As long as we're here, we are the occupying power. It's a very ugly word, but it's true.

We're going to be on the ground in Iraq as soldiers and citizens for years. We're going to be running a colony almost.

I think the Iraqi people have shown extraordinary patience and courage in the last few months. They have really put a political system on the way to success, to a real democracy here.

I think what we've learned is that the terrorist threat is serious, but it shifts. You cannot make a single person the sole focus of your counterterrorism.

I think we Americans, of all people, understand the importance of a good, legal, constitutional framework as the basis of political life.

As long as we're here, we are the occupying power. It's a very ugly word, but it's true.

Saddam spent 35 years stealing and wasting money, and all of these systems are very fragile and brittle, and you try to fix one thing and something else gets in trouble.