Intelligence is not all that important in the exercise of power, and is often, in point of fact, useless.

This country cannot afford to tear itself apart on a partisan basis on issues so vital to our national security.

I had an opportunity to express my views, yes. I agreed with the approach which we took, namely, to make a distinction between the loss of life of the Chinese pilot and our military operations outside territorial waters or territorial limits.

While we should never give up our principles, we must also realize that we cannot maintain our principles unless we survive.

No country can act wisely simultaneously in every part of the globe at every moment of time.

I knew Deng Xiaoping when he came out of prison. He had, after all, been imprisoned for nearly ten years by Mao. I know what China looked like before he took over, and so in my own mind, I don't think of Deng Xiaoping as an oppressor. I think of somebody who, faced with that crisis, made a very painful and decision with which I cannot agree. But I also think of him as a great reformer.

Any international system must have two key elements for it to work. One, it has to have a certain equilibrium of power that makes overthrowing the system difficult and costly. Secondly, it has to have a sense of legitimacy.