Donald Rumsfeld Quotes on World (41 Quotes)


    He will either deal with the problem of disarming or he will tell the world community that he is unwilling to -- and the next choice, as the president has suggested, is with the United Nations and the members of the Security Council,

    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.

    In Washington, thousands of people marched in remembrance of the attacks and in tribute to troops fighting overseas. I wish we could say ... that we were gathering today to commemorate a danger that had long since past, ... But we cannot. The enemy, though seriously weakened and continuously under pressure, continues to plot attacks, and the danger they pose to the free world is real and present.

    As allied forces (pushed) forward in both the European and Pacific theaters in World War II, the enemy's tactics, such as the cult of death among SS forces and the kamikazes in the Pacific, led to some of these bloodiest fighting of that war,

    People who are willing to risk their lives need to know the truth, ... They need to understand that they are there based on decisions that were made in good faith, by responsible people, and that this world is going to be a lot better off with Saddam Hussein gone and with that country on a path toward democracy.


    We discussed the impressive economic progress China has made in recent years and the emergence of China on the world scene. We also talked about the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and the success of China's second manned space flight for which I offer my congratulations,

    And why the intelligence proved wrong, I'm not in a position to say. I simply don't know. But the world is a lot better off with Saddam Hussein in jail than they were with him in power.

    It could have important implications for the world, ... The only fair thing to do is to allow the experts that are currently reviewing it the time that's necessary.

    If the world decides to impose choices on us, then we'll make choices with respect to the things we're doing and deal with those problems,

    If there's anything that's clear in the 21st century it's that the world needs peacekeepers,

    The Iranian regime is today the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism. The world does not want, and must work together to prevent, a nuclear Iran.

    How many young people are being taught to go out as suicide bombers and kill people ... How does that inflow of terrorists in the world get reduced so that the number of people being captured or killed is greater than the ones being produced

    Oh my goodness gracious, what you can buy off the Internet in terms of overhead photography. A trained ape can know an awful lot of what is going on in this world, just by punching on his mouse, for a relatively modest cost.

    is something you prefer not to have to use in a perfect world.

    They know where the bank accounts are, they know the names of the people who were trained, they know the sleeper cells that exist around the world,

    Until you're down on the ground, you can't know precisely, ... The intelligence we have is clearly sufficient for the president to say that he believes the world has to recognize the Iraqis have repeatedly violated these U.N. resolutions.

    A war plan is something that is a plan that's developed before things start, and the minute things start one has to take account of the realities that you find in the world. That is what was done last evening. That is what will be done today and tomorrow and the next day.

    In the event (war) becomes necessary, there would be the precipitating event of rejecting the inspectors, which would be such that people would nod and say, 'Fair enough If he's (Saddam Hussein) that determined to keep the weapons of mass destruction and that unwilling to disarm himself, then he must have a darn good reason and that isn't going to be very good for the neighborhood or for the rest of the world,'

    We've been awakened to the reality that the world is a very dangerous place,

    The people who engaged in abuses will be brought to justice. The world will see how a free system, a democratic system, functions and operates, transparently, with no cover ups,

    We know that if we do not fight the terrorists over there, in Iraq, in Afghanistan and across the world, then we will have to face them here -- and many more innocent men, women and children, as well as the patriots defending them, will perish,

    We've decided that it's time to shift our posture in Europe and Asia and around the world and move from static defense, which does not make much sense today, to a more deployable and usable set of capabilities,

    Don't think of yourself as indispensable or infallible. As Charles De Gaulle said, the cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable men.

    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.

    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,

    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.

    People have been moving together, talking, discussing things, ... You can always find someone who's going to try to be a dead-ender and say, 'If you don't do this, I won't do that.' But that's part of negotiation. We see that in the Congress and we see it in democratic systems all over the world.

    The site there says it all, ... The Pentagon is no longer smoking, and yet here we are so many weeks later and the World Trade Center is still burning, still smoking.

    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,

    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.

    We value that in the United States and benefit from it and certainly understand that it remains a key pillar of peace and stability in the Asian Pacific region and a benefit to the world.

    It's a big world. There are lots of countries. He's got a lot of money, he's got a lot of people who support him, and I just don't know whether we'll be successful, ... Clearly, it would be highly desirable to find him and stop him and his key people and there are a lot of them. We're not looking for one person. We're looking for a whole crowd. And that's our intent and our intention. How can anyone know what the outcome is going to be until you get there

    They've got a peaceful way to change that government -- through the constitution, through the elections. These people aren't trying to promote something other than disorder and to take over that country and turn it into a caliphate and then spread it around the world.

    Those of us in the United States and in other countries around the world, free countries, hope that the choices they make are choices toward a more open society, a more transparent society.

    Don't divide the world into "them" and "us." Avoid infatuation with or resentment of the press, the Congress, rivals, or opponents. Accept them as facts. They have their jobs and you have yours.

    China of course is expanding its missile forces and enabling those forces to reach many areas of the world well beyond the Pacific region,

    Forces in world politics have created a more diverse and less predictable set of potential adversaries,

    We also recognize the damage that can be done by the allegations alone, if they're not true, or if there's some explanation of some sort. But, that's the world we live in,

    These are the people who took plastic knives and box cutters and flew airplanes filled with themselves, as well as American citizens, into the World Trade Center and this building you're sitting in (the Pentagon), ... Why would one be surprised that they're determined, well-trained, clever, capable of using modern technology ... to kill people.

    The immediate effect is likely to be what it's always been -- a spike in violence. The last thing in the world the enemies want is success. The last thing they want is democracy in Iraq.

    Yes, Asia is growing and is an important part of the world, ... any suggestion that the United States is going to, or ought to, or might turn away from Europe is fundamentally flawed in logic.


    More Donald Rumsfeld Quotations (Based on Topics)


    People - Countries - Time - World - War & Peace - Government - Facts - America - Planning - Military - Duty - Security - Terrorism - Politics - Leading & Managing - Goals - Decision Making - Place - Success - View All Donald Rumsfeld Quotations

    Related Authors


    William Bennett - Michael Huffington - Malcolm Fraser - Joe Lieberman - James Baker - Hubert H. Humphrey - Helmut Kohl - Edward Blake - Donald Rumsfeld - Dan Lipinski


Authors (by First Name)

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M
N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

Other Inspiring Sections