I don't think people who would believe in an Almighty God would slit somebody's throat, just like that. I believe that they use religion as a justification for their ideology. But I don't view killers as truly religious people.

I learned it's real hard to put people into combat. The consequences of war are death. That's hard. I realize that the decisions I have made have put people in harm's way. It's just a hard part of the job, even when you know you're right [emphasis added].

Had we had to do [the war in Iraq] over again, we would look at the consequences of catastrophic success—being so successful so fast that an enemy that should have surrendered or been done in escaped and lived to fight another day. I couldn't have sat down and said to you, By the way, we're going to be so victorious so quickly that we'll end up having to fight another third of the Baathists over the next year in order to bring liberty to the country.