The U.S. is not constructing a palatial embassy, by far the largest in the world and virtually a separate city within Baghdad, and pouring money into military bases, with the intention of leaving Iraq to Iraqis.

Our combat mission is ending, but our commitment to Iraq’s future is not.

Putin goes to bed at night knowing he can break all the rules, and the West will follow all the rules.

I sent American troops to Iraq to make its people free, not to make them American. Iraqis will write their own history and find their own way.

War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means.

Saddam’s goal is to achieve the lifting of U.N. sanctions while retaining and enhancing Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction programs. We cannot, we must not and we will not let him succeed.

A lot of people think international relations is like a game of chess. But it’s not a game of chess, where people sit quietly, thinking out their strategy, taking their time between moves. It’s more like a game of billiards, with a bunch of balls clustered together.

Immediately after 11 September, the U.S. closed down the Somali charitable network Al-Barakaat on grounds that it was financing terror. This achievement was hailed one of the great successes of the ‚war on terror.‘ In contrast, Washington’s withdrawal of its charges as without merit a year later aroused little notice.

I’m doing more of my U.N. work and doing the African Union Summit and things like that.

The U.S. has the most dysfunctional healthcare system in the industrial world, has about twice the per capita costs, and some of the worst outcomes. It’s also the only privatized system.

We can not play innocents abroad in a world that is not innocent.

Israel is a pretty crazy state.

When we build, let us think that we build for ever.

Senator McCain is Israel’s most unconditional ally in Mossad’s machinations, something that even his worst adversaries would have been able to imagine. McCain participated alongside this secret service in the creation of the Islamic State, which has appropriated a considerable part of Iraq as well as a third of Syria, according to its affirmations.

China and the U.S. need each other very badly. Yes, we should argue about some things, but it’s not an ‚us versus them,‘ it’s an ‚us and them‘ type scenario.

Most foreign policies that history has marked highly, in whatever country, have been originated by leaders who were opposed by experts.

Is the Iranian record of intervention and terror worse than that of the U.S.?

Putin sought to keep Ukraine weak through corruption.

Iraq is no diversion. It is a place where civilization is taking a decisive stand against chaos and terror, we must not waver.

When we are sick, we want an uncommon doctor; when we have a construction job to do, we want an uncommon engineer, and when we are at war, we want an uncommon general. It is only when we get into politics that we are satisfied with the common man.

There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.

I hope I’m wrong, but I am afraid that Iraq is going to turn out to be the greatest disaster in American foreign policy – worse than Vietnam, not in the number who died, but in terms of its unintended consequences and its reverberation throughout the region.

I believe mutual respect for one another and cooperation should be the basis for relationships with foreign nations.

Our priority is to go after ISIL. And so what we have said is that we are not engaging in a military action against the Syrian regime. We are going after ISIL facilities and personnel who are using Syria as a safe haven, in service of our strategy in Iraq.

No matter how hard we might wish, we will not be able to transform China’s behavior overnight.

The United States prefers that Iraq meet its obligations voluntarily, yet we are prepared for the alternative.

This was not an act of terrorism, but it was an act of war.

In America, there’s a failure to appreciate Europe’s leading role in the world.

In November 2007, the White House issued a Declaration of Principles demanding that U.S. forces must remain indefinitely in Iraq and committing Iraq to privilege American investors.

I used to wish there was a useful term for those of us who thought American power should be used to remove psychopathic dictators.

Other than being crazy enough to press a button, there is nothing that Putin can do militarily to fundamentally alter American interests.

The once all-powerful ruler of Iraq was found in a hole, and now sits in a prison cell.

I think it is important for Europe to understand that even though I am president and George Bush is not president, Al Qaeda is still a threat.

Law is always better than war.

In a world of complex threats, our security and leadership depends on all elements of our power – including strong and principled diplomacy.

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

The many questions about the bombing of Yugoslavia by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation – meaning primarily the United States – come down to two fundamental issues: ‚What are the accepted and applicable ‚rules of world order,‘ and how do these apply in the case of Kosovo?‘

The truth of the matter is that Iran is a cancer.

We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe.

I’ve never seen America as an imperialist or colonialist or meddling country.

The United States is supplying the most modern and sophisticated weaponry to Israel to the tune of billions of dollars every year.

We prefer world law in the age of self-determination to world war in the age of mass extermination.

The lyrics are constructed as empirically as the music. I don’t set out to say anything very important.

Fifty years of isolating Cuba had failed to promote democracy, setting us back in Latin America. That’s why we restored diplomatic relations, opened the door to travel and commerce, and positioned ourselves to improve the lives of the Cuban people.

Clothes if they are not well cut, you can kill nobody. A building poorly built can kill people. It’s a much more difficult work. I would not compare myself with that.

Some have argued that confronting the threat from Iraq could detract from the war against terror. To the contrary, confronting the threat posed by Iraq is crucial to winning the war on terror.

Foreign policy is like human relations, only people know less about each other.

I think, under President Obama, who was a really bright guy – I didn’t agree with a lot of his politics – but we got to the point internationally where our friends didn’t trust us. They were confused. And our enemies didn’t quite respect us.

Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terrorism have reduced the pace of military transformation and have revealed our lack of preparation for defensive and stability operations. This Administration has overextended our military.

When Rumsfeld gets up on television and says we have definitive intelligence that al Qaeda is working with Iraq, how is an ordinary citizen supposed to react? They won’t tell you the evidence, and when anyone asks, they say, ‚Well, you know: It’s secret.‘

The Washington leadership has put aside non-proliferation programmes and devoted its energies and resources to driving the country to war by extraordinary deceit, then trying to manage the catastrophe it created in Iraq.

The idea that putting Americans ‚first‘ requires a withdrawal from the world is simply wrongheaded because a retreat would achieve exactly the opposite for our citizens.

For a sitting U.S. president to see our allies as freeloaders is nuts.

No nation should threaten its neighbors by massing troops along the border.

I have always seen the United States as a force of good. And I have learned that there is the idealistic part about what we can do at the U.N. and there is a doable part. And I have learned what is more doable.

When I was 18, I went to the Soviet Union. I kept hearing that America was planning to bomb them – lots of bombs were going to come down on these people. I went there not knowing anything, except that I thought the whole thing was stupid and that I wanted to see who these people were that we were going to bomb.

When you decide to get involved in a military operation in a place like Syria, you’ve got to be prepared, as we learned from Iraq and Afghanistan, to become the government, and I’m not sure any country, either the United States or I don’t hear of anyone else, who’s willing to take on that responsibility.

In 1949, China declared independence – an event known in Western discourse as ‚the loss of China‘ in the U.S. – with bitter recriminations and conflict over who was responsible for that loss.

The U.S. has strategic and economic interests in Southeast Asia that must be secured. Holding Indochina is essential to securing these interests. Therefore, we must hold Indochina.

While the Chinese people, as a rule, are good people, my business dealings with Communist Chinese officials have left me disturbed and concerned about the rise of the Chinese Empire.

When George W. Bush came into office, North Korea had maybe one nuclear weapon and verifiably wasn’t producing any more.