oderint dum metuant -

Kiesling later asks: "Has "oderint dum metuant" really become our motto?"

This phrase, now quoted regularly among the most militant denizens in the White House, means, "Let them hate us so long as they fear us." It was penned by Lucius Accius, the Roman poet (170 B.C.), and was said to be a favorite phrase of the emperor Caligula.

That's the passage that stood out the most when I read: Colin Powell Should Make An Honorable Exit.