“In the weeks prior to the war to liberate Afghanistan, a good friend of mine would ask me almost every day, “Why aren't we killing people yet?” And I never had a good answer for him. Because one of the most important and vital things the United States could do after 9/11 was to kill people. Call it a “forceful response,” “decisive action” ' whatever. Those are all nice euphemisms for killing people. And the world is a better place because America saw the necessity of putting steel beneath the velvet of those euphemisms.”
![“Some people who hated Americans set out to kill a lot of us and they succeeded [on 9/11]…We're trying to protect ourselves with more weapons. We have to do it, I guess, but it might be better if we figured out how to behave as a nation in a way that wouldn't make so many people in the world want…” quote by Andy Rooney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/701/andy-rooney-1253_behave_some-people-who-hated-americans-set-out_949280.jpg)
![“The task [in Afghanistan] is to reduce civilian casualties while still not hesitating to respond to enemies who are trying to kill our soldiers.” quote by David Petraeus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f3d/david-petraeus-11182_afghanistan_the-task-in-afghanistan-is-to-reduce-civ_2320300.jpg)
