Wishful thinking is one thing, and reality another.
Jalal Talabani
Conciliation is not capitulation, nor is compromise to be deemed equivalent to imbalanced concession.
The justice of our cause must be reflected in the manner in which we rectify the crimes of the past.
Our plan is to struggle against terrorism and have security for the country and help draft a democratic constitution as soon as possible.
Rather, it is through conciliation and compromise that we are building a fair Iraq, a just state for all its peoples.
The Kurdish people have the right of self-determination like every other nation in the world.
This will be Iraq for all without discrimination among Iraqi citizens, or ethnic or sectarian discrimination.
A military coup needs a sacrifice and courage that you can't find in an army without morale.
All I wanted was to be a university teacher.
As president of Iraq, I shall strive to represent the diversity of a country that has too often in the past denied difference.
Democracies, unlike dictatorships, are forgiving and generous, but they cannot survive unless they fight.
Every human must take responsibility for his actions.
I shall stand for freedom of thought and expression in a place where it has been trampled and penalized.
Iraq is not occupied, but there are foreign forces on its soil, which is different.
Justice for the major perpetrators cannot be separated from the vindication of the rights of the individual victim.
Military confrontation is not a suitable alternative in confronting terror and current security threats.
My door will always be open to those who genuinely renounce violence and seek peaceful accommodation into our nascent democracy.
Our gratitude to the American people is immense and we should never be embarrassed to express it.
Self-determination could mean independence, confederacy, federal and autonomy.
The Kurdish people welcome the no-fly zone protection, contrary to the Iraqi regime that is against it.
We believe that an Iraqi founding national assembly, freely elected, must decide the future of Iraq.
We must provide all kinds of freedom, personal and economic, to all Iraqis. I will fight for that.
