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There Are A Lot Of Things That Are Said By People In The Military, Or Civilian Life, Or In The Congress, Or In The Executive Branch, That Are Their Views. And That's The Way We Live. We're A Free People. And That's The Wonderful Thing About Our Country.

-Donald Rumsfeld

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There Are A Lot

Donald Rumsfeld

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There Are A Lot Of Things That Are Said By People In The Military, Or Civilian Life, Or In The Congress, Or In The Executive Branch, That Are Their Views. And That's The Way We Live. We're A Free People. And That's The Wonderful Thing About Our Country.

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More From Donald Rumsfeld

It Is Hard To Put A Price On Some Things. What Is The Value Of Having Prevented Nuclear Weapons From Getting Into The Hands Of A Dictator Like Saddam Hussein - Or Of Gadhafi?

Now, Settle Down, Settle Down. Hell, I'm An Old Man, It's Early In The Morning And I'm Gathering My Thoughts Here.

The Cold War Was A War, And We Won It.

Our Task, Your Task... Is To Try To Connect The Dots Before Something Happens. People Say, 'well, Where's The Smoking Gun?' Well, We Don't Want To See A Smoking Gun From A Weapon Of Mass Destruction.

Mass Destruction

When You Raise Issues With The President, Try To Come Away With Both That Decision And Also A Precedent. Pose Issues So As To Evoke Broader Policy Guidance. This Can Help To Answer A Range Of Similar Issues Likely To Arise Later.

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.

When There Happens To Be A Weapon Of Mass Destruction Suspect Site In An Area That We Occupy And If People Have Time, They'll Look At It.

Mass Destruction

There Are Things That We Know, And There Are Things That We Don't Know. Then There Are The Things That We Don't Even Know That We Don't Know. Those Are The Things That Are The Hardest.

I Don't Believe Anyone That I Know In The Administration Ever Said That Iraq Had Nuclear Weapons.

Public Servants Are Paid To Serve The American People. Do It Well.

There Will Be Good Moments, And There Will Be Less Good Moments.

We'll Have To Deal With The Networks. One Of The Ways To Do That Is To Drain The Swamp They Live In. And That Means Dealing Not Only With The Terrorists, But Those Who Harbor Terrorists. This Will Take A Long, Sustained Effort. It Will Require The Support Of The American People As Well As Our Friends And Allies Around The World.

Oh, Lord. I Didn't Mean To Say Anything Quotable.

The Problem Is The People Who Tend To Be The Best Organized Are The Most Radical And The Most Vicious.

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.

I'm Glad You Asked. It Has Nothing To Do With Oil, Literally Nothing To Do With Oil.

See That The President, The Cabinet And Staff Are Informed. If Cut Out Of The Information Flow, Their Decisions May Be Poor, Not Made, Or Not Confidently Or Persuasively Implemented.

Information Flow

Know That The Immediate Staff And Others In The Administration Will Assume That Your Manner, Tone And Tempo Reflect The President's.

Treat Each Federal Dollar As If It Was Hard Earned; It Was - By A Taxpayer.

The Success Of An Organization Will Depend On The People You Surround Yourself With.

Surround Yourself

The United States Isn't Going To Do Anything That It's Not Capable Of Doing. And If We Do Something, We'll Be Capable Of Doing It.

Visit With Your Predecessors From Previous Administrations. They Know The Ropes And Can Help You See Around Some Corners. Try To Make Original Mistakes, Rather Than Needlessly Repeating Theirs.

Enjoy Your Time In Public Service. It May Well Be One Of The Most Interesting And Challenging Times Of Your Life.

We Are In The Process Of Trying To Liberate That Country. And At The Moment Where The War Ends And The Coalition Forces Occupy The Areas Where Those Capabilities - Chemical And Biological Weapons - Are Likely To Be, To The Extent They Haven't Been Moved Out Of The Country, It Obviously Is Important To Find Them.

I Think We Ought To Have A New Rule: You Can Ask Two Questions, And Then We Can Pick The One We Want To Answer.

What Is Needed [to Combat Terrorism], In My View, Is Resolve, Not Retreat; Courage, Not Concession. Rather Than Thinking In Terms Of An Exit Strategy, Focus On A Strategy For Success.

If You Try To Please Everybody, Somebody's Not Going To Like It.

We Do Know Of Certain Knowledge That He [osama Bin Laden] Is Either In Afghanistan, Or In Some Other Country, Or Dead.

Osama Bin Laden

We Know Where They Are. They Are In The Area Around Tikrit And Baghdad.

Mass Destruction

Be Able To Resign. It Will Improve Your Value To The President And Do Wonders For Your Performance.

The Purpose Of Terrorism Is To Terrorize. It's To Change The Behavior Of The People That Are Being Terrorized.

Don't Divide The World Into "them" And "us."

It Is Worth Reminding That Being President Is A Tough Job For Anybody, And Particularly So In The Information Age. There's Such A Glut Of Information. Anything A President Says Or Does Is Picked Up On The Internet Or The 24/7 News Media And Criticized Almost Instantly. Leaders Persuade Through Their Words And As Such Their Words Need To Be Measured And Well Chosen. It Is A Tough Job.

Preserve The President's Options. He May Need Them.

If You Can't Solve A Problem, Make It Bigger.

If You Foul Up, Tell The President And Correct It Fast. Delay Only Compounds Mistakes.

When Someone With A Rural Accent Says, "i Don't Know Much About Politics," Zip Up Your Pockets.

A President Has To Provide Leadership To Gain Support.

Prune - Prune Businesses, Products, Activities, People. Do It Annually.

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.

General Boykin Has Requested That An Inspector General Review This Matter. And I Have Indicated That If That's His Request, I Think It's Appropriate.

If I Look At The Really Important Questions In [middle East] Region, I See Iran, Where There Is A Strong Desire For A Freer Society And Where People Are Repressed By A Small Group Of Ayatollahs. I See Syria, Where We Can See A Similar Desire Of The People To Be Free. These Two Countries Fund Hezbollah And Other Terrorist Organizations And Are Hurting Our Efforts In Afghanistan And Have Been Extremely Harmful In Iraq. Then I Also See Large, Important Countries Such As Egypt And Saudi Arabia.

Strive To Make Proposed Solutions As Self-executing As Possible. As The Degree Of Discretion Increases, So Too Does Bureaucracy, Delay, And Expense.

I Think All Of Us Have A Sense If We Imagine The Kind Of World We Would Face If The People Who Bombed The Mess Hall In Mosul, Or The People Who Did The Bombing In Spain, Or The People Who Attacked The United States In New York, Shot Down The Plane Over Pennsylvania And Attacked The Pentagon, The People Who Cut Off Peoples' Heads On Television To Intimidate, To Frighten Indeed The Word 'terrorized' Is Just That. Its Purpose Is To Terrorize, To Alter Behavior, To Make People Be Something Other Than That Which They Want To Be.

Walk Around. If You Are Invisible, The Mystique Of The President's Office May Perpetuate Inaccurate Impressions About You Or The President, To His Detriment. After All, You May Not Be As Bad As They're Saying.

... Something Under $50 Billion For The Cost. How Much Of That Would Be The U.s. Burden, And How Much Would Be Other Countries, Is An Open Question.

The Coalition Did Not Act In Iraq Because We Had Discovered Dramatic New Evidence Of Iraq's Pursuit. We Acted Because We Saw The Evidence In A Dramatic New Light - Through The Prism Of Our Experience On 9/11.

To Gain Support In U.s. Congress And From Other Nations Requires Clarity, An Acceptable Mission And An Explicit Outcome.

Never Hire Anyone You Can’t Fire.

Arguments Of Convenience Lack Integrity And Inevitably Trip You Up.

Work Continuously To Trim The White House Staff From Your First Day To Your Last. All The Pressures Are To The Contrary.

In Our System Leadership Is By Consent, Not Command. To Lead A President Must Persuade. Personal Contacts And Experiences Help Shape His Thinking. They Can Be Critical To His Persuasiveness And Thus To His Leadership.

Test Ideas In The Marketplace. You Learn From Hearing A Range Of Perspectives. Consultation Helps Engender The Support Decisions Need To Be Successfully Implemented.

I Didn't Advocate Invasion...i Wasn't Asked.

If I Know The Answer I'll Tell You The Answer, And If I Don't I'll Just Respond Cleverly.

Imagine, A September 11 With Weapons Of Mass Destruction. It's Not 3,000. It's Tens Of Thousands Of Innocent Men, Women And Children.

You Go To War With The Army You Have, Not The Army You Might Want Or Wish To Have At A Later Time.

A Terrorist Can Attack At Any Time At Any Place Using A Range Of Techniques. It Is Physically Impossible To Defend At Every Time In Every Location Against Every Conceivable Technique Of Terrorism. Therefore, If Your Goal Is To Stop It, You Cannot Stop It By Defense. You Can Only Stop It By Taking The Battle To The Terrorists, Where They Are And Going After Them.

In 2003, At The Time I Made My "old Europe" Comment, The Center Of Gravity In Nato And Europe Had Long Since Shifted To The East. With The Former Warsaw Pact Countries Joining Nato, The Alliance Has A Different Mix Today. Some People Were Sensitive About My Comment Because They Thought It Was A Pejorative Way Of Highlighting Demographic Realities. Apparently They Felt It Pointed A White Light At A Weakness In Europe - An Aging Population. Europe Has Come Some Distance Since World War Ii In Becoming Europe.

One Thing Appears Reasonably Certain, And That's That Those Who Make Allegations Of A Culture Of Deception, Of Intimidation Or Cover-up Need To Be Extremely Careful About Such Accusations.

You Might Be A Cunning Linguist, But I Am A Master Debater.

Presidential Leadership Needn't Always Cost Money. Look For Low- And No-cost Options. They Can Be Surprisingly Effective.

"do You Have Any Regrets?" Of Course I Do.

We [the Usa] Do Have A Big Nation's Problem. We Have The Problem Of A Nation That's Got Two Oceans, Oceans On Either Side. People Come From All Across The Globe And Want To Live Here And They Want To Work Here And They Want To Invest Here. And That's A Good Thing. And They Make Up This Country. But As A People, We [americans] Are Not Highly Skilled In Languages. We're Not Highly Skilled In Knowledge Of Other Cultures. And That's A Problem.

It Is Very Difficult To Spend "federal (the Taxpayers') Dollars" So That The Intended Result Is Achieved.

The Implication That There Was Something Wrong With The War Plan Is Amusing.

I Recognize The Need To Provide The Press - And, Through You, The American People - With Information To The Fullest Extent Possible. In Our Democracy, The Work Of The Pentagon Press Corps Is Important, Defending Our Freedom And Way Of Life Is What This Conflict Is About, And That Certainly Includes Freedom Of The Press.

I Don't Think We'll Discover Anything, Myself. I Think What Will Happen Is We'll Discover People Who Will Tell Us Where To Go Find It. It Is Not Like A Treasure Hunt Where You Just Runaround Looking Everywhere Hoping You Find Something. I Just Don't Think That's Going To Happen. The Inspectors Didn't Find Anything, And I Doubt That We Will. What We Will Do Is Find The People Who Will Tell Us.

America Is Not What's Wrong With The World.

Amidst All The Clutter, Beyond All The Obstacles, Aside From All The Static, Are The Goals Set. Put Your Head Down, Do The Best Job Possible, Let The Flak Pass, And Work Towards Those Goals.

I Don't Do Quagmires.

After He Saw What Happened To Saddam Hussein, He (gadhafi) Did Not Want To Be Saddam Hussein. He Gave Up His Nuclear Program.

The Worst Mistake Is To Have The Best Ladder And The Wrong Wall.

Whatever New Threats And Challenges May Emerge, Our Nation Will Be Able To Face Them Squarely, Deal With Them, And Yet Allow Our People To Continue To Live Free And Unafraid. The Decisions You Make, The Courage And Creativity You Bring To Your Responsibilities, Will Determine America's Future. Liberty And Our Way Of Life Are Fragile Gifts - Their Care Is In Your Hands. We Thank You For Stepping Forward To Shoulder That Immense Responsibility. Your Country Is Grateful, And Proud Of Each Of You.

Most Us Presidents Since World War Ii Have Led Military Actions Without A Declaration Of War By Congress, Though Most, If Not All, Have Properly Consulted And Sought Support From Congress. That Is The Wise Thing To Do.

Watch The Growth Of Middle Level Management. Don't Automatically Fill Vacant Jobs. Leave Some Positions Unfilled For 6-8 Months To See What Happens. You Will Find You Won't Need To Fill Some Of Them.

The Reality Is That Terrorists Can Attack Any Time At Any Minute, 24 Hours A Day, Using A Variety Of Techniques, In Any Place At All. And It's Not Possible To Defend In Every Place, Against Every Technique, Against Every Conceivable Approach. It Means That You Can't Stop Every Terrorist Attack. Innocent Men, Women And Children Are Going To Be Killed If Terrorists Are Determined To Do It.

In Politics, Every Day Is Filled With Numerous Opportunities For Serious Error. Enjoy It.

We Know Where They Are [iraq's Weapons Of Mass Destruction]. They're In The Area Around Tikrit And Baghdad And East, West, South And North Somewhat.

Keep Your Sense Of Humor. As General Joe Stillwell Said, 'the Higher A Monkey Climbs, The More You See Of His Behind'.

You Can Have A Broad Popular Democracy Movement And Have It End Being Taken Over By The Most Vicious People And The Result Is You Don't End Up With Free Political Systems Or Free Economic Systems, You End Up With A Handful Of Radicals Controlling The Country.

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.

Don't Be A Bottleneck. If A Matter Is Not A Decision For The President Or You, Delegate It. Force Responsibility Down And Out. Find Problem Areas, Add Structure And Delegate. The Pressure Is To Do The Reverse. Resist It.

I Am Not Going To Give You A Number For It Because It's Not My Business To Do Intelligent Work.

There Are People Who In Large Measure Have Information That We Need . . . So That We Can Track Down The Weapons Of Mass Destruction In That Country.

Mass Destruction

Napoleon Was Asked, "who Do You Consider To Be The Greatest Generals?" He Responded Saying, "the Victors.

Be Yourself. Follow Your Instincts. Success Depends, At Least In Part, On The Ability To 'carry It Off.'

Congratulations

Is It Likely That An Aircraft Carrier Or A Cruise Missile Is Going To Find A Person?

Aircraft Carriers

Reduce The Layers Of Management. They Put Distance Between The Top Of An Organization And The Customers.

When I Served As Us Ambassador To Nato In The 1970s, The Center Of Gravity In Europe Was France And Germany.

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.

The Natural State Of Man Is To Want To Be Free. To Have Opportunities. To Have Choices.

There Are A Lot Of Things That Are Said By People In The Military, Or Civilian Life, Or In The Congress, Or In The Executive Branch, That Are Their Views. And That's The Way We Live. We're A Free People. And That's The Wonderful Thing About Our Country.

It Is Easier To Get Into Something Than To Get Out Of It.

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.

When Business Accepts Help From The Government, It Can Be Like Going To Bed With A Hippopotamus. It's Nice And Warm For The Moment, But Then Your Bedmate Rolls Over And Crushes You.

Don't Say 'the White House Wants.' Buildings Can't Want.

Sausage Making And Policy-making Shouldn't Be Seen Close-up.

What Is The Value Of Having Millions Of People In Iraq Not Having A Repressive Regime? What Is The Value Of Having The Iraqi Regime Not Shooting At Uk And Us Aircraft Almost Every Day? What Is The Value Of The Iraqis Having A Free Press? What Is The Value Of The Foreign Minister Of Iraq Going To Paris, Calling For An End Of The Gadhafi Regime And Citing Iraq As A Model, As An Example, That In Fact A Freer Political System Can Exist In That Part Of The World?

The Way To Do Well Is To Do Well.

Every President When He Is Elected Has To Live With The Pluses And Minuses His Predecessor Leaves, Which Includes Benefits As Well As Burdens.

It Is The Photographs That Gives One The Vivid Realization Of What Actually Took Place. (on Photographs From Abu Ghraib Prison.)

Look At Me! I'm Sweet And Lovable!

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.

Don't Accept The Post Or Stay Unless You Have An Understanding With The President That You're Free To Tell Him What You Think "with The Bark Off" And You Have The Courage To Do It.

Don't Do Or Say Things You Would Not Like To See On The Front Page Of The Washington Post.

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.

Secretary Powell And I Agree On Every Single Issue That Has Ever Been Before This Administration Except For Those Instances Where Colin's Still Learning.

[on Osama Bin Laden] He Is Either Alive And Well Or Alive And Not Too Well Or Not Alive.

Osama Bin Laden

It Isn't Making Mistakes That's Critical; It's Correcting Them And Getting On With The Principal Task.

There's No Debate In The World As To Whether People Have Weapons Of Mass Destruction... We All Know That. A Trained Ape Knows That.

With The Press There Is No "off The Record.

Simply Stated, There Is No Doubt That Saddam Hussein Now Has Weapons Of Mass Destruction.

Mass Destruction

No. That's Someone Else's Business. Quagmire Is - I Don't Do Quagmires.

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.

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.

The Press Always Wants To Know How Many People Will Be Killed Or How Much It Will Cost, But The Answers To Those Questions Are Not Knowable.

We Don't Seek Empires.we're Not Imperialistic.

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. Since The Iraq Conflict Began, The Army Has Been Pressing Ahead To Produce The Armor Necessary At A Rate That They Believe - It's A Greatly Expanded Rate From What Existed Previously, But A Rate That They Believe Is The Rate That Is All That Can Be Accomplished At This Moment.

One Of Your Tasks Is To Separate The 'personal' From The 'substantive.' The Two Can Become Confused, Especially If Someone Rubs The President Wrong.

Don't Necessarily Avoid Sharp Edges. Occasionally They Are Necessary To Leadership.

First Rule Of Politics: You Can't Win Unless You're On The Ballot. Second Rule: If You Run, You May Lose. And, If You Tie, You Do Not Win.

Inspectors Do Not Have The Duty Or The Ability To Uncover Terrible Weapons Hidden In A Vast Country. The Responsibility Of Inspectors Is Simply To Confirm Evidence Of Voluntary And Total Disarmament. Saddam Hussein Has The Responsibility To Provide That Evidence, As Directed, And In Full

No Terror State Poses A Greater Or More Immediate Threat To The Security Of Our People And The Stability Of The World Than The Regime Of Saddam Hussein In Iraq.

You're Thinking Of Europe As Germany And France. I Don't. I Think That's Old Europe. If You Look At The Entire Nato Europe Today, The Center Of Gravity Is Shifting To The East. And There Are A Lot Of New Members. And If You Just Take The List Of All The Members Of Nato And All Of Those Who Have Been Invited In Recently -- What Is It? Twenty-six, Something Like That? -- You're Right. Germany Has Been A Problem, And France Has Been A Problem.

Our Goal Is To Defend The American People, And To Eliminate Iraq's Weapons Of Mass Destruction, And To Liberate The Iraqi People.

They May Have Had Time To Destroy Them, And I Don't Know The Answer.

Mass Destruction

They Will Do More Whether We Do What We're Doing Or Whether We Don't Do What We're Doing. And The Idea That You Could Appease Them [terrorists] By Stopping Doing What We're Doing Or Some Implication That By Doing What We're Doing We're Inciting Them To Attack Us Is Just Utter Nonsense. It's Just - It's Kind Of Like Feeding An Alligator, Hoping It Eats You Last.

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.

I Cannot Give Any Assurances. I'm Not In That Business. I Haven't Been, And I Don't Intend To Get Into It. People Who Try To Make Predictions About Things Or Assurances Often Find They're Wrong.

Five Days Or Five Months, But It Certainly Isn't Going To Last Longer.

The Price Of Being Close To The President Is Delivering Bad News. You Fail Him If You Don't Tell Him The Truth. Others Won't Do It.

Within A Week, Or A Month, Saddam Could Give His Wmd To Al-qaeda.

The Most Underestimated Risk For A Politician Is Overexposure.

An Institution That...would Permit Iraq, A Terrorist State That Refuses To Disarm, To Become Soon The Chair Of The United Nations Commission On Disarmament, And Which Recently Elected Libya - A Terrorist State - To Chair The United Nations Commission On Human Rights Of All Things, Seems Not To Be Even Struggling To Regain Credibility. That These Acts Of Irresponsibility Could Happen Now, At This Moment In History, Is Breathtaking.

Certainty Without Power Can Be Interesting, Even Amusing. Certainty With Power Can Be Dangerous.

Every Country Should Be Tired Of Going To War. War Is A Terrible Thing. If I Had Been In Congress, As Much As I Would Be Inclined Naturally To Be Supportive Of A President, Any President, I Would Have Voted No, Had The Issue Come To A Vote.

What Will Follow Will Not Be A Repeat Of Any Other Conflict. It Will Be Of A Force And Scope And Scale That Has Been Beyond What Has Been Seen Before.

Don't Automatically Obey Presidential Directives If You Disagree Or If You Suspect He Hasn't Considered Key Aspects Of The Issue.

If In Doubt, Move Decisions Up To The President.

After The German Abstention At The Un, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle Commented That Germany Doesn't Always Have To Stand On The Side Of Its Traditional Allies. Berlin Can Look For New Partners All Over The World.

Remember Where You Came From.

Remember Where You Came

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

When Cutting Staff At The Pentagon, Don't Eliminate The Thin Layer That Assures Civilian Control.

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.

When It Comes To Reconstruction, Before We Turn To The American Taxpayer, We Will Turn First To The Resources Of The Iraqi Government And The International Community.

Don't Think Of Yourself As Indispensable Or Infallible. As Charles De Gaulle Said, The Cemeteries Of The World Are Full Of Indispensable Men.

There Is No Question But That When One Is Engaged Militarily That There Are Going To Be Unintended Loss Of Life.

Learn To Say 'i Don't Know.' If Used When Appropriate, It Will Be Often.

Being Vice President Is Difficult. Don't Make It Tougher.

Don't Speak Ill Of Your Predecessors Or Successors. You Didn't Walk In Their Shoes.

If You Look Ahead 10 Years, I Wouldn't Be A Bit Surprised If The People Of Russia Had Become Fans Of Missile Defence.

Make Decisions About The President's Personal Security. He Can Overrule You, But Don't Ask Him To Be The One To Counsel Caution.

And There Is, I Am Certain, Among The Iraqi People A Respect For The Care And The Precision That Went Into The Bombing Campaign.

Those Who Made The Decisions With Imperfect Knowledge Will Be Judged In Hindsight By Those With Considerably More Information At Their Disposal And Time For Reflection.

Control Your Own Time. Don't Let It Be Done For You. If You Are Working Off The In-box That Is Fed You, You Are Probably Working On The Priority Of Others.

There's Another Way To Phrase That And That Is That The Absence Of Evidence Is Not The Evidence Of Absence. It Is Basically Saying The Same Thing In A Different Way. Simply Because You Do Not Have Evidence That Something Does Exist Does Not Mean That You Have Evidence That It Doesn't Exist.

We Never Believed That We'd Just Tumble Over Weapons Of Mass Destruction In That Country.

Mass Destruction

Beware When Any Idea Is Promoted Primarily Because It Is "bold, Exciting, Innovative, And New." There Are Many Ideas That Are "bold, Exciting, Innovative And New," But Also Foolish.

Politics Is Human Beings; It's Addition Rather Than Subtraction.

If You Are Not Criticized, You May Not Be Doing Much.

The Federal Government Should Be The Last Resort, Not The First. Ask If A Potential Program Is Truly A Federal Responsibility Or Whether It Can Better Be Handled Privately, By Voluntary Organizations, Or By Local Or State Governments.

We're Not Running Out Of [fixed] Targets. Afghanistan Is.

The Worst Thing You Can Do Is Allow A Coalition To Determine What Your Mission Is.

There Are Known Knowns; There Are Things We Know We Know. We Also Know There Are Known Unknowns; That Is To Say We Know There Are Some Things We Do Not Know. But There Are Also Unknown Unknowns - The Ones We Don't Know We Don't Know.

I Don't Know Anybody That I Can Think Of Who Has Contended That The Iraqis Had Nuclear Weapons.

I Suppose The Implication Of That Is The President And The Vice President And Myself And Colin Powell Just Fell Off A Turnip Truck To Take These Jobs.

I Am Going To Leave The Future Of Europe To The Europeans.

Plan Backwards As Well As Forward. Set Objectives And Trace Back To See How To Achieve Them. You May Find That No Path Can Get You There. Plan Forward To See Where Your Steps Will Take You, Which May Not Be Clear Or Intuitive.

When Asked For Your Views, By The Press Or Others, Remember That What They Really Want To Know Is The President's Views.

The Dead-enders Are Still With Us, Those Remnants Of The Defeated Regimes Who'll Go On Fighting Long After Their Cause Is Lost.

It Is Unknowable How Long That Conflict [the War In Iraq] Will Last. It Could Last Six Days, Six Weeks. I Doubt Six Months.

Listening To Both Sides Does Not Necessarily Bring About A Correct Judgment.

The Absence Of Evidence Is Not Necessarily The Evidence Of Absence

If There Are People Who Yearn For The Days When Saddam Hussein Was In Power, Then I Am Not Among Them.

Nato Member States Vary Dramatically In Their Capability And In Their Political Steadfastness.

Be Precise. A Lack Of Precision Is Dangerous When The Margin Of Error Is Small.

Most Of The 50 Or So Invitations You Receive Each Week Come From People Inviting The President's Chief Of Staff, Not You. If You Doubt That, Ask Your Predecessor How Many He Received Last Week.

There Are A Lot Of People Who Lie And Get Away With It, And That's Just A Fact.

Pieces Of Intelligence, Scraps Of Intelligence...you Run Down Leads And You Run Down Leads, And You Hope That Sometimes It Works.

I Think It's Very Useful For You Folks (reporters) To Try Your Damndest To Be Precise. And Don't Repeat Things That Are Inaccurate If You Can Possibly Avoid It. And When You See Things That Are Inaccurate, Knock Them Down -- Because There's A Bucket Of It Floating Around.

From Where You Sit, The White House May Look As Untidy As The Inside Of A Stomach. As Is Said Of The Legislative Process, Sausage-making And Policy-making Shouldn't Be Seen Close-up. Don't Let That Panic You. Things May Be Going Better Than They Look From The Inside.

Don't Blame The Boss. He Has Enough Problems.

You're Thinking Of Europe As Germany And France. I Don't. I Think That's Old Europe.

Freedom's Untidy, And Free People Are Free To Make Mistakes And Commit Crimes And Do Bad Things.

I Stand For 8-10 Hours A Day. Why Is Standing Limited To Four Hours?

I Would Not Say That The Future Is Necessarily Less Predictable Than The Past. I Think The Past Was Not Predictable When It Started.

I Can't Tell You If The Use Of Force In Iraq Today Will Last Five Days, Five Weeks Or Five Months, But It Won't Last Any Longer Than That.

The Country Cannot Afford Amateur Hour In The White House.

If The Staff Lacks Policy Guidance Against Which To Test Decisions, Their Decisions Will Be Random.

Death Has A Tendency To Encourage A Depressing View Of War.

Think Ahead. Don't Let Day-to-day Operations Drive Out Planning.

Time Management

In The Execution Of Presidential Decisions Work To Be True To His Views, In Fact And Tone.

In Unanimity There May Well Be Either Cowardice Or Uncritical Thinking.

Leave The President's Family Business To Him. You Will Have Plenty To Do Without Trying To Manage The First Family. They Are Likely To Do Fine Without Your Help.

Let Your Family, Staff, And Friends Know That You're Still The Same Person, Despite All The Publicity And Notoriety That Accompanies Your Position.

The United States, As All You Know, Did Not Come To Iraq For Oil, Not To Occupy. We Came Here Only To Help.

If In Doubt, Don't. If Still In Doubt, Do What's Right.

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.

If You Develop Rules, Never Have More Than Ten.

I Believe What I Said Yesterday. I Don't Know What I Said, But I Know What I Think And I Assume It's What I Said.

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