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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.

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
Political
Popular
Radicals
Ends
Result
Controlling
Country
Movement
Handful
People
Democracy
Broads
Results
Vicious
Economic
Broad
Taken
Systems
Free
Radical

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We know where they are. They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad.
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If you try to please everybody, somebody's not going to like it.
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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.
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There are a lot of things that are said by people in the military, or civilian life, or in the Congress, or in the Executive Branch, that are their views. And that's the way we live. We're a free people. And that's the wonderful thing about our country.
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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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Look for what's missing. Many advisors can tell a President how to improve what's proposed or what's gone amiss. Few are able to see what isn't there.
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If in doubt, don't. If still in doubt, do what's right.
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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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The Cold War was a war, and we won it.
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Being Vice President is difficult. Don't make it tougher.
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Don't be a bottleneck. If a matter is not a decision for the President or you, delegate it. Force responsibility down and out. Find problem areas, add structure and delegate. The pressure is to do the reverse. Resist it.
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I think it's very useful for you folks (reporters) to try your damndest to be precise. And don't repeat things that are inaccurate if you can possibly avoid it. And when you see things that are inaccurate, knock them down -- because there's a bucket of it floating around.
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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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When I served as US Ambassador to NATO in the 1970s, the center of gravity in Europe was France and Germany.
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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.
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They may have had time to destroy them, and I don't know the answer.
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Arguments of convenience lack integrity and inevitably trip you up.
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One of your tasks is to separate the 'personal' from the 'substantive.' The two can become confused, especially if someone rubs the President wrong.
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Preserve the President's options. He may need them.
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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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