The United States and Mexico are trapped - economically, culturally, politically and because of drug crime - in the same continent.

When I get a very generous introduction like that I explain that I'm emotionally moved, but on the other hand I'm Irish and the Irish are very emotionally moved. My mother is Irish and she cries during beer commercials.

At the end of the day...if your army won't fight, it's because they don't trust their incompetent, corrupt generals, they don't trust each other. This is an enduring civil war between the Shia, the Sunni, and the Kurds. So I don't think we've got any options and we'd be ill-advised to start bombing where we really can't sort out the combatants or understand where the civilian population is.

Colombia is in a risky position. They've got a peace process that's going nowhere, and a drug production problem that's skyrocketing.

We say in a democracy that good ideas will drive out bad ones, so if the good ones aren't there, we're left with the bad ones

Experience is valuable only if it's imbued with meaning from which one can draw salient conclusions. Otherwise, experience becomes imprisoning.

If you want to fight a war on drugs, sit down at your own kitchen table and talk to your own children.