My point was that removing Saddam should not have been our highest priority. Fighting terrorism should have been our number one concern, followed by the Palestinian peace process.

Who is the guarantor, if there is one, of a more stable world? It's the United States.

The UN could help the Iraqi government get on its feet and help the United States withdraw a bit more.

America wants to work with friends, with allies, with people of good will, to make this a better world.

We believe we are creating the beginning of a new world order coming out of the collapse of the US-Soviet antagonisms.

But the central point is that any campaign against Iraq, whatever the strategy, cost and risks, is certain to divert us for some indefinite period from our war on terrorism.

Much of what we know about mathematics and trade comes from the Arabs. Then came stagnation, and now they're the West's whipping boy. This is a problem that cannot be solved overnight, and certainly not militarily.