One of the things that ultimately led me to leave mathematics and go into political science was thinking I could prevent nuclear war.

I mean, we're going to probably debate the Iraq war for at least as long as I'm alive.

That sense of what happened in Europe in World War II has shaped a lot of my views.

It's hard to conceive that it would take more forces to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq than it would take to conduct the war itself and secure the surrender of Saddam's security forces and his army. Hard to imagine.

We did not go to war in Afghanistan or in Iraq to, quote, 'impose democracy.' We went to war in both places because we saw those regimes as a threat to the United States.

There's a lot of money to pay for this ... the oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years...We're dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon.