“They are not my forces, they are military forces that belong to the government.… I don't own them. I am president, I don't own the country so they are not my forces.”

—  Bashar al-Assad

Interview with Barbara Walters (7 Dec. 2011) on the military escalation of the Syrian conflict

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "They are not my forces, they are military forces that belong to the government.… I don't own them. I am president, I do…" by Bashar al-Assad?
Bashar al-Assad photo
Bashar al-Assad 10
President of Syria 1965

Related quotes

Bashar al-Assad photo

“They are not my forces. They are military forces that belong to the government.… I don't own them. I am [the] president. I don't own the country so they are not my forces.”

Bashar al-Assad (1965) President of Syria

Interview with Barbara Walters (7 Dec. 2011) on the military escalation of the Syrian conflict

Abraham Lincoln photo

“Now, in my view of the present aspect of affairs, there is no need of bloodshed and war. There is no necessity for it. I am not in favor of such a course, and I may say in advance, there will be no blood shed unless it be forced' upon the Government. The Government will not use force unless force is used against it.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

Source: 1860s, Speech in Independence Hall (1861)

Henry David Thoreau photo

“I was not born to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion. Let us see who is the strongest.”

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist

Source: On the Duty of Civil Disobedience

Marcel Duchamp photo

“I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own tastes.”

Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968) French painter and sculptor

Quote by Harriet & Sidney Janis in 'Marchel Duchamp: Anti-Artist' in View magazine 3/21/45; reprinted in Robert Motherwell, Dada Painters and Poets (1951)
1921 - 1950
Variant: I force myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste.

Harrison Ford photo

“I don't think I have something that's pronounceable as a philosophy. … When it was fashionable to say, "May the Force be with you," I always said, "Force yourself." … I'll say again then, "The Force is within you. Force yourself."”

Harrison Ford (1942) American film actor and producer

Barbara Walters interview

John McCain photo

“Make no mistake: I do not valorize our military out of some unfamiliar instinct. I grew up in a military family, and have my own record of service, and have stayed closely engaged with our armed forces throughout my public career. In the American system, the military has value only inasmuch as it protects and defends the liberties of the people.”

John McCain (1936–2018) politician from the United States

2010s, 2016, Statement regarding the Khan family (1 August 2016)

“I had no doubts as to the correctness of my own beliefs, that human nature could be altered, that man could be forced to evolve morally.”

Roger Zelazny book Today We Choose Faces

Part 2, Chapter 9 (p. 147)
Today We Choose Faces (1973)

Buckminster Fuller photo

“Don't fight forces, use them.”

Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983) American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor and futurist

In Shelter (May 1932), 2 No. 4, 36, and (Nov 1932) No. 5, 108. Cited in Richard Buckminster Fuller, Joachim Krausse (ed.) and Claude Lichtenstein (ed.), Your Private Sky: Discourse (2001), 17; sometimes quoted or paraphrased as "Don't oppose forces, use them."
1920s–1950s

H. D. Deve Gowda photo

“I don't want to make general remarks. I don't want to make sweeping remarks about the media. In my country the media can play its own role. Freedom of press is there. It is for them to take their own views about the leaders.”

H. D. Deve Gowda (1933) Indian politician

Source: R R Nair The Rediff Election Interview/H D Deve Gowda http://www.rediff.com/news/1998/feb/02gowd.htm, rediff.com, 2 February 1998

“I am in favor of Iran, and all Arab Muslim countries, having nuclear energy both for peaceful and military purposes, because Allah said to us: "Prepare against them all the force you can.”

Hamza Mansoor

Jordanian Islamist Leader Hamza Mansour: All Arab and Islamic Countries Should Have Nuclear Bombs to Deter the U.S. and Israel http://www.memritv.org/Transcript.asp?P1=1161 May 2006.

Related topics