We all hoped in 2001 that we could put in place an Afghan government under President Karzai that would be able to control the country, make sure al-Qaeda didn't come back, and make sure the Taliban wasn't resurging. It didn't work out.

We view Egypt as a good friend of America. We are in constant touch with them. We provide them economic and military assistance as part of our relationship.

If you are black, if you are Puerto Rican or Hispanic, be proud of that. But don't let it become a problem. Let it become somebody else's problem.

With respect to our friends in the [Iraq] region, each has its own system, each will have to make its own judgment as to whether it will change, how fast it will change, and we hope that we can help influence them as to how change comes about and what change might be better for them than other forms of change.

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.

Sometimes what my analytical mind says to me is not what I'll do.

Politics is not bean bags. It's serious, tough stuff.