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Preserve the President's options. He may need them.

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
Options
Preserve
Preserves
President
May
Need
Needs
Hype

More quotes by Donald Rumsfeld

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Keep your sense of humor. As General Joe Stillwell said, 'The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of his behind'.
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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
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The purpose of terrorism is to terrorize. It's to change the behavior of the people that are being terrorized.
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What is needed [to combat terrorism], in my view, is resolve, not retreat courage, not concession. Rather than thinking in terms of an exit strategy, focus on a strategy for success.
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[on Osama bin Laden] He is either alive and well or alive and not too well or not alive.
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I tend over the years to have developed a certain hesitancy about believing that headlines tell the whole story.
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I'm glad you asked. It has nothing to do with oil, literally nothing to do with oil.
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Napoleon was asked, Who do you consider to be the greatest generals? He responded saying, The victors.
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When you raise issues with the President, try to come away with both that decision and also a precedent. Pose issues so as to evoke broader policy guidance. This can help to answer a range of similar issues likely to arise later.
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It is easier to get into something than to get out of it.
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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.
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Remember where you came from.
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If you look ahead 10 years, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the people of Russia had become fans of missile defence.
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Any country on the face of the Earth with an active intelligence program knows that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.
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The reality is that [Barack] Obama has some 15 countries in the current Libya coalition. President Bush put together close to 50 countries for the Afghan coalition, some 40 countries for the Iraqi coalition, more than 90 countries for the Proliferation Security Initiative and over 90 countries in the Global War on Terror.
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You can have a broad popular democracy movement and have it end being taken over by the most vicious people and the result is you don't end up with free political systems or free economic systems, you end up with a handful of radicals controlling the country.
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If a person is determined to fight to the death, then they may very well have that opportunity.
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Secretary Powell and I agree on every single issue that has ever been before this administration except for those instances where Colin's still learning.
Donald Rumsfeld
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A terrorist can attack any time, any place using any technique and you can't defend everywhere against every technique at every moment.
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The Cold War was a war, and we won it.
Donald Rumsfeld