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

More quotes by Donald Rumsfeld

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Make decisions about the President's personal security. He can overrule you, but don't ask him to be the one to counsel caution.
Donald Rumsfeld
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I didn't advocate invasion...I wasn't asked.
Donald Rumsfeld
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Then there are three or four countries that have said they won't do anything. I believe Libya, Cuba and Germany are ones that have indicated they won't help in any respect.
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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.
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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
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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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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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I'm glad you asked. It has nothing to do with oil, literally nothing to do with oil.
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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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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.
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Arguments of convenience lack integrity and inevitably trip you up.
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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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You go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.
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The worst mistake is to have the best ladder and the wrong wall.
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If you foul up, tell the President and correct it fast. Delay only compounds mistakes.
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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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Control your time. If you're working off your in-box, you're working off the priorities of others. Be sure the staff is working on what you move to them from the President, or the President will be reacting, not leading.
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Don't 'over-control' like a novice pilot. Stay loose enough from the flow that you can observe it, modify, and improve it.
Donald Rumsfeld
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When starting at the bottom, be willing to learn from those at the top.
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Don't necessarily avoid sharp edges. Occasionally they are necessary to leadership.
Donald Rumsfeld