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

First of all, I think the Saudis are deeply concerned about the collapse of negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians and the resumption of conflict.

Democracy doesn't just consist of holding elections.

After all, we didn't bring democracy to Germany in 1945; Hitler destroyed democracy there first.

Saddam's ouster will not necessarily lead to the same result, since Iraq lacks democratic traditions. Democracy doesn't just consist of holding elections.

To sum up, the position we took was that since we didn't know the internal situation in Iraq nor Saddam Hussein, that our best bet was to take counsel from the people who did know him and who did deal with him.

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