Listening to both sides does not necessarily bring about a correct judgment.

Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war.

The dead-enders are still with us, those remnants of the defeated regimes who'll go on fighting long after their cause is lost.

To gain support in U.S. Congress and from other nations requires clarity, an acceptable mission and an explicit outcome.

The United States, as all you know, did not come to Iraq for oil, not to occupy. We came here only to help.

Plan backwards as well as forward. Set objectives and trace back to see how to achieve them. You may find that no path can get you there. Plan forward to see where your steps will take you, which may not be clear or intuitive.

I tend over the years to have developed a certain hesitancy about believing that headlines tell the whole story.