Al-Qaida is a chimera. There’s no organization, and there’s no country you can wage a war against. Instead, we’re waging war against an idea.
As a soldier, you do have to be brave so you can overcome your fear.
Goebbels once told me that, when it comes to propaganda, you just have to keep repeating the same thing over and over again until people can’t bear to hear it anymore – and then you say it again.
I had something that is no longer common today but played a big role back then: a strong attachment to my people and my country.
If you know what you’re doing, you might be able to stay alive when a briefcase explodes in your hand. But you really have to know what you’re doing.
Risking the lives of German soldiers is only justified when our vital interests are threatened.
Some time ago, bin Laden said: ‘The difference between us is that you love life and we love death’. I’m afraid he’s right.
Soon, wars involving lots of artillery, tanks and all those old-fashioned things won’t exist anymore.
The attempt to save millions of lives was worth it.
The real question is whether it’s right for our people to have to die so that girls can go to school in Asia. The answer to that doesn’t seem very clear to me.
There will be another Hitler some day.
You obviously have to kill when you go to war. But if you have a machine gun and I have a club, and you, being a softy, say that you don’t want to hurt me, I’m the superior one because I just want to smash your skull in.