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

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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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There's another way to phrase that and that is that the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. It is basically saying the same thing in a different way. Simply because you do not have evidence that something does exist does not mean that you have evidence that it doesn't exist.
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Success tends to go not to the person who is error-free, because he also tends to be risk-averse. Rather it goes to the person who recognizes that life is pretty much a percentage business. It isn't making mistakes that's critical it's correcting them and getting on with the principal task.
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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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The natural state of man is to want to be free. To have opportunities. To have choices.
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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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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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It is easier to get into something than to get out of it.
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Remember where you came from.
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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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We'll have to deal with the networks. One of the ways to do that is to drain the swamp they live in. And that means dealing not only with the terrorists, but those who harbor terrorists. This will take a long, sustained effort. It will require the support of the American people as well as our friends and allies around the world.
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Control your own time. Don't let it be done for you. If you are working off the in-box that is fed you, you are probably working on the priority of others.
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Listening to both sides does not necessarily bring about a correct judgment.
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We know where they are. They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad.
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Never assume the other fellow will not do something you wouldn't do.
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The Cold War was a war, and we won it.
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In our system leadership is by consent, not command. To lead a President must persuade. Personal contacts and experiences help shape his thinking. They can be critical to his persuasiveness and thus to his leadership.
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