You cannot be on one hand dedicated to peace and on the other dedicated to violence. Those two things are irreconcilable.

What we're hearing from everyone is that they understand that Saddam Hussein is a threat. They understand that he's been a threat for a long time.

We still go out and elect people who we think are going to govern and better our interests. So we may not have the same confidence in the people we elect, but we still go out and elect them.

I think America is still a bright, shining city on the hill - not because we're perfect but because we struggle in our imperfections every day.

Democratic openings that come about in that way - the overthrow of a totalitarian government by external powers - it makes it really hard to make those first steps toward democracy.

And we believe that our policies toward Iraq simply are to protect the region and to protect Iraq's people and neighbors.

For 60 years, my country, the United States, pursued stability at the expense of democracy in this region, here in the Middle East, and we achieved neither.