Donald Rumsfeld Quotes on Countries (69 Quotes)

I don't think that I would characterize what's going on in Iran as a democratic system, ... I don't think I would say that it fits the principles that I've just indicated. I think there are an awful lot of people in Iran who feel that that small group of clerics that determine what takes place in that country is not their idea of how they want to live their lives.

This country has gone in a short period from a haven for terrorists to a coalition ally in the war against terrorism, ... Freedom is clearly taking root in this country, and Afghanistan is on a path to become a model for freedom and moderation in the Muslim world.

while it has to be a heart-wrenching thing for each of the families involved, our task is to try to help them and the country understand the importance of the work that's being done.

In some instances, people have been killed and in still other instances they've been wounded. And still others, we have reason to believe they might have escaped to another country. In other cases, we don't know where they are,

We now have people from ... two or three handfuls of countries ... and my first choice would be for many of those to end up back in their countries to be processed through their systems, ... We undoubtedly will end up processing them through the criminal justice system ... I suspect there will be some military commissions.

The Secretary of Defense is not a super General or Admiral. His task is to exercise civilian control over the Department for the Commander-in-Chief and the country.

Australians and Americans share convictions as strong and independent people. And at this time our two countries could not be closer in our common values and attitudes towards the challenges the free world faces,

We are seeing history unfold, events that will shape the course of a country, the fate of a people and potentially the future of the region.

I don't know what the circumstances of the leadership of the country is, ... I don't think people in the country know. We haven't seen any evidence in recent days.

I think it's important to think of the setting six months ago, ... Six months ago, the Iraqis refused to have inspectors in their country. They were ignoring 16 resolutions of the United Nations.

The United States would be very interested in getting our hands on them and very interested in seeing they did not remain in the country.

In recent day, there has been a focus on a few who have betrayed our values and sullied the reputation of our country. Like each of you, I'm sure, and like most Americans, I was stunned. It was a body blow,

The area of the country he is operating in and the tribes he is in contact with are obviously the dominant population in the country so that whole element has a big role to play in both the operations and the post-Taliban government,

We're not going to making requests of the Saudi Arabian government. We are respectful of the circumstance of the countries of the region. We understand that, ... Our interest is to create a set of conditions, a sustained effort against terrorist networks in the region.

Based on our early assessments, we believe we've made progress toward eliminating the air defense sites around the country,

Rumsfeld said victory would best come as part of a military coalition led by the United States. ...Iraq should be a single country and not broken up into pieces, ... ... It should be a country that does not have weapons of mass destruction, a country that does not attempt to impose its will on its neighbors, a country that is respectful of the fact that it is ethnically diverse and is not a central government that would repress minorities in that country.

As the president said, it is a natural disaster of historic proportion, ... No one can come up with anything that approximates this in the history of our country.

Let's say you tried to have an election and you could have it in three-quarters or four-fifths of the country, but some places you couldn't because the violence was too great. Well, that's -- so be it. Nothing's perfect in life. So you have an election that's not quite perfect.

Absent a dictator, absent the Saddam Hussein regime, our goal would be first to have a single country, not have a country broken up into pieces, it would be to see that it would be a country without weapons of mass destruction, a country that did not try to impose its will upon its neighbors and it was a country that was respectful of the rights of minorities and the ethnic groups that exist in the country,

We know we're finding Iranian weapons inside of the country,

Success will only occur if there's progress on the political front so that the Iraqi people see that in fact it is their country. It is a sovereign nation. They are in control of it,

that in our country, no one is above the law -- that we are a nation governed by laws.

In fact, in a number of parts of the country, people already have more food, water and electricity than they had under the old regime, ... But some do not have these necessities, and the coalition is working day and night to help provide them.

I also had an opportunity to tour the beautiful Summer Palace which provided a glimpse of the extraordinary history of your country. I was most impressed to see literally hundreds of visitors from your country, but also from nations all across the globe, including the United States.

One can't say that the circumstance is necessarily permanent in that country,

good one for the country.

We are always in countries at the pleasure of the host country, ... How it will evolve in the future is up to the Saudis.

Your performance depends on your people. Select the best, train them and back them. When errors occur, give sharper guidance. If errors persist or if the fit feels wrong, help them move on. The country cannot afford amateur hour in the White House.

There are countries like Paraguay and others, their neighboring countries, they're all interested in being able to grow and function in a manner that's free of external influence and to do things in ways that fit their history and their circumstance,

And by the same token, we've got to keep our eye on the ball, and the ball is trying to protect the American people from additional terrorist attacks and try to track down the folks that are planning threats against our country, here and abroad.

This war is not about one man or one terrorist network or even one country, ... It is about a problem that infects this globe of ours with a number of terrorist networks and cells in a number of countries.

let down their comrades, and they let down their country.

We don't have any announcements to make with respect to the activities of Afghanistan's Northern Alliance or various tribes in the southern part of the country. We are considering a whole range of things,

Many countries, for example, have questions about the pace and scope of China's military expansion,

Saddam's regime became expert at hiding banned weapons even amid an inspections environment in that country, ... They had a very long period to hide or do whatever it is they wanted to do with those capabilities.

his gratitude for their service to their country.

Iran is one of the countries that is -- in our view -- assessed as developing a nuclear capability, and that's unfortunate,

Our objective is not to create dependency but to encourage Iraqi independence, by giving Iraqis increasing responsibility, over time, for the security and governance of their country, ... Because long-term stability comes not from the presence of foreign forces but from the development of functioning local institutions. The sooner Iraqis can take responsibility for their own affairs the sooner U.S. forces can come home.

They know that they're the ones who are going to have to grab that country, and it's time,

You may see things that appear to be coordinated in a particular area that are not coordinated throughout the entire country.

I would guess there will be an end, ... Can I tell you for sure No. ... This isn't World War I or World War II, that starts and then ends. Take Afghanistan. We've moved from major military activities to a point where at the present time, the vast majority of the country is in a stabilization security mode.

We've got to find a way to have the military justice system operate at a pace that reflects the world of the 21st century with 24-hour news and a desire to report things that are dramatic and negative, and to repeat them over and over again until for some reason they are disproved or they're concluded, and the longer that period is the more harmful it is for our country,

It just happens that those are some of the countries that are opposed, ... I can't imagine why it would cause a stir in any country.

The stronger the interim government gets, the more effective the security situation in the country gets, the less likely that there will be substantial operations like this. But that's some distance off,

We all go through strong emotions when something like this occurs, ... We see it and we're shocked and we're stunned and we're disgusted, and we know in our hearts that we are better than that, and, yet, that is what is being seen in the world as presenting our country.

It is their country they ultimately are going to have to provide security for that country,

actively lying about civilian casualties taking place in their country.

I really believe that before its over, its not going be a cruise missile or a bomber that is going to be the determining factor, ... It's going to be a scrap of information from some person, in some country that's been repressed by a dictatorial regime that's been sponsoring a terrorist organization that's going to provide the information that's going to enable us to pull this network up by its roots and end it.

the problem was not a lot of countries wanted to step up with troops. Most people recommending it were on newspaper editorial boards and at the U.N.

The impression that's left around the world is that we plan to occupy the country, we plan to use their bases over the long period of time, and it's flat false, ... We went in there to change a regime, we went in there to find weapons of mass destruction, we went in there to stop them from threatening their neighbors, and we have said precisely what we're there for, and it's not what that article says.