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

I don't believe anyone that I know in the administration ever said that Iraq had nuclear weapons.

Any country on the face of the Earth with an active intelligence program knows that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.

Look for what's missing. Many advisors can tell a President how to improve what's proposed or what's gone amiss. Few are able to see what isn't there.

What is the value of having millions of people in Iraq not having a repressive regime? What is the value of having the Iraqi regime not shooting at UK and US aircraft almost every day? What is the value of the Iraqis having a free press? What is the value of the foreign minister of Iraq going to Paris, calling for an end of the Gadhafi regime and citing Iraq as a model, as an example, that in fact a freer political system can exist in that part of the world?

It is easier to get into something than to get out of it.

The Federal Government should be the last resort, not the first. Ask if a potential program is truly a federal responsibility or whether it can better be handled privately, by voluntary organizations, or by local or state governments.