He said in 2014 that the idea that there was ever a moderate opposition "in a position to suddenly overturn not only Assad but also ruthless, highly trained jihadists if we just sent a few arms is a fantasy.
Andy was ruthless with his training.
So serious is the threat, and so ruthless the poachers, that training the teams that now patrol the conservancy is a former sergeant-major in the SAS who only recently left the regiment after 27 years' service.
It was Bolt who nicknamed him the Beast, because Blake trains with ruthless purpose.
In his earlier novels "The Tourist" and "The Nearest Exit," Steinhauer introduced the Department of Tourism, a small, highly trained, perfectly ruthless black-ops cell within the C.I.A. responsible for doing the agency's dirtiest work.
From the start, a rallying cry has been a demand that the army kill or capture Taliban leaders, a ruthless group of highly trained fighters, some with links to Al Qaeda.
"The next block of training will be ruthless and hard, and we will scrutinise each other and test ourselves and try to get every little piece of technique and physical training done to the very best of our ability - and we will need to do that to win.
It was widely feared that the kingdom faced an implacable enemy, a ruthless international conspiracy whose leaders trained and then dispatched abroad fanatical secret agents bent on unleashing terror.
We've got to keep working hard and making sure in training we become more ruthless and clinical because it will come from the training ground.
