Donald Rumsfeld Quotes on America (18 Quotes)

The war against terrorism... will use every element of American influence and power, ... The aim is to create conditions for sustained anti-terrorist and humanitarian relief efforts in Afghanistan.

I think leaving the American people with the impression that it was an election that was valid -- there were over 1,000 candidates that were disqualified, that weren't even allowed to run,

You have shown that America is in fact a land of liberators, not a land of occupiers,

We must develop the capabilities to defend against missiles, terrorism and newer threats against our space assets and information systems, ... The American people ... must be protected against the threats with which modern technology and its proliferation confront us.

It will take a broad, sustained effort that will have to use our diplomatic, our political, our economic, our financial strength, as well as our military strength, ... It will take time. It's not a matter of days or weeks. It's years. It's going to take the support of the American people and I have every confidence it'll be there.

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.

Public servants are paid to serve the American people. Do it well.

Quitting is not an exit strategy. It would be a formula for putting the American people at still greater risk,

Sixty years ago, an American ambassador to Japan, echoing the conventional wisdom of the times, confidently told President Harry Truman that 'democracy in Japan will never work,' ... Today, Japan is one of the world's model democracies, with one of the largest economies in the world.

The people who committed these acts are clearly determined to try to force the United States of America and our values from the world, or to respond by curtailing our freedoms. If we do that, the terrorists will have won, and we have no intention of doing so,

America is a nation at war, ... It is a war we did not ask for, but it is a war we must fight. It is a war we must win and we will. ... Detaining 'enemy combatants' is a part of that war.

We are engaged in a test of wills. And to the extent that the American people are subjected to a constant series of negative things or disappointing things or problems as opposed to a balanced impression of what's taking place in that country, it has to be discouraging to anyone reading what is read or said.

Members of the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate are not there by accident. Each managed to get there for some reason. Learn what it was and you will know something important about them, about our country and about the American people.

I share your hopes and expectations for the Department of Defense and for the armed forces of the United States of America, ... I am an enthusiastic supporter of those goals.

While the American people understandably want to know when our forces can leave Iraq, I believe they do not want to leave until the mission is complete,

If a prospective Presidential approach can't be explained clearly enough to be understood well, it probably hasn't been thought through well enough. If not well understood by the American people, it probably won't "sail" anyway. Send it back for further thought.

But it's important for each of you to know that that is not the values of America and it's not your values. And I know that and you know that and your families know that. And we're proud of you -- each of you. We're proud of your service.

America did not wish to send soldiers abroad. But we sent them, ... We did not begin this war on terror but we will win it.