We should not be surprised that democracy is imperfect even in Western countries.
From Richard Holbrooke
I think history is continuous. It doesn't begin or end on Pearl Harbor Day or the day Lyndon Johnson withdraws from the presidency or on 9/11. You have to learn from the past but not be imprisoned by it. You need to take counsel of history but never be imprisoned by it.
I'm a product of the Kennedy era. Kennedy's Inaugural plus the accident of Dean Rusk brought me into the government. Those were my values.
You have to test your hypothesis against other theories. Certainty in the face of complex situations is very dangerous.
The World War II generation believed the United States could do anything - anything... And Vietnam was a shattering experience for everyone.
I still believe in the possibility of the United States, with all its will and all its strength, and I don't just mean military, persevering against any challenge. I still believe in that.
Our enemy is Al Qaeda and its allies, people who have publicly said they wish to attack the United States again, people who have publicly called on nuclear physicists and engineers to help them gain access to nuclear weapons, which, as the whole world knows, Pakistan has.
By the way, if you do your job on behalf of your country, you have meetings where you put your position forward strongly, and the other side does the same thing. And I've had plenty of meetings in my career that really were heated, people yelling at each other.
A peace deal requires agreements, and you don't make agreements with your friends, you make agreements with your enemies.
Nothing generates more heat in the government than the question of who is chosen to participate in important meetings.
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