Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) President of South Africa, anti-apartheid activist
2000s, Iraq War speech (2003)
on President George W. Bush's war ultimatum to Iraq
[March 17, 2003, http://www.gp.org/press/pr_03_17_03.html, Press release: "Greens Call on Congress and Americans to Resist Bush's War Declaration", U.S. Green Party, 2006-08-17]
Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) President of South Africa, anti-apartheid activist
2000s, Iraq War speech (2003)
John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America
1961, Address at the University of Washington
Context: In short, we are neither "warmongers" nor "appeasers," neither "hard" nor "soft." We are Americans, determined to defend the frontiers of freedom, by an honorable peace if peace is possible, but by arms if arms are used against us. And if we are to move forward in that spirit, we shall need all the calm and thoughtful citizens that this great University can produce, all the light they can shed, all the wisdom they can bring to bear. It is customary, both here and around the world, to regard life in the United States as easy. Our advantages are many. But more than any other people on earth, we bear burdens and accept risks unprecedented in their size and their duration, not for ourselves alone but for all who wish to be free.
Jeremy Scahill (1974) American journalist
A Brief History of U.S. Intervention in Iraq Over the Past Half Century https://theintercept.com/2018/04/09/video-a-brief-history-of-u-s-intervention-in-iraq-over-the-past-half-century/ (April 9 2018), The Intercept.
“The U. N. is as effective as its member states allow it to be.”
Desmond Tutu (1931) South African churchman, politician, archbishop, Nobel Prize winner
This is actually a common observation, which has been made by many people, and thus far no published source has been found attributing it to Tutu. The earliest published variant thus far found was in Public Affairs Vol. 21 (1978) by the Gokhale Institute of Public Affairs, p. 102:<br>: The United Nations is an inter-governmental body. It is made up of member states, and it can only be as effective as its member states allow it to be.<br>A variant was also prominent in Ch. 6 of the Preventing Deadly Conflict : Final Report (1997) by the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict http://wwics.si.edu/subsites/ccpdc/pubs/rept97/finfr.htm:<br>: The main responsibility for addressing global problems, including deadly conflict, rests on governments. Acting individually and collectively, they have the power to work toward solutions or to hinder the process. The UN, of course, is only as effective as its member states allow it to be. <br class="br">Misattributed
George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States
2000s, 2003, A Vision for Iraq and the Iraqi people (March 2003)
Bill Clinton (1946) 42nd President of the United States
Interview with Time Magazine, June 2004
2000s
“If President Bush doesn't help us, these terrorists will damage the U. S. and Europe very soon.”
Ahmad Shah Massoud (1953–2001) Afghan military leader
Remark to a reporter (April 2001), quoted in Time (4 August 2002) " The Secret History https://archive.is/20120919170542/www.time.com/time/covers/1101020812/story.html" by Michael Elliott.
Norman Schwarzkopf (1934–2012) United States Army general
Context: As far as Saddam Hussein being a great military strategist: He is neither a strategist, nor is he schooled in the operational art, nor is he a tactician, nor is he a general, nor is he a soldier. Other than that, he's a great military man.
Gulf War briefing (28 February 1991), as quoted in "WAR IN THE GULF: Commander's Briefing; Excerpts From Schwarzkopf News Conference on Gulf War" in The New York Times