Stephen J. Hadley: “The Middle East is a safer place when the United States is clear and consistent in its intentions.”

What I am troubled by is that if we make ultimately an accommodation with Assad, we send the message to the world that if you are brutal enough with your own people and kill enough of them, the international community will let you stay in…

The president made it very clear it's going to be hard, and there's no assurance for success. The president believes his strategy has a prospect for success. It's going to be hard, the NIE says that. The president has said that.

An American withdrawal or stepping back right now would be a prescription for fast failure and chaos that would envelope not only Iraq but also the region.

We need to get our economy growing.