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We didn't do anything wrong, but among the lessons learned, given the magnitude of the problems we now face in Afghanistan, a major U.S. force on the ground would convince the world we were in for the long-haul recovery of a country devastated by 21 years of warfare.

Alexander Haig

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Alexander Haig
Age: 85 †
Born: 1924
Born: December 2
Died: 2010
Died: February 20
Businessperson
Diplomat
Former United States Secretary Of State
Military Personnel
Politician
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
Alexander Meigs Haig
Jr.
Alexander Meigs Al Haig Jr.
Country
Face
Convince
Long
Wrong
Majors
Years
Faces
Major
Haul
Would
Force
Ground
Devastated
World
Given
Lessons
Magnitude
Didn
Among
Warfare
Problem
Problems
Recovery
Anything
Learned
Afghanistan

More quotes by Alexander Haig

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There are contingency plans in the NATO doctrine to fire a nuclear weapon for demonstrative purposes, to demonstrate to the other side that they are exceeding the limits of toleration in the conventional area.
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The warning message we sent the Russians was a calculated ambiguity that would be clearly understood.
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If they analyze the situation as thoroughly as they should, Muslims will realize they are the first targets. What are the fundamentalists really after? Simply taking over Islam and then turning its back on modernity.
Alexander Haig
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The world awaits Beijing's hosting of the 2008 Olympics, an occasion which will bring into the global spotlight the dramatic advances China is making in enhancing the quality of life for its people.
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Practice rather than preach. Make of your life an affirmation, defined by your ideals, not the negation of others. Dare to the level of your capability then go beyond to a higher level.
Alexander Haig
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Israel is the largest American aircraft carrier in the world that cannot be sunk, does not carry even one American soldier, and is located in a critical region for American national security.
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A durable, long-term U.S.-China strategic relationship is even more important now than in previous decades. The relationship will continue to grow and prosper to the mutual benefit of all peoples.
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Syria is a terrorist state by any definition and is so classified by the State Department. I happen to think Iran is too. Iraq, Iran, Syria, they're all involved.
Alexander Haig
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What the fundamentalists are doing is a total negation of their own faith - encouraging and lionizing suicide bombers and killing women and children, hardly in keeping with the teachings of Prophet Mohammed.
Alexander Haig
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Propaganda was an important arm of the Soviet diplomacy, very important.
Alexander Haig
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The loss of candor is grievous, and in my opinion it may yet prove to be mortal, because if we cannot discuss our problems in plain speech that describes reality, it is unlikely that we will be able to solve them.
Alexander Haig
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I think that perhaps the classic propagandists of the - in the Second World War was Winston Churchill. He was extremely skilled and adept at it.
Alexander Haig
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More often than not, Americans and Westerners overestimated the power and capability of the Soviet Union.
Alexander Haig
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Sooner or later something had to give. But President Bush, faced with the unprecedented affront of 9-11, could not wait to take action. So he had to do what we were capable of doing, and he did it brilliantly.
Alexander Haig
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Constitutionally, gentlemen, you have the president, the vice president and the secretary of state, in that order, and should the president decide he wants to transfer the helm to the vice president, he will do so. As for now, I'm in control here, in the White House.
Alexander Haig
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I started out as a Cold Warrior, even my last years in grade school.
Alexander Haig
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Prior to his takeover of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini was camping near Paris, giving daily news conferences to a fawning international press corps without a murmur of complaint to France from the United States about the disaster it was coddling in the incredibly naive liberal belief that this extremist cleric would be an improvement over the Shah.
Alexander Haig
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I am in control here, in the White House.
Alexander Haig
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To declare the Cold War over, and declare democracy has won out over totalitarianism, is a measure of arrogance and wrong-headedness.
Alexander Haig
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As I look back at the span of the Cold War in those early days, in the '50s, for example, there was a great deal of Soviet propaganda here in the United States, but it was clumsy, and it was anchored to a lot of ideological support in certain circles in America itself.
Alexander Haig