If You're Really Concerned About Deficits, You

It's Harder To End A War Than Begin One. Indeed, Everything That American Troops Have Done In Iraq -- All The Fighting And All The Dying, The Bleeding And The Building, And The Training And The Partnering -- All Of It Has Led To This Moment Of Success. Now, Iraq Is Not A Perfect Place. It Has Many Challenges Ahead. But We're Leaving Behind A Sovereign, Stable And Self-reliant Iraq, With A Representative Government That Was Elected By Its People. We're Building A New Partnership Between Our Nations.

Whatever Decisions I Make Are Going To Be Based First On A Strategy To Keep Us Safe And Then We'll Figure Out How To Resource It.

But What I Would Say To My Successor Is That It Is Important Not Just To Shoot But To Aim. And It Is Important, In This Seat, To Make Sure That You're Making Your Best Judgments Based On Data, Intelligence, The Information That's Coming From Your Commanders And Folks On The Ground And You're Not Being Swayed By Politics.

Some May Still Deny The Overwhelming Judgment Of Science.

People Are Less Certain Of Their National Identities Or Their Place In The World. It Starts Looking Different And Disorienting. And There Is No Doubt That That Has Produced Populist Movements Both From The Left And From The Right In Many Countries In Europe.