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David Petraeus Quotes - Page 3

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The Orlando terrorist is an example of someone who was in the sights of law enforcement but never crossed the threshold from pre-criminal to criminal behavior and, thus, was not tracked adequately before this horrific act.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Behavior
Enforcement
Horrific
Law Enforcement
Orlando
Terrorist
Threshold
Adequately
Criminal
Crossed
Sights
Thus
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The word 'insurgency' had connotations that really sent a shiver down the spine of folks in Washington, in the United States - for good reason, because it means this is something much bigger than just a few terrorist cells.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Insurgency
Spine
Terrorist
Connotations
Good Reason
Sent
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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.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Car
Iraq
Loss
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But clearly, this is what this is about. It's about pushing the security bubble out. It's about rooting out every last guy, so that there's not even somebody who can fire a single, solitary RPG round from some little qalat out here.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Pushing
Solitary
Bubble
Round
Out Here
Rooting
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Leaders of the various Iraqi elements will likely have their own militias, and there will be endless rounds of brinkmanship on the road to post-Islamic State boundaries, governing structures, and distribution of power and resources.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Boundaries
Distribution
Elements
Governing
Rounds
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I do talk to individuals still in the business of tracking individuals in the homeland and abroad. A lot of them have felt that they were hanging on by their fingernails a bit in terms of tracking all the potential threats out there.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Fingernails
Homeland
Tracking
Abroad
Threats
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There [in Afghanistan] is also a growing insurgency threat from al-Qaida, the Taliban and other extremist elements, some of which comes from the tribal areas of Pakistan, as well as from the Northwest Frontier province and Baluchistan.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Elements
Growing
Pakistan
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Iran has had a very harmful effect in a variety of ways in the region... fomenting unrest to a degree in Saudi Arabia, undoubtedly in Bahrain, and definitely in Yemen with Hamas, with Lebanese Hezbollah among other activities in locations.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Arabia
Bahrain
Hamas
Iran
Lebanese
Saudi Arabia
Unrest
Variety
Yemen
Activities
Harmful
Locations
Region
Saudi
Undoubtedly
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All Americans should take great pride in the men and women serving our nation in Iraq and in the courage, determination, resilience and initiative they demonstrate each and every day. It remains the greatest of honors to soldier with them.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Courage
Determination
Initiative
Iraq
Men And Women
Pride
Remains
Resilience
Serving
Soldier
Men Women Great
Courage Men Women
All Americans
Demonstrate
Courage Women Men
Great Pride
Honors
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Beyond Iraq, I am also profoundly worried about the continuing meltdown of Syria, which is a geopolitical Chernobyl. Until it is capped, it is going to continue to spew radioactive instability and extremist ideology over the entire region.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Continuing
Extremist
Geopolitical
Ideology
Instability
Iraq
Syria
Worried
Beyond
Entire
Meltdown
Profoundly
Radioactive
Region
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When I was commander of Central Command, obviously we were very concerned about the developments in Yemen, the developments in Somalia and elsewhere, in Africa and so forth. But the al Qaeda senior leadership is under unprecedented pressure.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Leadership
Concerned
Elsewhere
Pressure
Senior
Somalia
Unprecedented
Yemen
Africa
Al
Central
Commander
Developments
Forth
Obviously
Qaeda
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The truth is that a number of us have been saying for quite some time that it was only a matter of time until someone went to a gun show, bought a military-like semi-automatic assault weapon with a large capacity magazine, and did enormous damage.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Assault
Damage
Enormous
Gun
Weapon
Magazine
Quite Some Time
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If you don't want to have to kill or capture every bad guy in the country, you have to reintegrate those who are willing to be reconciled and become part of the solution instead of a continued part of the problem. And then, above all, the resources.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Capture
Country
Guy
Resources
Want
Above
Bad Guy
Reconciled
Solution
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The biggest of the big ideas that guided the strategy during the surge was explicit recognition that the most important terrain in the campaign in Iraq was the human terrain - the people - and our most important mission was to improve their security.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Big Ideas
Explicit
Recognition
Strategy
Terrain
Surge
Campaign
Guided
Mission
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Over the last few years they have done a superb job in their fight against al-Qaida. As you may recall, our embassy in Jedda (in Saudi Arabia) was overrun some four years ago and a number of foreign workers went home because of violence against them.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Jobs
Home
Fighting
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Iran, as we have already discussed, has carried out very, very harmful activities inside Iraq. Funding, trainings, arming and, in some cases, even directing the activities of the special groups associated with the Jaish al-Mahdi and the Sadr Militia.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Iran
Iraq
Training
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During the surge in Iraq, we were able to roll back the tide of al-Qaeda and associated insurgents because we succeeded in mobilizing Iraqis - especially Sunni Arabs - to join us in fighting against the largely Sunni extremist networks in their midst.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Al Qaeda
Extremist
Midst
Surge
Arabs
Associated
Networks
Iraqis
Join
Largely
Succeeded
Sunni
Tide
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The art of coalition command - whether it is here in Afghanistan, whether it was in Iraq or in Bosnia or in Haiti - is to take the resources you are provided with, understand what the strengths and weaknesses are and to employ them to the best overall effect.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Art
Afghanistan
Bosnia
Haiti
Iraq
Resources
Weakness
Understand
Take
Coalition
Effect
Employ
Overall
Provided
Strengths
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At least from a national security standpoint, none of the problems the U.S. and U.K. face will become easier to solve if the U.K. is out of the E.U.; on the contrary, I fear that a 'Brexit' would only make our world even more dangerous and difficult to manage.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Contrary
Dangerous
Easier
Manage
National Security
Our World
Solve
Standpoint
Brexit
None
On The Contrary
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In all of our efforts, we continue to emphasize the importance of inclusivity and transparency on the part of the Afghan government and leadership, especially in linking nascent local governing institutions to the decision-making and financial resources in Kabul.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Afghan
Decision Making
Financial Resources
Governing
Importance
Transparency
Efforts
Emphasize
Linking
Nascent
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This is actually true of the overall fight against al-Qaeda and trans-national extremists, that as you put pressure on them in one location, they'll seek safe haven sanctuaries in other areas. So you do have to continue to pursue them. But they have less capability.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Al Qaeda
Capability
Location
Pursue
Safe
Safe Haven
Extremists
Haven
Seek
Overall
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There is nothing I can do to undo what I did. I can only say again how sorry I am to those I let down and then strive to go forward with a greater sense of humility and purpose, and with gratitude to those who stood with me during a very difficult chapter in my life.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Gratitude
Greater
Humility
Let Down
Purpose
Sorry
Strive
Life I Am Me
Nothing
Go
Very
Then
Me
Again
Am
Only
Who
Did
Those
Chapter
Life Me I Am
How
Down
Say
Forward
My Life
Sense
Stood
Undo
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The situation in Iraq was dire at the end of 2006, when President George W. Bush decided to implement the surge and selected me to command it. Indeed, when I returned to Baghdad in early February 2007, I found the conditions there to be even worse than I had expected.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Baghdad
Conditions
Expected
February
President George W Bush
Selected
Surge
Dire
Even Worse
George W
George W. Bush
Implement
Indeed
Returned
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In many... cases, of course, the Arab Spring has brought about instability rather than greater stability. And rather than bringing about government that is more representative and more responsive to the people, you're seeing, frankly, the opposite, or you're seeing all-out war.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Arab Spring
Cases
Greater
Instability
Seeing
Spring
Opposite
All-Out
Arab
War Government People
Bringing
Brought
Frankly
Representative
Responsive
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Needless to say, it was the greatest of privileges to serve with the selfless men and women - Iraqi and American and those of our coalition partners, civilian as well as military - who did the hard, dangerous work of the surge. There seldom was an easy period; each day was tough.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Each Day
Men And Women
Military
Partners
Selfless
Work Men Women
Surge
Civilian
Coalition
Period
Work Women Men
Iraqi
Needless
Privileges
Seldom
Serve
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Leadership is an individual sport, one that has to be fine-tuned to each of the people that reports to you. Leaders also need to provide the direction, energy, encouragement and inspiration for each person who reports directly to the leader as well as for the overall organization.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Encouragement
Leadership
Individual
Inspiration
Leader
Organization
Reports
Direction
Sport
Individual Sport
Overall
Provide
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In the 101st Airborne Division headquarters in Mosul, we had a sign on the wall. It was a question that we would ask ourselves before every new operation or policy initiative. It asked: Will this policy or operation take more bad guys off the streets than it creates by its conduct?
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Bad Guys
Division
Headquarters
Initiative
Policy
Streets
Wall
Ask
Will New More
Bad
Before
Take
Conduct
Creates
Guys
Off
Operation
Question
Sign
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I'm heartened that, for the first time, we're seeing some of the Internet Service Providers and the social media sites taking action against the Islamic State. That's the kind of initiative that can very, very much augment on an industrial scale what the government is trying to do.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Initiative
Islamic
Providers
Service Providers
Social Media
Scale
Industrial
Sites
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As we used to say when I was privileged to be the commander there, Nineveh province has the most diverse human terrain in all of Iraq - Sunni Arab majority to be sure, but also Shia Arabs, numerous Kurdish communities, and they are broken out into several different political parties.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Broken
Diverse
Political Parties
Privileged
Terrain
Arab
Commander
Communities
Numerous
Parties
Province
Sunni
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Partners from the Islamic world are of particular importance. Indeed, they have huge incentives to be involved, as the ongoing struggles are generally not clashes between civilizations. Rather, what we are seeing is more accurately a clash within a civilization: that of the Islamic world.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Clash
Importance
Incentives
Involved
Islamic
Ongoing
Particular
Partners
Accurately
Civilizations
Generally
Indeed
Islamic World
Struggles
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The progress in Iraq is still fragile. And it could still be reversed. Iraq still faces innumerable challenges, and they will be evident during what will likely be a difficult process as the newly elected Council of Representatives selects the next prime minister, president, and speaker of the council.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Challenges
Council
Evident
Faces
Iraq
President
Prime Minister
Representatives
Likely
Minister
Newly
Speaker
Reversed
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Items of interest will be located, identified, monitored, and remotely controlled through technologies such as radio-frequency identification, sensor networks, tiny embedded servers, and energy harvesters - all connected to the next-generation internet using abundant, low-cost, and high-power computing.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Technology
Computing
Connected
Controlled
Embedded
Energy
Generations
Identification
Internet
Items
Tiny
Abundant
Networks
Located
Low-Cost
Remotely
Technologies
Using
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Mubarak would meet with me when I was at Central Command. He would lean and put his hand on my knee, as if a father figure, and say, 'General, don't ever forget the Arab Street. Listen to the Arab Street.' I'd like to go to him now and say, 'Mr. President, what about that Arab Street, what's that all about?'
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Command
Father Figure
Forget
Mubarak
President
Arab
General
Mr
Central
Figure
Street
Hand
Lean
Meet
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It wasn't just Shia that would go to Tehran and see the commander of the Quds Force and others and the legitimate government leaders. It was also Kurdish leaders and Sunni Arabs who would even link up with Qassim Suleimani, the commander of the Quds Force - maybe not in Tehran but in Turkey or somewhere else.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Somewhere Else
Tehran
Arabs
Commander
Link
Sunni
Turkey
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In many respects, Afghanistan represents a more difficult problem set. It does not have a number of the blessings that Iraq has in terms of the oil, gas, land of two rivers, the human capital that Iraq built up over the years, the muscle memory of a strong government - albeit one that was corrupted over time.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Afghanistan
Gas
Rivers
Muscle
Albeit
Blessings
Capital
Corrupted
Many Respects
Respects
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President Obama has said that our aspirations should be realistic. We are not going to turn one of the poorest countries in the world, that was plunged into 30 years of war, into an advanced, industrialized, Western-style democracy. What we want to achieve is Afghanistan's capacity to secure and govern itself.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
War
Achieve
Afghanistan
Capacity
Country
Democracy
Poorest
President Obama
Realistic
Secure
Years
Obama
Advanced
Aspirations
Countries
Govern
Industrialized
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I think carpet bombing is an absolutely tremendous idea if the enemy accommodates you by laying himself out like a carpet in the middle of the desert without any civilians or infrastructure around him. Sadly, the Islamic State has learned that that is a losing proposition and does not accommodate us in that way.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Accommodate
Bombing
Carpet
Civilians
Desert
Enemy
Infrastructure
Islamic
Losing
Middle
Absolutely
Tremendous
Himself
Laying
Learned
Proposition
Sadly
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Reconciliation is what takes place, of course, at higher levels. President Karzai has been very clear about the red lines for reconciliation, accept the constitution, lay down their weapons, cut their ties with al Qaeda and essentially become productive or at least participating members of society in that regard.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Cutting
Higher
Levels
Lines
Members
Participating
President
Reconciliation
Regard
Ties
Weapons
Al
Higher Levels
Lay
Qaeda
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I've been in a position before where a president has turned to me in the Oval Office in a difficult moment, without any pleasantries, and said, 'I'm asking you as your president and Commander in Chief to take command of the international security force in Afghanistan.' The only response can be, 'Yes, Mr. President.'
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Afghanistan
Oval
Response
Mr
Chief
Commander
Difficult Moment
Oval Office
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Syria has allowed its soil to be transited by foreign fighters who have come from a variety of source countries in the Gulf area and in the - in North African countries.There are some signs that that may have been reduced somewhat in the last couple of months. We need to watch that a bit and see if that is the case.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Country
Couple
May
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The Germans have done wonderful work. Not long ago, a German battle group battalion conducted a very impressive counterinsurgency operation in a portion of Baghlan province. I think these are the first counterinsurgency operations conducted by any German element after World War II. And they did a very impressive job.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
World War Ii
German
Battalion
War Work World
Element
Group
Operation
Portion
Province
World War
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We can put a stake through the heart of Islamic State as an army. We can put a stake through the heart of its leaders. You can take away its territory. But you can't put a stake through the heart of the ideas, of the ideology, that sadly, tragically, still has some attraction for some small numbers in the Islamic faith.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Army
Attraction
Ideology
Islamic
Numbers
Territory
Sadly
Tragically
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We're here so that Afghanistan does not once again become a sanctuary for transnational extremists the way it was when al-Qaeda planned the 9/11 attacks in the Kandahar area, conducted the initial training for the attackers in training camps in Afghanistan before they moved on to Germany and then to U.S. flight schools.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Afghanistan
Al Qaeda
Camps
Flight
Germany
Moved
Sanctuary
Attacks
Extremists
Initial
Planned
Schools
Transnational
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We all have to strive to learn what motivates us, learn from our experiences, and what feels right and what feels wrong. There's a strong component over the years to having formal processes that help to identify lessons that need to be learned, and actions that need to be taken. In other words, how do you find the big idea?
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Feels
Formal
Lessons
Strive
Taken
Actions
Big Idea
Component
Experiences
Identify
In Other Words
Motivates
Processes
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The question is always how you get the number of troops needed. They do not have to be coalition forces. We also have to expand the training program for the Afghan National Army and the national police, in particular. and Defense Secretary Robert Gates has already announced support for a significant increase in the Afghan army.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Army
Numbers
Support
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There is no question that the Islamic State will be defeated in Mosul; the real question is what comes afterward. Can the post-Islamic State effort resolve the squabbling likely to arise over numerous issues and bring lasting stability to one of Iraq's most diverse and challenging provinces? Failure to do so could lead to ISIS 3.0.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Arise
Defeated
Diverse
Islamic
Lasting
Provinces
Resolve
Stability
Afterwards
No Question
Numerous
Real Question
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We're all outriders out there, and what we have is all these large number of tasks - that's the herd; that's all the cattle - a whole bunch of individual, hundreds if not thousands of projects at any given time ongoing that we're trying to complete. So we're trying to keep the cattle herd, keep it all just going in the right direction.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Cattle
Ongoing
Right Direction
Tasks
Any Given Time
Herd
Hundreds
Large Number
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Setting aside moral considerations, those who flirt with hate speech against Muslims should realize they are playing directly into the hands of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. The terrorists' explicit hope has been to try to provoke a clash of civilizations - telling Muslims that the United States is at war with them and their religion.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Al Qaeda
Clash
Explicit
Islamic
Moral
Setting
Aside
Civilizations
Considerations
Directly
Flirt
Muslims
Provoke
Telling
Terrorists
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I considered our British comrades to rank with the finest men and women of any armed service in the world. And I know that my fellow American soldiers - and those of the other coalition countries under my command - valued very highly the professional expertise, capability, courage, and determination of our British partners on the battlefield.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Capability
Determination
Expertise
Finest
Men And Women
Partners
Courage Men Women
American Soldiers
Armed
Battlefield
Coalition
Comrades
Fellow
Courage Women Men
Valued
Rank
Soldiers
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There are some ideas that will translate from Iraq to Afghanistan and there are many that will not. The first lesson of counterinsurgency, in fact, is that every situation is truly unique, has its own context, its own specific set of factors - and you have to understand that context in enormous detail to be able to craft a sound and comprehensive approach.
David Petraeus / Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Ideas
Iraq
Unique
Copy Quote

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