I'm a terrible long-term planner.

I think it's very humble to believe that there is no man, woman or child who should live in tyranny. That people who say, well, maybe Arabs just aren't ready for democracy or maybe Africans just are going to have corrupt governments, that seems to me arrogant.

Our effort to build stability through authoritarians in the Middle East for 60 years had given us neither democracy nor stability.

But in terms of Saddam Hussein being there, let's remember that his country is divided, in effect. He does not control the northern part of his country. We are able to keep arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt.

Now, al Qaeda's on the run. Afghanistan is no longer a base of operations. The Afghan government is a friendly government that is trying to bring democracy to its people.

Your passion may be hard to spot, so keep an open mind and keep searching.

If the strong exploit the weak, democracy will not be stable.