We develop sentiments that we are only going to work with people like us. But you don't build up a nation by working with people like you. You overcome a history of conflict by reaching out to people very much unlike you.

President Truman made his name by looking into contracting. And that's how integrity within the military procurement started in the United States.

Organizations are accumulations of historical debris. They are not consciously thought. So when you ask the Education Ministry ‘What's your core function and who's your client?' they laugh at you. When I say that the client is the Afghan child - and the Ministry is an instrument, not the goal - it's greeted with shock. It's a new idea."

We must focus on our biggest enemy, poverty. There is no single-state solution to it, and that is a noble goal.

I'm someone who's seen firsthand the effects of gun violence. I've had to carry a gun to do my job in the war. And I know as well as anyone that this violence has no place on our streets, in our schools, in our concerts, so we've got to do something about it.

Claiming that Social Security benefits are safe may sound naive, but my view is actually quite cynical. I believe that as long as the elderly continue to vote in large numbers, no Congress will renege on promised payouts for those already eligible to receive benefits.

War is regarded as nothing but the continuation of state policy with other means.

Since the civil war in Laos was resumed in earnest in 1963, American participation has been veiled in secrecy.