It was President [Bill] Clinton and the United States congress in 1998 which said that the regime has to be changed because the regime would not give up its weapons of mass destruction. We came into office in 2001 and kept that policy because Saddam Hussein had not changed.

Bad news isn't wine. It doesn't improve with age.

War should be the politics of last resort. And when we go to war, we should have a purpose that our people understand and support.

Ambition and hatred are enough to bring Iraq and al Qaeda together.

What could be more important than equipping the next generation with the character and competence they need to become successful

I'm going to be bringing people into the public diplomacy function of the department who are going to change from just selling us in the old USIA way to really branding foreign policy, branding the department, marketing the department, marketing American values to the world and not just putting out pamphlets.

Thee are such horrible weapons. And so no sane leader would ever want to cross that line to using nuclear weapons. And, if you are not going to cross that line, then these things are basically useless.