I'm not sure leaders listen enough, especially to their people. And I've always thought in everything I've tried to do in my life, in the jobs I've had, is that if we can turn our transmitters off and our receivers on more often, we're better leaders and we know more of what is going on and therefore we can lead more effectively.

I have never believed you go to war in Iraq, you go to war in Afghanistan, and believe that you can deal with those battlefields, those countries, in microcosms, or narrow channels.

I’m a United States senator. I’m not an Israeli senator.

Engagement is not appeasement. Engagement is not surrender.

This current government in Iraq has never fulfilled the commitments it made to form a unity government with the Kurds, the Sunnis and the Shia. We have worked hard with them within the confines of our ability to do that but we can't dictate to them.

Peace comes through dealing with people. Peace doesn't come at the end of a bayonet or the end of a gun.

Alliances and international organizations should be understood as opportunities for leadership and a means to expand our influence, not as constraints on our power.