The mantra from the Obama State Department is 'smart power' - the not-so-new idea that all elements of national power should be utilized to influence other countries.

The U.S. should support the Nigerian government to stay in Sierra Leone under the ECOMOG umbrella. The U.S. should also support other countries, including Ghana, in ECOMOG until stability is established.

Our State Department is often wrong and timid.

The idea of being in the State Department was exciting. On the other hand, I always had in the back of my mind going into politics. If I stayed in Washington, I might end up a government hack.

I was a devil in other countries, and I was a little devil in America, too.

To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.