The commander in the field is always right and the rear echelon is wrong, unless proved otherwise.

There's no doubt in my mind, though, that the Iraqi people would be better off with a different leader who did not waste their oil on weapons, as opposed to education, as opposed to healthcare, as opposed to food, as opposed to roads, as opposed to clean water. It is really sinful, a crime, what Saddam Hussein has done with the wealth of the Iraqi people over the last 30 years.

When you decide to get involved in a military operation in a place like Syria, you've got to be prepared, as we learned from Iraq and Afghanistan, to become the government, and I'm not sure any country, either the United States or I don't hear of anyone else, who's willing to take on that responsibility.

But just as they did in Philadelphia when they were writing the constitution, sooner or later, you've got to compromise. You've got to start making the compromises that arrive at a consensus and move the country forward.

There are lots of countries that are having these kinds of internal civil wars in other parts of the world and nobody is talking about intervening.

I would not presume from this distance, nor would America presume to say who should be the leader of the Iraqi nation.

I want to see policies that encourage every American to vote, not make it more difficult to vote.