“Unlike previous wars, our enemy now is a stateless network of religious extremists. They do not obey the laws of war, they hide among peaceful populations and launch surprise attacks on civilians. They have no armed forces per se, no territory or citizens to defend and no fear of dying during their attacks. Information is our primary weapon against this enemy, and intelligence gathered from captured operatives is perhaps the most effective means of preventing future attacks.” MeanWarLawForceReligiousEnemyDyingInformationCitizensWeaponsSurprisePopulationPeacefulPrimariesTerritoryNo FearCiviliansCapturedExtremistPreventingArmed ForcesFear Of DyingSurprise Attacks Author:John Yoo
“And there's this talk that we're asking soldiers to make the greatest sacrifice, but the reality is that civilians bear the burden of war more than the combatants. You're much more likely to get accidentally blown up or killed by a death squad than you are to die in a firefight.” WarRealityDiesSacrificeBearsAskingSoldierBurdenCiviliansSquad Author:Michael Hastings
“A writer has a use for his experiences that most civilians simply don't; he or she discerns material in situations that others simply live through. Perhaps there are some who disapprove of this, but without this double consciousness, literature would not get made at all.” MadeUseLiteratureConsciousnessSituationMaterialsCivilians Author:Walter Kirn
“Iraq has been successfully demonized as if everybody who lives there is Saddam Hussein. In the build-up to this attack on Iraq, journalists have almost universally excluded the prospect of civilian deaths, the numbers of people who would die, because those people don't matter.” PeopleIfsHas BeensMatterDiesNumbersIraqJournalistSaddamHusseinCiviliansExcludedCivilian Deaths Author:John Pilger
“What's great about the Sundance Film Festival is the festival takes over that town as it's intended to do. But, it's very focused on a lot of other filmmakers and distributors so it almost feels like, while they're a lot of so-called civilians there, it's an opportunity that you have to see, to show your stuff to the other folks, your peers really, and to get that reaction.” FeelsShowsFilmOpportunityStuffTownsFolksFocusedReactionsFilmmakerPeersFestivalsCiviliansDistributorsFilm FestivalsSundance Author:Alex Gibney
“There are a lot of things that are said by people in the military, or civilian life, or in the Congress, or in the Executive Branch, that are their views. And that's the way we live. We're a free people. And that's the wonderful thing about our country.” PeopleWaySaidCountryViewsWonderfulMilitaryCongressOur CountryBranchesExecutivesWonderful ThingsCiviliansExecutive Branch Author:Donald Rumsfeld
“Well, one thing that has changed is the number of people killed by terrorists in Pakistan. Civilians killed has gone down really quite dramatically. There was a newspaper article here about a month ago that got big headlines which said that civilian deaths from terrorism were down something like 80 percent or 90 percent from their peak of two or three years ago.” PeopleYearsWellsSaidTwoBigsThreeNumbersGoneOne ThingChangedMonthsPercentYears AgoTerrorismTerroristNewspapersArticlesThree YearsPakistanCiviliansHeadlinesCivilian Deaths Author:Mohsin Hamid
“The United States that has been involved first in the Gulf War and then in the tremendously damaging sanctions against Iraqi civilians. The United States that is the supporter of Israel against the Palestinians.” FirstsHas BeensWarStatesUnitedUnited StatesInvolvedIsraelPalestinianSupporterCiviliansSanctionsGulf War Author:Edward Said
“The role of Iran has been very destructive. As an Iranian, I apologize to the civilian people of Syria who have been killed as a result of the useless intervention of Iran in Syria.” PeopleHas BeensResultsRolesUselessDestructiveIranSyriaApologizingInterventionCiviliansIranianI Apologize Author:Shirin Ebadi
“I messed up on the Vietnam Special, because I gave it to civilians? Only military men can handle that.” MenSpecialMilitaryHandleVietnamCiviliansMessed UpMilitary Man Author:Si Robertson
“If Americans were attacked, it does change the equation. The problem is, is that with regard to this is there've been horrendous killings of civilians with conventional weapons.” IfsDoeProblemWeaponsRegardKillingConventionalEquationsCivilians Author:Rand Paul
“I think if Russia is really an honest signatory to the chemical weapons ban, if Syria wants to be, ultimately someone has to be responsible for killing civilians. And that's the hard part out of this.” IfsThinkingWantHardHonestWeaponsResponsibleKillingRussiaChemicalsSyriaCiviliansBansBeing ResponsibleChemical Weapons Author:Rand Paul
“The one way, possibly, out of this is for [Bashar] Assad to abdicate and plead, perhaps to Russia or somewhere else. Would save another wave of civilian casualties if we could get him to abdicate.” IfsWayWaveRussiaOne WaySomewhere ElseCiviliansCasualtiesAssadCivilian Casualties Author:Rand Paul
“The Iraq war is a huge subject and there have been many films about it. But it was when the private contractors started taking over and taking responsibilities from the regular army, which hides the war. You have these private armies of mercenaries acting with immunity for their actions, the worst of which was the Blackwater case where they killed 17 Iraqi civilians and the guys who did it just went home. We [screenwriter Paul Laverty and Loach] felt this deserved a story.” Has BeensWarStoriesHomeActionFilmGuyFeltActingResponsibilityCasesWorstSubjectsHugeArmyIraqTaking ResponsibilityCiviliansIraq WarScreenwritersImmunityContractor Author:Ken Loach
“Obviously what I think Senator [John] Kerry was pointing to, which is absolutely correct, which is the essential part of the strategy or a key component or a leg on the stool, is an Afghan partner that is ready to take control of both the security situation in Afghanistan, and the civilian side of that.” ThinkingSidesSituationSecurityReadyKeysEssentialsStrategyLegsPartnersAfghanistanSenatorsComponentsPointingCiviliansJohn KerryTake ControlStoolsAfghan Author:Rahm Emanuel
“I've read a lot of war writing, even World War I writing, the British war poetry of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves's memoir "Goodbye to All That," and a civilian memoir "Testament of Youth" by Vera Brittain .” WorldWritingWarYouthBritishGravesMemoirWar Of The WorldsGoodbyeWorld War ITestamentCivilians Author:George Packer
“I am also full of admiration for Chelsea Manning [formerly PFC Bradley Manning]. Regardless of which side of the argument you're on, he stood up for something he felt wasn't right. That was an extraordinarily brave thing to do, and I think he was unfairly punished for it. It's a really big deal what he did, and he did it for the betterment of all us, including the soldiers on the ground, as well as the civilians caught up in those conflicts.” ThinkingWellsBigsFeltSidesDealsConflictArgumentBraveIncludingSoldierCaughtThings To DoAdmirationCaught UpBig DealCiviliansStood UpBettermentChelseaBradley Manning Author:Benedict Cumberbatch
“The U.S. military is investing in new storage technology because most of the weight that soldiers carry on their backs is batteries. Once that gets developed for the military, it will be expanded to civilians.” TechnologyMilitaryWeightInvestingSoldierCiviliansBatteriesStorage Author:Christiana Figueres
“If you shell a military base and happen to kill civilians, you have not committed a war crime; if you deliberately target cities and towns, you have.” IfsWarHappensCitiesMilitaryCrimeTownsCommittedTargetShellsCiviliansWar CrimesCities And Towns Book:Fire Source: Fire
“When you use an armament, you use it to defend the civilians. You kill terrorists in order to defend civilians. That's the natural role of any army in the world.” WorldUseOrderNaturalRolesArmyTerroristCiviliansArmament Author:Bashar al-Assad
“You have to look at the reality in Syria. Whenever we liberate any city or village from the terrorists, the civilians will go back to the city, while they flee that city when the terrorists attack that area, the opposite. So, they flee, first of all, the war itself; they flee the area under the control of the terrorists, they flee the difficult situation because of the embargo by the West on Syria.” FirstsLooksWarRealityDifficultCitiesSituationAreasOppositesWestTerroristVillageSyriaCiviliansDifficult SituationsEmbargo Author:Bashar al-Assad
“Whenever you have a war, the civilians and the innocents will pay the price. That's in any war, any war is a bad war.” WarPayCiviliansPay The Price Author:Bashar al-Assad
“My wife made me watch this documentary about the Iraq War, and there was a really powerful moment where they followed some civilian whose family had been killed. This was 5 or 10 minutes of this woman talking, and it was extremely arresting. You realize how you never hear from the person on the receiving end of a war without a reporter stepping in to compartmentalize the story. Usually they're just a few shots at the end of a news report, wailing and screaming at a funeral.” PersonsMadeWarEndsMomentsStoriesRealizingPowerfulTalkingWatchesWifeMinutesNewsShotsIraqMy WifeReportsFuneralReceivingReportersDocumentariesCiviliansIraq WarWailingReally PowerfulArresting Author:Charlie Brooker
“The Pirate Party started in Sweden in 2006, and it only had one agenda: to change draconian copyright laws. But it's changed and shifted primarily because the questions of human rights and cyber have become much more relevant. So if you want to place it somewhere on the spectrum, I would say it's a party that has its roots in civilian rights. But we are not like many left parties that want to regulate citizens and create nanny states. We believe that regulation should be on the powerful, not the individuals.” IfsWantShouldBelieveHumansStatesLawIndividualLeftPowerfulPartyRightsChangedCitizensRootsHuman RightsAgendasRelevantRegulationCiviliansSpectrumPirateCopyrightSwedenCyberNanniesCopyright LawDraconian Author:Birgitta Jonsdottir
“Donald Trump'd rather believe Vladimir Putin than the military and civilian intelligence professionals who are sworn to protect us.” BelieveMilitaryTrumpProtectCiviliansPutin Author:Hillary Clinton
“When we talk about carpet bombing ISIL, that's what it looks like, creating huge numbers of civilian casualties, which increases the numbers of refugees flowing out of the region, which increases the misery of the Syrian people.” PeopleLooksNumbersHugeCreatingIncreaseMiseryRegionsRefugeeCarpetCiviliansBombingCasualtiesIsilHuge NumbersCivilian Casualties Author:John R. Allen
“We got a commitment that 3 million nurses are going to be trained to better identify these signs [of PTSD], because, you know, when these troops come home and they become veterans and they go back into the civilian community, they're not always going through the VA system for medical care. They're going to show up at community hospitals and clinics.” KnowsShowsHomeCareCommunityMillionsCommitmentMedicalComing HomeHospitalsNurseTroopsVeteranPtsdCiviliansClinicMedical Care Author:Michelle Obama
“There has, indeed, been very substantial progress in Iraq over the past year - violence is down by 80 percent, civilian deaths by about the same, and so on.” YearsPastProgressViolencePercentIraqCiviliansOver The PastCivilian Deaths Author:David Petraeus
“Al-Qaida in particular remains dangerous, and there [in Iraq] is some residual militia and special group presence. There are still between 20 and 30 attacks per day, still periodic car bombs and still loss of innocent civilians.” StillsLossGroupsSpecialDangerousCarParticularRemainsIraqInnocentBombsAlsCiviliansMilitiaResidual Author:David Petraeus
“The task [in Afghanistan] is to reduce civilian casualties while still not hesitating to respond to enemies who are trying to kill our soldiers.” TryingStillsEnemyTasksSoldierAfghanistanCiviliansCasualtiesCivilian Casualties Author:David Petraeus
“We as a human family are on this train that is taking us into more and more war and more and more abuse of human rights where a lot of civilians are being killed and where human rights and international law are being set aside by America and NATO.” HumansWarAmericaLawRightsAbuseTrainInternationalHuman RightsCiviliansNatoInternational LawHuman Family Author:Mairead Corrigan
“Any of these contemporary war situations, whether civilian or soldier on either side - that's what I was interested in. The people who are being affected. Not so much the political speak at the top of the food chain, but the people who are affected by it on the ground.” PeopleWarPoliticalSpeakSidesSituationSoldierContemporaryChainsAffectedCiviliansFood Chain Author:PJ Harvey
“We've learned something about President-elect [Donald] Trump's choice for secretary of defense. Lawmakers in Congress intend to proper debate over whether retired General James Mattis meets a requirement for civilian control of the military.” ChoicesPresidentMilitaryTrumpCongressDefenseDebateSecretaryRequirementsRetiredCiviliansLawmakersGeneral James Mattis Author:Steve Inskeep
“The reason we've always had a civilian in that job [Secretary of Defence] is because we really believe that it is policymakers who ought to control the military and not have the military control the military.” BelieveReasonJobsMilitaryOughtSecretaryCiviliansDefence Author:Leon Panetta
“In Turkey also, for a long time, the military was the decisive force but in the past 10 years they have backed off somewhat and the civilian government has gained more independence and autonomy even to shake up the military command. In fact, it even arrested several high-ranking officers [for interfering in governmental affairs]. Maybe Pakistan can move in a similar direction.” YearsLongFactsGovernmentPastMovingForceMilitaryLong TimeIndependenceAffairCommandShakesOfficersInterferePakistanAutonomyTurkeysCiviliansArrestedRankingMilitary Command Author:Noam Chomsky
“We believe that we could do a great deal to neutralise regional conflicts. Also, for example, to continue joint activities in space, for peaceful civilian purposes.” BelievePurposeSpaceDealsExampleActivityConflictPeacefulJointsCivilians Author:Vladimir Putin
“On Syria, it's clear that the indiscriminate attacks on civilians by the [Bashar] Assad regime and Russia will only worsen the humanitarian catastrophe and that a negotiated end to the conflict is the only way to achieve lasting peace in Syria.” WayEndsClearAchieveConflictHumanitarianRussiaLastingRegimesSyriaCatastropheCiviliansAssad Author:Barack Obama
“You cannot use [nuclear weapons] to target civilians; you cannot use them against military targets if they have indiscriminate effects on civilians in addition to the attack on the military target.” IfsUseEffectsMilitaryWeaponsNuclearTargetNuclear WeaponsCivilians Author:John Burroughs
“The truth is that, in trying to get at terrorists who are in countries that either are unwilling or unable to capture those terrorists or disable them themselves, there are a lot of situations where the use of a drone is going to result in much fewer civilian casualties and much less collateral damage than if I send in a battalion of marines.” IfsTryingCountryUseResultsSituationTruth IsTerroristDamageCaptureFewerMarineCiviliansUnwillingCasualtiesDronesCollateralCollateral DamageCivilian Casualties Author:Barack Obama
“In Aleppo, Mr. Putin has directed his military to conduct a devastating campaign. He's targeted schools, markets, not just assisted Syrians in doing it, his military has targeted schools and markets and other civilian infrastructure. It's resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians.” SchoolMilitaryCampaignsInfrastructureCiviliansPutin Author:Marco Rubio
“It should not be hard to say that Vladimir Putin's military has conducted war crimes in Aleppo because it is never acceptable for military to specifically target civilians, which is what's happened there, through the Russian military.” ShouldWarHardHappenedMilitaryCrimeTargetAcceptableCiviliansPutinWar CrimesRussian Military Author:Marco Rubio
“All I hope is that the American coalition is doing its best to prevent civilian casualties and the killing of innocent people.” PeopleKillingInnocentCiviliansCoalitionsCasualtiesCivilian Casualties Author:Elie Wiesel
“In the Islamic world, the U.S. is seen in two quite different ways. One view recognizes what an extraordinary country the U.S. is.The other view is of the official United States, the United States of armies and interventions. The United States that in 1953 overthrew the nationalist government of Mossadegh in Iran and brought back the shah. The United States that has been involved first in the Gulf War and then in the tremendously damaging sanctions against Iraqi civilians. The United States that is the supporter of Israel against the Palestinians.” WorldWayFirstsHas BeensTwoDifferentWarCountryStatesGovernmentUnitedViewsUnited StatesInvolvedArmyExtraordinaryIsraelDifferent WaysOfficialsIslamicIranPalestinianSupporterInterventionCiviliansSanctionsGulf War Author:Edward Said
“The part in Aleppo, what [people] call it the eastern part, is occupied by the terrorists for the last three years, and they have been using the civilians as human shields.” PeopleYearsHumansHas BeensLastsThreeTerroristThree YearsEasternCiviliansShields Author:Bashar al-Assad
“From our side, from our part as government, we have two missions: the first one is to fight those terrorists to liberate that area [eastern part of Aleppo] and the civilians from those terrorists, and at the same time to try to find a solution to evacuate that area from those terrorists if they accept, let's say, what you call it reconciliation option, in which they either give up their armaments for amnesty, or they leave that area.” IfsGivingTryingFirstsTwoGovernmentFightingSidesAcceptingGiving UpSolutionsAreasMissionsTerroristEasternReconciliationCiviliansAmnestyArmament Author:Bashar al-Assad
“The other thing we did as government is to open gates for the civilians to leave that [ eastern part] area [in Aleppo], and at the same time for the humanitarian convoys and help to go through those gates inside that part of Aleppo, but the terrorists publicly refused any solution, so they wanted to keep the situation as it is.” HelpingGovernmentWantedSituationSolutionsAreasHumanitarianTerroristGatesEasternCivilians Author:Bashar al-Assad
“Since the beginning of the crisis, since the terrorists started to control some areas within Syria, the majority of the Syrian civilians left that areas to join the government areas, not vice versa. If the majority of the Syrians don't trust the government, they should go the other way.” IfsWayShouldGovernmentLeftAreasCrisisMajorityVicesTerroristSyriaCiviliansVice VersaDon't Trust Author:Bashar al-Assad
“The Pentagon is supposed to be under civilian control and it ought to be up to the people of the United States, not the profiteers.” PeopleStatesUnitedUnited StatesOughtSupposed To BeCiviliansPentagon Author:David Swanson
“Did the President order anyone to kill civilians, did he order the destruction, did he order supporting terrorism in his country? Of course not.” CountryOrderCoursesPresidentDestructionTerrorismCivilians Author:Bashar al-Assad
“There is a residual sense for me, having grown up in the early '70s, that I did not know I had, which was a sense that the military are different than I. Because there was such a divide between the military world - and there still is, because there's no draft - and the civilian world is one of the rotten harvests of the Vietnam War, was this sort of bifurcation of America in that way.” KnowsWorldWayStillsDifferentWarAmericaMilitaryDividesVietnamHarvestCiviliansRottenVietnam WarResidualBifurcation Author:Stephen Colbert