Quote

It is unknowable how long that conflict [the war in Iraq] will last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months.

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
Last
Six
War
Iraq
Long
Conflict
Months
Week
Doubt
Days
Unknowable
Lasts
Weeks

More quotes by Donald Rumsfeld

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Most US presidents since World War II have led military actions without a declaration of war by Congress, though most, if not all, have properly consulted and sought support from Congress. That is the wise thing to do.
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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.
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Every country should be tired of going to war. War is a terrible thing. If I had been in Congress, as much as I would be inclined naturally to be supportive of a president, any president, I would have voted no, had the issue come to a vote.
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I don't know anybody that I can think of who has contended that the Iraqis had nuclear weapons.
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Congress, the press, and the bureaucracy too often focus on how much money or effort is spent, rather than whether the money or effort actually achieves the announced goal.
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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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Leave the President's family business to him. You will have plenty to do without trying to manage the First Family. They are likely to do fine without your help.
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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.
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Imagine, a September 11 with weapons of mass destruction. It's not 3,000. It's tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children.
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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.
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The Cold War was a war, and we won it.
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Work continuously to trim the White House staff from your first day to your last. All the pressures are to the contrary.
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I tend over the years to have developed a certain hesitancy about believing that headlines tell the whole story.
Donald Rumsfeld
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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.
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Don't automatically obey Presidential directives if you disagree or if you suspect he hasn't considered key aspects of the issue.
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It is very difficult to spend federal (the taxpayers') dollars so that the intended result is achieved.
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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.
Donald Rumsfeld
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Freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things.
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I don't believe anyone that I know in the administration ever said that Iraq had nuclear weapons.
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Many people around the President have sizeable egos before entering government, some with good reason. Their new positions will do little to moderate their egos.
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