That's what's terrible about wars when whole societies adopt an impulse of objectification. Everything becomes black and white.

I don't think we would have had to be an occupying power if we had done the right thing in 1991.

I think it's deeply important for us to know, especially when we come from the outside, how "ordinary people" think and feel and what their expectations are and what their concerns are. Also what's in their imaginations, what's in their minds, even what their rumors are and what their gossip is.

That's what's terrible about wars when whole societies adopt an impulse of objectification. Everything becomes black and white.

Life has become terribly insecure. It's on the vortex of civil war. It's difficult to know how America will bring it back from the brink and build up good will.

War is just what we do. Yet, of course, the effects of it are repeatedly deeper, then deeper, then deeper.

It is important to know how influential people think and perceive their countrymen, let's say, especially when you are talking about people in power. I think it can be very revealing how they regard themselves and their relationship or their responsibility to their countrymen. That is vital for us all to know and in order to be able to judge them and evaluate them.