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There are known knowns there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know.
Donald Rumsfeld
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Donald Rumsfeld
Age: 88 †
Born: 1932
Born: July 9
Died: 2021
Died: June 29
Author
Businessperson
Diplomat
Former U.S. Secretary Of Defense
Military Officer
Politician
Chicago
Illinois
Donald Henry Rumsfeld
Unknowns
Unknown
Ones
Known
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Things
More quotes by Donald Rumsfeld
If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't I'll just respond cleverly.
Donald Rumsfeld
Any country on the face of the Earth with an active intelligence program knows that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.
Donald Rumsfeld
Don't automatically obey Presidential directives if you disagree or if you suspect he hasn't considered key aspects of the issue.
Donald Rumsfeld
No. That's someone else's business. Quagmire is - I don't do quagmires.
Donald Rumsfeld
First rule of politics: you can't win unless you're on the ballot. Second rule: If you run, you may lose. And, if you tie, you do not win.
Donald Rumsfeld
Our task, your task... is to try to connect the dots before something happens. People say, 'Well, where's the smoking gun?' Well, we don't want to see a smoking gun from a weapon of mass destruction.
Donald Rumsfeld
We do know that the Iraqi regime has chemical and biological weapons. His regime has amassed large, clandestine stockpiles of chemical weapons - including VX, sarin, cyclosarin and mustard gas. His regime has amassed large, clandestine stockpiles of biological weapons—including anthrax and botulism toxin, and possibly smallpox.
Donald Rumsfeld
I believe what I said yesterday. I don't know what I said, but I know what I think and I assume it's what I said.
Donald Rumsfeld
General Boykin has requested that an inspector general review this matter. And I have indicated that if that's his request, I think it's appropriate.
Donald Rumsfeld
Oh my goodness gracious, what you can buy off the Internet in terms of overhead photography. A trained ape can know an awful lot of what is going on in this world, just by punching on his mouse, for a relatively modest cost.
Donald Rumsfeld
Don't speak ill of your predecessors or successors. You didn't walk in their shoes.
Donald Rumsfeld
Have a deputy and develop a successor. Don't be consumed by the job or you'll risk losing your balance. Keep your mooring lines to the outside world - family, friends, neighbors, people out of government, and people who may not agree with you.
Donald Rumsfeld
When starting at the bottom, be willing to learn from those at the top.
Donald Rumsfeld
Inspectors do not have the duty or the ability to uncover terrible weapons hidden in a vast country. The responsibility of inspectors is simply to confirm evidence of voluntary and total disarmament. Saddam Hussein has the responsibility to provide that evidence, as directed, and in full
Donald Rumsfeld
We have an orientation that tends to make us think that everything is our responsibility and that we should be doing this. It is the Iraqis' country, 28 million of them. They are perfectly capable of running that country.
Donald Rumsfeld
Work continuously to trim the White House staff from your first day to your last. All the pressures are to the contrary.
Donald Rumsfeld
If in doubt, don't. If still in doubt, do what's right.
Donald Rumsfeld
I didn't advocate invasion...I wasn't asked.
Donald Rumsfeld
No terror state poses a greater or more immediate threat to the security of our people and the stability of the world than the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
Donald Rumsfeld
Plan backwards as well as forward. Set objectives and trace back to see how to achieve them. You may find that no path can get you there. Plan forward to see where your steps will take you, which may not be clear or intuitive.
Donald Rumsfeld
