I was lucky enough to lead a very successful war.

I'm not a politician. I'd make a lousy politician.

If Saddam were to be replaced tomorrow he would probably be replaced with someone who's just as bad or worse than he is.

It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle.

It's nice to feel that you have a purpose.

Had we taken all of Iraq, we would have been like a dinosaur in the tar pit - we would still be there, and we, not the United Nations, would be bearing the costs of that occupation.

But I would defy anyone to go back over the years and tell me anyone whose career I've ruined, anyone whom I've driven out of the service, anyone I've fired from a job.

Had the United States and the United Kingdom gone on alone to capture Baghdad, under the provisions of the Geneva and Hague conventions we would have been considered occupying powers and therefore would have been responsible for all the costs of maintaining or restoring government, education and other services for the people of Iraq.

If it had been our intention to take Iraq, if it had been our intention to destroy the country, if it had been our intention to overrun the country, we could have done it unopposed.

Particularly when you're dealing with very high ranking people, you know, you have to get their attention, they are used to, by their rank, of having their own way and doing their own thing and when it's necessary to all work together on something, sometimes you have to hit the mule between the eyes of the two by four to get its attention.

Well, unfortunately, I have always regretted the fact that I have a temper, but I also have, you know, have great love and respect for all of the people that have worked for me. I think like everything else, this is one of those things that has been blown out of proportion.

It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.

You learn far more from negative leadership than from positive leadership. Because you learn how not to do it. And, therefore, you learn how to do it.

Going to war without France is like going hunting without an accordion.

True courage is being afraid, and going ahead and doing your job anyhow, that's what courage is.

Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.

Any soldier worth his salt should be antiwar. And still there are things worth fighting for.

The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.

A professional soldier understands that war means killing people, war means maiming people, war means families left without fathers and mothers.

As far as Saddam Hussein being a great military strategist, he is neither a strategist, nor is he schooled in the operational arts, nor is he a tactician, nor is he a general, nor is he a soldier. Other than that, he's a great military man, I want you to know that.