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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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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.
Arrogance
Measure
Cold
Democracy
Wrong
War
Headedness
Totalitarianism
Declare

More quotes by 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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Then came the hostage crisis during which Carter did nothing to rattle the ayatollahs who hung tough until Ronald Reagan was inaugurated, when they suddenly backed down.
Alexander Haig
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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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You know, it's very clear, as one looks back on history again of the Cold War that, following the crisis in Cuba, following the Khrushchev - beating down of Jack Kennedy in Vienna, that President Kennedy believed that we had to join the battle for the Third World, and the next crisis that developed in that regards was Vietnam.
Alexander Haig
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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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You have to look at the history of the Middle East in particular. It has been one of failure and frustration, of feudalism and tribalism.
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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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.
Alexander Haig
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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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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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I probably carry more scar tissue on my derrière than any other candidate-that's political scar tissue.
Alexander Haig
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Propaganda was an important arm of the Soviet diplomacy, very important.
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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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
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I am in control here, in the White House.
Alexander Haig
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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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That's not a lie, it's a terminological inexactitude.
Alexander Haig
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Let them march all they want, as long as they continue to pay their taxes.
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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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