Donald Rumsfeld (Politician)

Now what is the message there? The message is that there are no "knowns." There are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say there are things that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we don't know. So when we do the best we can and we pull all this information together, and we then say well that's basically what we see as the situation, that is really only the known knowns and the known unknowns. And each year, we discover a few more of those unknown unknowns.

— Donald Rumsfeld age

It sounds like a riddle. It isn't a riddle. It is a very serious, important matter.

— Donald Rumsfeld

There's another way to phrase that and that is that the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. It is basically saying the same thing in a different way. Simply because you do not have evidence that something exists does not mean that you have evidence that it doesn't exist. And yet almost always, when we make our threat assessments, when we look at the world, we end up basing it on the first two pieces of that puzzle, rather than all three.

— Donald Rumsfeld men

I can't tell you if the use of force in Iraq today would last five days, or five weeks, or five months, but it certainly isn't going to last any longer than that.

— Donald Rumsfeld you

And it is not knowable if force will be used, but if it is to be used, it is not knowable how long that conflict would last. It could last, you know, six days, six weeks. I doubt six months.

— Donald Rumsfeld doubt

Then there are three or four countries that have said they won't do anything. I believe Libya, Cuba and Germany are ones that have indicated they won't help in any respect.

— Donald Rumsfeld man

Now, you're thinking of Europe as Germany and France. I don't. I think that's old Europe.

— Donald Rumsfeld thinking

It's a difficult thing today to be informed about our government even without all the secrecy.

— Donald Rumsfeld men

From thefollowing the fall of Baghdad, April 11, 2003:

— Donald Rumsfeld win

I picked up a newspaper today and I couldn't believe it. I read eight headlines that talked about chaos, violence, unrest. And it just was Henny Penny -- "The sky is falling." I've never seen anything like it! And here is a country that's being liberated, here are people who are going from being repressed and held under the thumb of a vicious dictator, and they're free. And all this newspaper could do, with eight or 10 headlines, they showed a man bleeding, a civilian, who they claimed we had shot -- one thing after another.

— Donald Rumsfeld people

From the very beginning, we were convinced that we would succeed, and that means that that regime would end. And we were convinced that as we went from the end of that regime to something other than that regime, there would be a period of transition. And, you cannot do everything instantaneously; it's never been done, everything instantaneously. We did, however, recognize that there was at least a chance of catastrophic success, if you will, to reverse the phrase, that you could in a given place or places have a victory that occurred well before reasonable people might have expected it, and that we needed to be ready for that; we needed to be ready with medicine, with food, with water. And, we have been.

— Donald Rumsfeld success

Freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things. They're also free to live their lives and do wonderful things. And that's what's going to happen here.

— Donald Rumsfeld people

I don't believe anyone that I know in the administration ever said that Iraq had nuclear weapons.

— Donald Rumsfeld believe

and a few other critics are the only people I've heard use the phrase immediate threat. I didn't, the president didn't. And it's become kind of folklore that that's what's happened.

— Donald Rumsfeld people

But no terrorist state poses a greater or more immediate threat to the security of our people and the stability of the world than the regime ofin Iraq.

— Donald Rumsfeld people

I'm not into this detail stuff. I'm more concepty.

— Donald Rumsfeld

Look at me! I'm sweet and lovable!

— Donald Rumsfeld sweet

[is] either alive and well or alive and not too well or not alive.

— Donald Rumsfeld live

I stand for 8-10 hours a day. Why is standing limited to four hours?

— Donald Rumsfeld day

We're so conditioned as a people to think that a military campaign has to be cruise missiles and television images of airplanes dropping bombs, and that's just false. This is a totally different war. We need a new vocabulary. We need to get rid of old think and start thinking about this thing the way it really is.

— Donald Rumsfeld war

We know where they [Iraq's WMD] are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south, and north somewhat....I would also add, we saw from the air that there were dozens of trucks that went into that facility after the existence of it became public in the press and they moved things out. They dispersed them and took them away. So there may be nothing left. I don't know that. But it's way too soon to know. The exploitation is just starting.

— Donald Rumsfeld art

I didn't advocate invasion…I wasn't asked.

— Donald Rumsfeld cat

…it seems to me that it's up to all of us to try to tell the truth, to say what we know, to say what we don't know, and recognize that we're dealing with people that are perfectly willing to, to lie to the world to attempt to further their case and to the extent people lie of, ultimately they are caught lying and they lose their credibility and one would think it wouldn't take very long for that to happen dealing with people like this.

— Donald Rumsfeld truth

As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.

— Donald Rumsfeld war

I shouldn't get into ... this is diplomacy, and I don't do diplomacy.

— Donald Rumsfeld

We do have a saying in America: if you're in a hole, stop digging ..... erm, I'm not sure I should have said that.

— Donald Rumsfeld you

What we are seeing is not the war in Iraq. What we're seeing is slices of the war in Iraq.

— Donald Rumsfeld war

Well, so be it. Nothing's perfect in life, so you have an election that's not quite perfect. Is it better than not having an election? You bet.

— Donald Rumsfeld life

It recalls to mind the statement by , something to the effect that: I have benefited greatly from criticism, and at no time have I suffered a lack thereof.

— Donald Rumsfeld time

It is pretty clear that the coalition can win in Afghanistan and Iraq in one way or another, but it will be a long, hard slog.

— Donald Rumsfeld will

Those who follow orders to commit such crimes will be found and they will be punished. War crimes will be prosecuted. And it will be no excuse to say, 'I was just following orders.' Any official involved in such crimes will forfeit hope of amnesty or leniency with respect to past action.

— Donald Rumsfeld hope

Oh, Lord. I didn't mean to say anything quotable.

— Donald Rumsfeld

Let's hear it for the essential daily briefing, however hollow and empty it might be. We'll do it.

— Donald Rumsfeld

Congress, the press, and the bureaucracy too often focus on how much money or effort is spent, rather than whether the money or effort actually achieves the announced goal.

— Donald Rumsfeld money

It is easier to get into something than to get out of it.

— Donald Rumsfeld

Be able to resign. It will improve your value to the President and do wonders for your performance.

— Donald Rumsfeld man

There will be good moments, and there will be less good moments.

— Donald Rumsfeld men

I don't know what the facts are but somebody's certainly going to sit down with him and find out what he knows that they may not know, and make sure he knows what they know that he may not know, and that's a good thing.

— Donald Rumsfeld good

Pieces of intelligence, scraps of intelligence…you run down leads and you run down leads, and you hope that sometimes it works.

— Donald Rumsfeld hope

And there is, I am certain, among the Iraqi people a respect for the care and the precision that went into the bombing campaign.

— Donald Rumsfeld people

Stuff happens.

— Donald Rumsfeld

I suppose the implication of that is the president and theand myself andjust fell off a turnip truck to take these jobs.

— Donald Rumsfeld self

After he saw what happened to Saddam Hussein, he () did not want to be . He gave up his nuclear program.

— Donald Rumsfeld want

The natural state of man is to want to be free. To have opportunities. To have choices.

— Donald Rumsfeld man

There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we dont know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we dont know we dont know.

— Donald Rumsfeld

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