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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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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
Thinking
Capable
Millions
Responsibility
Running
Iraqis
Everything
Orientation
Country
Tends
Make
Perfectly
Think
Million

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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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If you can't solve a problem, make it bigger.
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If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't I'll just respond cleverly.
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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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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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Let your family, staff, and friends know that you're still the same person, despite all the publicity and notoriety that accompanies your position.
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We do know that the Iraqi regime has chemical and biological weapons. His regime has amassed large, clandestine stockpiles of chemical weapons - including VX, sarin, cyclosarin and mustard gas. His regime has amassed large, clandestine stockpiles of biological weapons—including anthrax and botulism toxin, and possibly smallpox.
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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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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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Make decisions about the President's personal security. He can overrule you, but don't ask him to be the one to counsel caution.
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Don't think of yourself as indispensable or infallible. As Charles De Gaulle said, the cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable men.
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Have a deputy and develop a successor. Don't be consumed by the job or you'll risk losing your balance. Keep your mooring lines to the outside world - family, friends, neighbors, people out of government, and people who may not agree with you.
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At 78 years old, I am not surprised at much anymore. Germany has taken divergent positions before, so has France, so has England, so has the US.
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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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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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Certainty without power can be interesting, even amusing. Certainty with power can be dangerous.
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There will be good moments, and there will be less good moments.
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I didn't advocate invasion...I wasn't asked.
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