Every Civilian's Death Diminishes Us, Collectively.

Every Civilian's Death Diminishes Us, Collectively.

The Job Of The Leader Is To Get The Big Ideas Right.

First And Foremost Is To Not Allow The Reestablishment, If You Will, Of An Extremist Sanctuary That Can Export The Kind Of Terror That Ended Up With Terrorists Taking Down The World Trade Center And Plowing Into The Pentagon And A Field In Pennsylvania. That's The Point: We Started This War Because The Sept. 11 Attack Came From This Area. And We Do Not Fight Alone, But With Some 40 Allies Who Share That View.

There Has, Indeed, Been Very Substantial Progress In Iraq Over The Past Year - Violence Is Down By 80 Percent, Civilian Deaths By About The Same, And So On.

We Obviously Don't Want To Cause Problems For The Afghan Government, President Hamid Karzai And The Afghan People. In Fact, We Want Them To Support Our Efforts On Their Behalf And Not See Us As Unwelcome Occupiers.