After 9/11, there was an awakening. The administration has to believe that it's possible to wait too long to deal with a problem, the contours of which could have been seen easily before. Is it safe to do that again?

Sometimes the things we have to do are objectionable in the eyes of others.

Dictatorships start wars because they need external enemies to exert internal control over their own people.

Dictators must have enemies. They must have internal enemies to justify their secret police and external enemies to justify their military forces.

National sovereignty is an obligation as well as an entitlement. A government that will not perform the role of a government forfeits the rights of a government.

To stop terrorists before the strike, we must do three things: deny them entry into the country, curtail their freedom of action inside the country, and deprive them of material and moral support from within the country.