The bottom line is that we've had enormous successes (in Iraq) and we will continue to have enormous successes.

We were trying to get all of the planes down out of the sky. And we watched as the towers of the World Trade Center collapsed - something no one expected and anticipated. And you could sit there and see and be aware that thousands of people were at that moment being killed as a result of the terrorist attacks that struck the United States.

The good Lord didn't see fit to put oil and gas only where there are democratic regimes friendly to the United States.

I can't think of a time when we've had a region emerge as suddenly to become as strategically significant as the Caspian.

As I think about the future, I'm back where most people live their lives. Which is, death is not imminent, and that's different.

My own belief is that the way we grow the economy, create jobs, create wealth is in the private sector. The government doesn't do that.

I got to be White House chief of staff, ten years of congressman, secretary of defense, vice-president. If you're a political junkie like I obviously am - that was - every one of those was just a tremendous experience. I'm very comfortable with what I did and why I did it and how I did it. And I'll let others judge whether they liked it or not.