As I Think About The

Rarely Has A U.s. President Been So Wrong About So Much At The Expense Of So Many.

Once We Got Hit By - On 9/11 And Lost 3,000 People That Day, We Recognized, And It Was One Of The Key Decisions President Bush Made, That This Is Not A Law Enforcement Problem, It Is A Strategic Threat To The United States. It's A War. And Based On That, We Then Adopted A Whole Set Of Policies That Flowed Out Of That Proposition.

I Had A Reputation Of Being Somewhat Moderate, Partly, I Think, Because I Wasn't A 'bomb Thrower' Like Some Of My Conservative Colleagues, And Partly Because I Got Along With People All Across The Political Spectrum.

I Have Not Suggested There's A Connection Between Iraq And 9/11.

After 9/11 We Were Prepared To Use Military Force. We Were Prepared To Go After Not Only The Terrorists, But Those Who Sponsor Terror And Provide Sanctuary And Safe Harbor For Them. We Were Prepared To Use Our Intelligence Assets The Way We Would Against An Enemy That Threatened The United States Itself, To Put In Place, For Example, Things Like The Terror Surveillance Program And To Have A Robust Interrogation Program On Detainees. Those Are The Acts You Take When You Feel You're At War And That The Very Existence Of The Nation Is Threatened.