two of their air bases just so they know what they're going to gain from using chemical weapons on the battlefield. — Elliott Abrams

In most cases, cables are marked secret not because the U.S. requires it but because those speaking to us - the foreign leaders across the table - do. They are not keeping secrets from us, but from two other groups: their enemies and their subjects. — Elliott Abrams

Refusing to lift sanctions and adopting tougher rhetoric toward Iran would not be partisan issues. Plenty of Democrats think that those actions are both good politics and good policy. — Elliott Abrams

Like all forms of collective security, multilateral sanctions require a unanimity rarely achieved in international politics. — Elliott Abrams

There are no Muslim ghettos in the U.S. — Elliott Abrams

Can Israelis be wistful? It is not the characteristic we usually associate with them; more typically they are said to be tough, sweet, angry, thoughtful, demanding - not wistful. — Elliott Abrams

It was simply impossible to support Carter for reelection in 1980 and easy for me to support Reagan. The Reagan campaign was happy to have Democratic support, and the Reagan administration was happy to have Democrats in it; they took the view that, after all, Reagan himself had been a Democrat, so it was not a strike against you. — Elliott Abrams

Enlightened despots are mythical creatures; real despots seem more interested in stealing money or installing their sons after them. — Elliott Abrams

In Kuwait there is already a real, elected parliament with genuine power, but the prime minister is always a member of the ruling al-Sabah family. That must end. — Elliott Abrams

The Obama administration has vastly expanded the use of armed drones and concentrated a great deal of diplomatic effort on building and maintaining alliances that share information about terrorists, provide access to get near them, and then strike against them. — Elliott Abrams

While we use American power to fight hard for democracy against extremism on both left and right, our critics seem suspicious of any assertion of United States power or influence against any government or group that claims to be on the left. — Elliott Abrams

Libya as a country is a relatively new concept. The period of Libya as a modern nation really starts after World War II. — Elliott Abrams

The logic of collective security is flawless, provided it can be made to work under the conditions prevailing on the international scene ... The odds, however, are strongly against such a possibility. — Elliott Abrams

In 2007, early in the improbable presidential candidacy of Barack Obama, the young first-term senator began a series of foreign-policy speeches that seemed too general to provide a guide to what he might do if elected. — Elliott Abrams

The anchors of the Arab consensus have long been Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and both are now weakened forces in Arab politics and diplomacy. — Elliott Abrams

The Pope is not a political figure. — Elliott Abrams

For many societies, the journey to modernity has been painful and costly. — Elliott Abrams

If you are trying to raise a child to be a Jew, then you have to create a sense of Jewish identity. You really weaken that sense of identity if you celebrate two religions. — Elliott Abrams

We need to understand that an open society and free speech and press ... really are the best weapons against al Qaeda and extremism. — Elliott Abrams

The accession to power in Pyongyang of Kim Jong Un, son of Kim Jong Il and grandson of Kim Il Sung, is a unique achievement in world politics. — Elliott Abrams

If you said to people you can cast a secret ballot on whether to turn back the clock and have Morsi in power again, I don't think very many people in Washington would turn back that clock. — Elliott Abrams

I just don't understand how Kerry or Obama or anybody else thought Assad was going to change. — Elliott Abrams

Obviously, every dictator pays a great deal of attention to who is running the army. There's always a base right outside the capitol to protect the head of government. — Elliott Abrams

First impressions matter. Experts say we size up new people in somewhere between 30 seconds and two minutes. — Elliott Abrams

When you work in the White House you talk to the White House staff all day, so you're talking to the guy who handles the congressional liaison and the guy who's handling domestic politics and the guy who's handling the American economy and so forth. — Elliott Abrams

An effective U.S. policy toward Sudan - one capable of changing the situation in the south and affecting the lives of its people - will require top-level attention and a great deal of energy. It should have three elements: aid, diplomacy, and financial disclosure. — Elliott Abrams

You are not practicing Judaism if you celebrate Christmas. — Elliott Abrams

The Assad regime has lost the consent of the governed, and it is difficult to see how a replacement Alawite regime would be able to regain this consent. — Elliott Abrams

Opponents of U.S. sanctions have made 'unilateral sanctions' their special target. They argue that sanctions observed by many nations would be much more effective. True enough. Far better for trade with an outlaw regime to be restricted by many nations than by just one. — Elliott Abrams

For the entire first term, Obama and his people blamed Bush for everything - which is another way of saying they felt Bush and the Bush years were the inescapable reference point for everything they were themselves doing. — Elliott Abrams

Palestine, as Icelanders see it, includes the Western Wall of the Second Temple, Judaism's holiest site. — Elliott Abrams

There is no softer target in GOP primaries than the United Nations and foreign-aid spending. — Elliott Abrams

Israel's flexibility is dependent on its sense of security. — Elliott Abrams

Senator Kerry was fooled by Bashar al-Assad. — Elliott Abrams

The early reviews of Dick Cheney's memoir have not evaluated the book, but instead have used its publication as an occasion for attacks on Cheney and his record, with general assaults on George W. Bush's administration thrown in for good measure. — Elliott Abrams

One good way of measuring the mood in Israel is just how alert or relaxed the guards at every restaurant entrance appear to be. — Elliott Abrams

Peace in the Middle East has been on the Obama administration's mind from the beginning. Two days after his inauguration, the president traveled to the State Department to announce the appointment of George Mitchell as his Middle East peace negotiator. — Elliott Abrams

The way for the Palestinians to get a state is to go ahead and build it. — Elliott Abrams

Reagan did not wait out the Soviets; he beat them. — Elliott Abrams

For decades, the Arab states have seemed exceptions to the laws of politics and human nature. While liberty expanded in many parts of the globe, these nations were left behind, their 'freedom deficit' signaling the political underdevelopment that accompanied many other economic and social maladies. — Elliott Abrams

Needless to say, if the Arab-Israeli conflict is about interstate disputes and the need to resolve the future of the West Bank and Gaza, it can be solved; if it is a religious conflict, nothing but violence is ahead. — Elliott Abrams

Evangelicals too often fall short in their actual teachings about Judaism. — Elliott Abrams

The United States and its Gulf allies, some of who are actively funding rebel groups in Syria, should undertake a serious joint review of Jordan's needs and then act together to meet them. — Elliott Abrams

Is multilateralism nothing more than a dodge for simple inaction? — Elliott Abrams

The truce brokered by Egypt between Israel and Hamas depends, above all, on the borders between Egypt, Gaza and Israel. — Elliott Abrams

I never said I had no idea about most of the things you said I said I had no idea about. — Elliott Abrams

Henry M. Jackson, congressman and senator from 1941 until his death in 1983, achieved far greater renown than most legislators, ran for president in 1972 and 1976, and was for much of the 1970s and 1980s one of the most powerful men in America. — Elliott Abrams

Gadhafi's vicious regime has left Libya far worse than he found it on the day of his coup in 1969. — Elliott Abrams

America was not founded to improve health care or housing; it was founded for freedom. — Elliott Abrams

In the Philippines, Gloria Arroyo is the daughter of Diosdado Macapagal - but his term ended in 1965, and she was elected in 2001. Hardly a hand-off. — Elliott Abrams

I think President Obama views Israel as a problem that needs to be solved. — Elliott Abrams

It's time to bury the unreal, failed 'realism' of those who have long thought that dictators brought stability. — Elliott Abrams

Every Israeli government since 1967, of left or right, has asserted that Jerusalem is Israel's capital and has allowed Israeli Jews to build there. — Elliott Abrams

The presence of jihadis in Syria should be no surprise. — Elliott Abrams

Reformist kings can save their dynasties now by helping their countries move smoothly into democracy, or they will end their years in exile like the Russian aristocrats of a century earlier. — Elliott Abrams

After 9/11, we did see Palestinian terrorism in the context of all terrorism. — Elliott Abrams

Sometimes the results of a first free election will find the moderates so poorly organized that extreme groups can eke out a victory, as Hamas did when it gained a 44-to-41 percent margin in the Palestinian election of 2006. — Elliott Abrams

Obama's foreign policy is strangely self-centered, focused on himself and the United States rather than on the conduct and needs of the nations the United States allies with, engages with, or must confront. — Elliott Abrams

Tunisian liberals say that the U.S. Embassy in Tunis is unengaged with their efforts to make sure the Tunisian model remains one of expanding freedom. — Elliott Abrams

Honduras was the original 'banana republic,' and its poverty remains extreme. — Elliott Abrams

I grew up in Queens, in New York City, in a middle class Jewish family. My mother was a public school teacher, my father was a lawyer. They were Democrats - kind of middle-of-the-road democrats. — Elliott Abrams

Dubai must crack down on rampant smuggling, and the U.A.E. federal government has significantly stepped up pressure. — Elliott Abrams

The Saudis and Emiratis blame all of this on Iran. I think they'd have to grant, that as has been said, that the Houthis are an internally generated movement in Yemen and the Saudis were supposed to be dealing with the Houthis, who started out in essence along their border. So one of the things that we're seeing is a complete failure of Saudi policy toward Yemen over the past 10 years, but the Saudis totally believe that the reason the Houthis are able to succeed militarily is the amount of money, advice, and guns they are receiving from Iran. — Elliott Abrams

People are entitled to believe the government is constantly lying to them, but it isn't. — Elliott Abrams

The failure to set standards for Palestinian conduct hurts the cause of peace. — Elliott Abrams

The United States should help strengthen nongovernmental humanitarian agencies working in Sudan so that they can handle an increased flow of aid. — Elliott Abrams

The Obama administration appears to regard intelligence leaks and briefings more or less like briefings by the Democratic National Committee or White House flack Jay Carney. You use any information at hand, classified or not, and you spin it any way you like, fairly or not. — Elliott Abrams

Moammar Gaddafi, who has called himself the 'Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya,' should go down in history with the Emperor Bokassa and Idi Amin as a grotesque reminder of why people have the right to change their government. — Elliott Abrams

The ransoming of captives has been practiced by Jews for many centuries and has been regarded as a greater obligation than charity for the poor. — Elliott Abrams

The Iranians don't want the same thing we do in Iraq, not really; they want to control Iraq ... the Ayatollah hates the United States; the Iranians are enemies of the United States. — Elliott Abrams