That sense of what happened in Europe in World War II has shaped a lot of my views. Paul Wolfowitz More Quotes by Paul Wolfowitz More Quotes From Paul Wolfowitz The American people are pretty impressive in their ability to keep after something if they think it is doable. Paul Wolfowitz impressive people thinking If a cat sits on a hot stove once, it will never sit on a cold one either. Paul Wolfowitz cold cat hot The absence of Saddam is a huge weight off the Arab world. Paul Wolfowitz weight absence world Poles understand perhaps better than anyone the consequences of making toothless warnings to brutal tyrants and terrorist regimes. Paul Wolfowitz tyrants regimes warning Firing employees, that's unfortunately part of doing business. Paul Wolfowitz firing employee It's a very bad thing when people exterminate other people, and people persecute minorities. Paul Wolfowitz bad-things minorities people Look, I think the notion that theres a dogma or doctrine of foreign policy that gives you a textbook recipe for how to react to all situations is really nonsense. Paul Wolfowitz doctrine giving thinking Islamic State is mainly a direct result of the failure in Syria. That's where IS has grown. That's where IS spread from. Paul Wolfowitz islamic results states I don't know of a single instance of these Arab freedom fighters holding up pictures of bin Laden. I know many instances of them displaying American flags in Benghazi or painting 'Facebook' on their foreheads in Cairo. The idea of freedom . . . is absolutely contradictory to what bin Laden stood for, which was . . . taking Muslims back to some medieval theocracy and encouraging people to die not for freedom but to go to paradise and to kill innocent people along the way. The contrast is really striking. Paul Wolfowitz flags people ideas I mean, we're going to probably debate the Iraq war for at least as long as I'm alive. Paul Wolfowitz iraq war mean History is just littered with problems that were solved that were supposed to be impossible. Paul Wolfowitz supposed-to-be problem impossible If the Arab world today looked like Tunisia, it would be a huge blow for the extreme ideologies. But Tunisia needs more support than it is getting, particularly from their close neighbors in Europe who have a great stake in North Africa. Paul Wolfowitz support blow europe The most striking thing is that even before Osama bin Laden was killed, he seemed largely irrelevant to the Arab Spring. Paul Wolfowitz irrelevant osama-bin-laden spring I think all foreigners should stop interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq. Those who want to come and help are welcome. Those who come to interfere and destroy are not. Paul Wolfowitz iraq want thinking I think it's a mistake to rely too much on any one economic factor. It's why investors try to spread their portfolio round. Paul Wolfowitz mistake trying thinking To stay back from an intervention is not always a good solution. Paul Wolfowitz intervention solutions For one thing I tend not to see myself in various moulds that people fit me into. Paul Wolfowitz mould fit people The truth is that for reasons that have a lot to do with the U.S. government bureaucracy, we settled on the one issue that everyone could agree on, which was weapons of mass destruction, as the core reason. Paul Wolfowitz wmd government stupid There has been a good deal of comment — some of it quite outlandish — about what our postwar requirements might be in Iraq. Some of the higher end predictions we have been hearing recently, such as the notion that it will take several hundred thousand U.S. troops to provide stability in post- Iraq, are wildly off the mark. It is hard to conceive that it would take more forces to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq than it would take to conduct the war itself and to secure the surrender of Saddam's security forces and his army — hard to imagine. Paul Wolfowitz iraq army war I think Obama sees everything through one lens. Doing nothing in the face of the slaughter in Syria is not only shameful, it is unrealistic. This approach leaves Syria as a broken country and a breeding ground for extremists for decades. Paul Wolfowitz broken country thinking