I shall stand for freedom of thought and expression in a place where it has been trampled and penalized.

Democracies, unlike dictatorships, are forgiving and generous, but they cannot survive unless they fight.

As president of Iraq, I shall strive to represent the diversity of a country that has too often in the past denied difference.

Rather, it is through conciliation and compromise that we are building a fair Iraq, a just state for all its peoples.

The Kurdish people have the right of self-determination like every other nation in the world.

I shall stand for freedom of thought and expression in a place where it has been trampled and penalized.

Wishful thinking is one thing, and reality another.