America is a country that went through an extremely difficult set of circumstances out of 9/11. And we've survived it as a country, and I think we've survived it as one people. And we all ought to be concentrating on trying to make sure that we move forward as one people out of that terrible experience.

The political face of Europe is one that has said very clearly that it wants cooperation and friendship with the United States.

In light of 50 years of bondage of Eastern Europe, [invading the Soviet Union in 1948 to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons] was probably a reasonable thing to do.

Ultimately, we didn't go to Germany to create a democracy. We went to overthrow Adolf Hitler. But once a democracy was there, Germany was a much bigger supporter of and help to our national interests, both economic and security than had ever been before.

Success is not assured, but America is resolute: this is the best chance for peace we are likely to see for some years to come - and we are acting to help Israelis and Palestinians seize this chance.

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.

What you know today can affect what you do tomorrow, but not what you did yesterday.