It's hard to plan and plot attacks against America if you're on the run, and that's exactly what our brave professionals are doing.

We cannot show weakness in this world today

If you say, "Are you going to change your strategic objective?", it means you're leaving before the mission is complete, and we're not going to leave before the mission in Iraq is complete.

The Iraqi regime is a threat of unique urgency. [...] It has developed weapons of mass death.

The point is, this is a way to help inoculate me about what has come and is coming.

He tried to fool the United Nations, and did for 12 years, by hiding these weapons. And so, it's going to take time to find them. But we know he had them. And whether he destroyed them, moved them, or hid them, we're going to find out the truth.

I just didn't want to get out there anymore; I didn't want to get back into what I call 'the swamp.' And the other reason why is I don't think it's good for the presidency for a former president to be opining about his successor. President Obama's got plenty of critics - and I'm just not gonna be one.