“My conviction comes down to this: we do not create terrorism by fighting the terrorists. We invite terrorism by ignoring them.”
2000s, 2005, Address to the Nation on Iraqi Elections (December 2005)
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George W. Bush 675
43rd President of the United States 1946Related quotes
On the September 11, 2001 attacks, in CNN broadcast of an interview http://edition.cnn.com/interactive/world/0302/timeline.bin.laden.audio/content.6.html that Al-Jazeera conducted in October 2001 (31 January 2002).
2000s, 2002
2000s, 2003, A Vision for Iraq and the Iraqi people (March 2003)
“It's only terrorism if they do it to us. When we do much worse to them, it's not terrorism.”
Source: Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda
Speech at the National Press Club (2004)
Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate — The Essential Guide for Progressives (2004) as quoted in the Washington Monthly (November 2004) http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/monthly/2004_11.php
Press Conference (17 October 1987) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/106948, in answer to Alan Merrydew of BCTV News who asked what her response was "to a reported ANC statement that they will target British firms in South Africa?"
Third term as Prime Minister
“Sometimes we must fight terror with tyranny.”
This quote actually comes from Maureen Dowd's self-described "imaged text" for Bush's second inaugural revised speech titled "Bush's do-over speech" http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1683&dat=20071109&id=qycqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tkUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6193,5362144, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (9 November 2007).
Attributed, Misattributed
2000s, 2008, Address to the United Nations General Assembly (September 2008)
Context: In the decades ahead, the United Nations and other multilateral organizations must continually confront terror. This mission requires clarity of vision. We must see the terrorists for what they are: ruthless extremists who exploit the desperate, subvert the tenets of a great religion, and seek to impose their will on as many people as possible. Some suggest that these men would pose less of a threat if we'd only leave them alone. Yet their leaders make clear that no concession could ever satisfy their ambitions. Bringing the terrorists to justice does not create terrorism; it's the best way to protect our people.