Background Image

...

We Want To Approach This In A Multilateral Way, Talking With Our Friends, Consulting With Our Security Council Colleagues In The United Nations, Hoping To Find A Way To Solve This Peacefully, But At The Same Time Recognising That Unless The Threat Of Military Force Is There, Iraq Will Not Disarm.

-Colin Powell

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

We Want To Approach

Colin Powell

...

We Want To Approach This In A Multilateral Way, Talking With Our Friends, Consulting With Our Security Council Colleagues In The United Nations, Hoping To Find A Way To Solve This Peacefully, But At The Same Time Recognising That Unless The Threat Of Military Force Is There, Iraq Will Not Disarm.

Views: 20110

Topic

More From Colin Powell

I Think All Of The Attention Of The World, To Include The Attention Of The Arab World, Should Be On Saddam Hussein And Whether Or Not He Is Prepared To Give Up The Weapons Of Mass Destruction That He Has Used To Terrorise The Region.

Mass Destruction

The United States Has Every Intention Of Continuing To Do The Kind Of Reconnaissance And Surveillance Work We Have Done For Decades, Well Known To Everyone, That Is Essential To Protect Our National Security, And Frankly, The Security Of Our Friends In Various Regions Of The World. It Is Part Of Our Collection System.

Great Leaders Are Those Who Are Able To Look Reality In The Face, However Painful It May Be, And Deal With It.

In My 35 Years In The Army I Was In School For 6 Years. I Think Corporations Should Take A Look At Whether They Are Investing Enough In The Development Of Their Human Capital.

Respect For Leaders By Followers Can't Be Mandated; It Must Be Earned. It Has To Be Given To Leaders By Their Followers.

The Information That The Intelligence People Used Was A Combination Of Satellite Information, Signals Intelligence, And Human Intelligence. We Are Not Sure To What Extent Saddam [hussein] Was Trying To Convey An Incorrect Picture To Us.

A Sense Of Shame Is Not A Bad Moral Compass.

Some People Naturally Have A Sense Of Empathy And An Understanding Of How To Bring Their Followers To Do Things. They Become Great Politicians.

Perpetual Optimism Is A Force Multiplier.

In Other Words, Don't Expect To Always Be Great. Disappointments, Failures And Setbacks Are A Normal Part Of The Lifecycle Of A Unit Or A Company And What The Leader Has To Do Is Constantly Be Up And Say 'we Have A Problem, Let's Go And Get It'.

Over The Years, The United States Has Sent Many Of Its Fine Young Men And Women Into Great Peril To Fight For Freedom Beyond Our Borders. The Only Amount Of Land We Have Ever Asked For In Return Is Enough To Bury Those That Did Not Return.

Leadership Is All About People. It Is Not About Organizations. It Is Not About Plans. It Is Not About Strategies. It Is All About People-motivating People To Get The Job Done. You Have To Be People-centered.

Whenever You Start-give It Your Best. The Opportunities Are There To Be Anything You Want To Be. But Wanting To Be Someone Isn't Enough; Dreaming About It Isn't Enough; Thinking About It Isn't Enough. You've Got To Study For It, Work For It, Fight For It With All Your Heart And Soul, Because Nobody Is Going To Hand It To You.

Each Of Us Must Work To Become A Hardheaded Realist, Or Else We Risk Wasting Our Time And Energy On Pursuing Impossible Dreams. Yet Constant Naysayers Pursue No Less Impossible Dreams. Their Fear And Cynicism Move Nothing Forward. They Kill Progress. How Many Cynics Built Empires, Great Cities, Or Powerful Corporations?

The United States-israeli Relationship Is Based On The Broadest Conception Of American National Interest In Which Our Two Nations Are Bound Forever Together By Common Democratic Values And Traditions. This Will Never Change.

We Need Stable Regimes In This Part Of The World [the Mideast] Who Will Be Partners And Friends Of Ours, Because The Fact Of The Matter Is We Do Rely On Imported Oil To Fuel Our Economy And To Fuel Our Nation.

We Are Not Going To Dwell On Those Things That Divide Us. We Are Going To Rejoice In Those Things That Keep Us Together To Make This A Better Country - To Reach Down And Back To Touch Every Young Person In Need!

Leaders Honor Their Core Values, But They Are Flexible In How They Execute Them.

Once The Information Is In The 40 To 70 Range, Go With Your Gut.

We Are Rather Candid With Them About The Nature Of Their Political Processes And The State Of Development Of Their Institutions, But They Are Looking To The West Because They Know That's Where Success Lies.

So Has The Strategic Decision Been Made To Disarm Iraq Of Its Weapons Of Mass Destruction By The Leadership In Baghdad? I Think Our Judgment Has To Be Clearly Not.

We Are Not Sure To What Extent Saddam's [hussein ] Own People Were Conveying An Incorrect Picture To Him. But This Body Of Evidence Was Believed Not Only By President George W. Bush. President Bill Clinton Used That Same Body Of Intelligence Before Bombing Iraq In 1998.

90 Percent Of My Time Is Spent On 10 Percent Of The World.

Let's Not Forget That Congress Bears A Lot Of Responsibility For Many Of The Problems We Have Now

That's Why The Army Sends All Its Future Generals To What We Call "charm School." As Soon As You Are A General, People Think That You Know Everything. You Think Yourself That You Have Become Omniscient And Omnipotent. Be Careful, Because People Want To Do Everything They Can To Please The General, And You Need To Guard Against This.

The Chief Condition On Which, Life, Health And Vigor Depend On, Is Action. It Is By Action That An Organism Develops Its Faculties, Increases Its Energy, And Attains The Fulfillment Of Its Destiny.

Good And Solid Analysis And A Formal Way Of Looking At A Problem [are The Core Ingredients Of Good Decisions].

What We Would Be Committed To Would Be A Representative Government Where All The Iraqi People Decide Who Should Lead Their Nation, And Lead It In A Way That Keeps It Together As A Single Nation And Where All Parts Of The Nation - Shia, Sunni And Kurds - Are Able To Live Free And In Peace And Believe That Their Interests Are Represented By The Government.

We Knew That Al-qaida Was A Threat To Our Country. We Knew That The Clinton Administration Understood This And Was Working Against Al-qaida We Did Not Ignore Al-qaida. We Spent A Lot Of Our Time Thinking About Terrorism, What Should We Do About It.

I Understand That And I Have Had Very Candid Discussions With Saudi Leaders In The Past. I Respect Their Culture And Their Heritage And Their Traditions, But I Think That They Now, As They Move Forward, Will Have To Start Examining These Traditions And These Practices To See Whether Or Not Change Is Appropriate.

Leadership Is Solving Problems.

Problem Solving

Don't Let Your Ego Get Too Close To Your Position, So That If Your Position Gets Shot Down, Your Ego Doesn't Go With It.

Even Though The Numbers Are Down With Respect To Favorability Ratings, At Every Embassy And Consular Office Tomorrow Morning That We Have, People Will Be Lined Up, And They'll All Say The Same Thing, "we Want To Go To America." So We're Still The Leader Of The World That Wants To Be Free. We Are Still The Inspiration Of The Rest Of The World. And We Can Come Back.

Always Be Looking For That Which You Do Well And That Which You Love Doing, And When You Find Those Two Things Together — Man, You Got It.

The Troops May Whine And Moan, But When They Meet The Standard, There's A Sense Of Pride.

Today I Can Declare My Hope And Declare It From The Bottom Of My Heart That We Will Eventually See The Time When That Number Of Nuclear Weapons Is Down To Zero And The World Is A Much Better Place.

I've Voted For Republicans Who Were Strong On Defense, Who Believed In A Free And Open Economy But Who Also Understood That There's A Place For Government In Our Lives, That Government Has A Responsibility To Those Of Our Citizens Who Are In Need And Those Of Our Citizens Who Are Needy Of Health Care.

I Would Not Presume From This Distance, Nor Would America Presume To Say Who Should Be The Leader Of The Iraqi Nation.

It's Not Just A Matter Of Whether You Support Obama Or Romney. It's Who They Have Coming With Them. I Always Keep My Powder Dry, As They Say In The Military.

The Most Effective Means Of Ensuring The Government's Accountability To The People Is An Aggressive, Free, Challenging, Untrusting Press.

It Is The Fault Of The United States That These Terrible People, These Insurgents And Terrorists Are Out There. They Are The Ones That We Ought To Be Focusing Our Energy On Defeating And Not Just Wring Our Hands About The Fact That It's Going To Be Difficult.

I Have Always Gone Through Public Life And Saying That With Respect To Political Candidates, I Always Measure Each Candidate Against What I Think The Country Needs At That Time, And I Will Vote For The Person I Think Who Is Most Qualified To Serve The Nation At That Time.

All Nations That Are Civilized And Do Not Accept This Kind Of Action As Representing Any Sort Of Legitimate Political Cause Are Coming Together To Fight These Terrorists.

There Are A Lot Of Bigger Issues We Have To Be Worrying About With Respect To Our Relationship To China, And The Longer They Drag Out The Situation, The More Difficult It Is To Get This Relationship Back On Track.

Never Neglect Details. When Everyone's Mind Is Dulled Or Distracted The Leader Must Be Doubly Vigilant.

You Have To Comply, You Have To Obey - Or You'd Better Resign And Leave. But That Is Also The Mark Of A Great Leader - Somebody Who, In The Presence Of Inner Conflict, Will Do The Right Thing.

Strategy Equals Execution. All The Great Ideas And Visions In The World Are Worthless If They Can't Be Implemented Rapidly And Efficiently. Good Leaders Delegate And Empower Others Liberally, But They Pay Attention To Details, Every Day.

Leadership Is All About People … And Getting The Most Out Of People.

Finding The Russian Scientists May Be A Problem Being That Russia Does Not Have A Social Security System, As Here In America, That Allows Us To Monitor, Track Down And Capture An American Citizen.

Security Systems

Too Often We Act - Ask Our Schools To Be Truant Officers, Our Teachers To Be Truant Officers, Because We're Giving Them Children Who Have, You Know, They're Not Ready To Learn. And If They're Not Ready To Learn By The Third Grade, They Know They're Behind.

I Think The American People Want To See What We Want To See, And That Is For The Iraqi People To Have A Free, Open, Fair Election, For Their Forces To Be Built Up, For Our Reconstruction Money To Be Used Well, And For Iraqi Security Forces To Take Over So We Can Start Bringing Our Troops Home.

I Think Our Initiative With Respect To Education And Economic Development Can Work In Saudi Arabia And It Is Up To The Saudis To Decide How They Wish To Transform Their Society In Order To Make It Prepared For The Challenges Of The 21st Century.

There Is A War On Terror That Must Be Fought. Nobody's Immune... And So Rather Than Finding Fault With What Spain Has Done By Being Aggressive In The War On Terror, This Should Redouble Everyone's Efforts To Go After Terrorist Organizations Of Any Kind... Terror Has To Be Brought To An End.

Don't Let Adverse Facts Stand In The Way Of A Good Decision.

I Think You Can Improve On That Natural Ability With Training And Exposure To Great Leaders Of The Past And To Management Theories.

When We Have Dealt With Bin Laden And His Network We Will Then Broaden The Campaign To Go After Other Terrorists All Around The World.

If A Leader Doesn't Convey Passion And Intensity Then There Will Be No Passion And Intensity Within The Organization And They'll Start To Fall Down And Get Depressed.

The President's Personal Staff Has A Unique Role.

The Person Who Will Decide Whether Or Not There Will Be War Or Peace Is Saddam Hussein, And All He Has To Do Is Give Up These Terrible Weapons That He Has Used To Kill Fellow Arabs, Fellow Muslims In That Part Of The World, And To Step Away From His Past Behaviour Which Invaded Neighbouring Countries.

There Is No Such Thing As An Unimportant Person In An Organization.

Terrorism Really Flourishes In Areas Of Poverty, Despair And Hopelessness, Where People See No Future

Endeavors Succeed Or Fail Because Of The People Involved.

Nobody Is Ready To Leave Iraq To Be Interviewed.

Don't Just Count Your Days, Make Your Days Count.

We Are Not Shrinking From Talking To Saudis Or Anyone Else In The Region, But It Is Up To Each Nation In The Region To Decide On Its Own How It Will Proceed And At What Pace. There Are Other Nations In The Region That Had Similar Policies To Saudi Arabia That Are Starting To Make Changes, Such As Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Morocco. And So It Takes Time But When You See The Need For Such Changes, Then Changes Tend To Follow.

Don't Just Show Kindness In Passing Or To Be Courteous. Show It In Depth, Show It With Passion, And Expect Nothing In Return. Kindness Is Not Just About Being Nice; It's About Recognizing Another Human Being Who Deserves Care And Respect.

I Try To Be The Same Person I Was Yesterday.

The United States Is Not Looking For A Way To Launch War.

Have A Vision; But It's Not Enough To Have A Vision, You Have To Communicate That Vision To Others. You Have To Communicate It To People Who Work With You And For You. You Have To Communicate It To The World Leaders With Whom You Come In Touch.

Be Careful What You Choose: You May Get It.

But Just As They Did In Philadelphia When They Were Writing The Constitution, Sooner Or Later, You've Got To Compromise. You've Got To Start Making The Compromises That Arrive At A Consensus And Move The Country Forward.

Politics Is Not Bean Bags. It's Serious, Tough Stuff.

I Can't Deny That It Will Be A Historic Event For An African-american To Become President. And Should That Happen, All Americans Should Be Proud - Not Just African-americans, But All Americans - That We Have Reached This Point In Our National History Where Such A Thing Could Happen. It Will Also Not Only Electrify Our Country, I Think It'll Electrify The World.

African American

Baghdad Fell On April 9, 2003, Hussein And His Regime Were Brought Down, We Declared "mission Accomplished" And Celebrated Victory . . . And Chaos Erupted. We Did Not Assert Control And Authority Over The Country, Especially Baghdad. We Did Not Bring With Us The Capacity To Impose Our Will. We Did Not Take Charge. And Iraq Did Not In A Few Weeks Magically Transform Itself Into A Stable Nation With Democratic Leaders. Instead A Raging Insurgency Engulfed The Country.

I Recommended To The President [george Bush] That Our Focus Had To Be On Al-qaida, The Taliban And Afghanistan. Those Were The Ones Who Attacked The United States Of America On 9/11.

The Bottom Line In All Of It Is That, In Life, It's All About People.

The Essence Of Leadership Is Building Bonds Of Trust In Your Organization.

Effective Leaders Are Made, Not Born. They Learn From Trial And Error, And From Experience.

Trial And Error

Get Mad, Then Get Over It.

Wouldn't It Be Great If We Could Look Forward To A Whole World In Which No Child Will Be Left Behind?

I Went To Graduate School As A Lieutenant Colonel After I Had Been In The Army For 12 Or 13 Years. I Learned So Much From All The Great Management Theorists. It Gave Me A Greater Understanding Of My Army Experience And Showed Me The Gaps In My Knowledge.

We All Hoped In 2001 That We Could Put In Place An Afghan Government Under President Karzai That Would Be Able To Control The Country, Make Sure Al-qaeda Didn't Come Back, And Make Sure The Taliban Wasn't Resurging. It Didn't Work Out.

Every Human Endeavor Has Leaders And Followers, And Your Job As A Leader Is To Inspire.

We Have To Be On Guard That We Don't Spend So Much Time Worrying About Terrorism And Guarding Ourselves That We Start To Lose The Essence Of Who We Are As An Open, Freedom-loving People, Welcoming To The Rest Of The World.

The United Nations Will Spearhead Our Efforts To Manage The New Conflicts (that Afflict Our World)... Yes The Principles Of The United Nations Charter Are Worth Our Lives, Our Fortunes, And Our Sacred Honor.

You Know You're A Good Leader When People Follow You Out Of Curiosity.

I Respect The Fact That Many Denominations Have Different Points Of View With Respect To Gay Marriage And They Can Hold That In The Sanctity In The Place Of Their Religion And Not Bless Them Or Solemnize Them.

When We Are Debating An Issue, Loyalty Means Giving Me Your Honest Opinion, Whether You Think I'll Like It Or Not. Disagreement, At This State, Stimulates Me. But Once A Decision Is Made, The Debate Ends. From That Point On, Loyalty Means Executing The Decision As If It Were Your Own.

I Don't Know Who All Of His Advisers Are, But I've Seen Some Of The Names And Some Of Them Are Quite Far To The Right. And Sometimes They Might Be In A Position To Make Judgments Or Recommendations To The Candidate That Should Get A Second Thought.

President Kennedy Didn't Negotiate Out Of The Cuban Missile Crisis Simply Because He And Khrushchev Got Along Well. Khrushchev Didn't Have The Cards.

Nobody Wants To Be In A Mediocre Organization. You Don't Have The Same Energy Flowing Through.

One Important Element Of Leadership Is Taking Care Of The Troops.

The Great Leaders That I Have Worked With Are People Who Have A Good Sense Of Empathy With Other People. They Can Walk A Factory Floor, Or Walk Through A Battalion And Smell If There's Something Wrong.

At The Same Time I Think It Is Absolutely Necessary That There Be No Confusion, No Misunderstanding That If The Iraqis.. Do Not Comply, Then There Will Be Consequences And Those Consequences Will Involve The Use Of Military Force To Disarm Them Through Changing The Regime.

You Don't Know What You Can Get Away With Until You Try.

Our Strategy In Going After This Army Is Very Simple. First We Are Going To Cut It Off, And Then We Are Going To Kill It.

I Think Leadership Is Both A Trained Thing And A Natural Gift.

Thee Are Such Horrible Weapons. And So No Sane Leader Would Ever Want To Cross That Line To Using Nuclear Weapons. And, If You Are Not Going To Cross That Line, Then These Things Are Basically Useless.

The Burden Is On Saddam Hussein. And Our Policy, Our National Policy - Not The Un Policy But Our National Policy - Is That The Regime Should Be Changed Until Such Time As He Demonstrates That It Is Not Necessary To Change The Regime Because The Regime Has Changed Itself.

Service-learning Is A Particularly Fertile Way Of Involving Young People In Community Service, Because It Ties Helping Others To What They Are Learning In The Classroom. It Enables Them To Apply Academic Disciplines To Practical, Everyday Problems. In The Process, It Provides A Compelling Answer To The Adolescent's Perennial Question, 'why Do I Need To Learn This Stuff?

Everyday Problems

There Are No Secrets To Success. It Is The Result Of Preparation, Hard Work, And Learning From Failure.

The United States Is Looking At A Way To Launch Peace With A Disarmed Iraq. And So We Are Studying The Declaration That Iraq Submitted. Other Members Of The Security Council Are Studying The Declaration, As Is Unmovic And Iaea, And I Would Not Make A Judgment As To Whether Or Not The Declaration Will Be Found Deficient And Whether Or Not That Might Lead To A Material Breach And Whether Or Not, If It Did, That Would Lead To Action On The Part Of The United Nations.

I Have Found That Leadership Is Leadership Is Leadership. It Applies Whether You Are In Government Or In Corporate Life Or In Non-profit Life.

I Can Think Of Nothing That Saddam Hussein Can Do Diplomatically (to Avoid War). I Think That Time Is Now Over. He's Had His Chance, He Has Had Many Chances Over The Last 12 Years And He Has Blown Every One Of Those Chances.

We Need To Understand That We As Citizens And As A Government In Any Community Throughout This Country Have No More Important Obligation Than To Educate Those Who Are Going To Replace Us.

The Court Is Perhaps One Of The Last Citadels Of Jealously Preserved Individualism. For The Most Part, We Function As Nine, Small Independent Law Firms.

Well, The Correct Answer Is He Is Not A Muslim, He’s A Christian. He’s Always Been A Christian. But The Really Right Answer Is, What If He Is? Is There Something Wrong With Being A Muslim In This Country?

It Is Not Our Place To Decide Who Should Lead The Iraqi People. If Saddam [hussein] Leaves Or Has To Be Forced Out Of Power And A New Regime Brought In, A New Leadership Brought In, I Am Confident It Will Be Some Combination Of People Inside The Country And Outside The Country.

Being Kind Doesn't Mean Being Soft Or A Wuss. Kindness Is Not A Sign Of Weakness. It Is A Sign Of Confidence. If You Have Developed A Reputation For Kindness And Consideration, Then Even The Most Unpleasant Decisions Will Go Down Easier Because Everyone Will Understand Why You Are Doing What You Are Doing. They Will Realize That Your Decision Must Be Necessary, And Is Not Arbitrary Or Without Empathy. As The Old Saying Puts It, 'to The World, You May Be One Person, But To One Person You May Be The World.'

I Would Sit And Talk To Any President Who Wishes To Talk To Me, But I'm Not Anxious To Rule It In.

With Respect To Our Friends In The [iraq] Region, Each Has Its Own System, Each Will Have To Make Its Own Judgment As To Whether It Will Change, How Fast It Will Change, And We Hope That We Can Help Influence Them As To How Change Comes About And What Change Might Be Better For Them Than Other Forms Of Change.

Don't Take Counsel Of Your Fears Or Naysayers.

When I Was Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Of Staff, I Would Still Have Junior Officers Brief Me. Usually These People Knew More About The Subject We Were Discussing Than I Did. I Had To Make Sure That They Felt Confident Enough To Tell Me Everything They Believed.

In The Military, We Are Also Taught To Only Use One Third Of The Available Decision-making Time, So That Our Subordinates Have Time To Go Through Their Own Decision Processes When They Learn What We Want Them To Do.

This Is Something Else That Is Drilled Into Us In The Military: Make Sure You Know Who Your Replacement Is, In Case You Become A Casualty. So You Have To Have Depth Within An Organization.

Always Focus On The Front Windshield And Not The Review Mirror.

We Have To Start Thinking Of America As A Family. We Have To Stop Screeching Screeching At Each Other, Stop Hurting Each Other, And Instead Start Caring For, Sacrificing For And Sharing With Each Other ... We Cannot Move Forward If Cynics And Critics Swoop Down And Pick Apart Anything That Goes Wrong, To A Point Where We Lose Sight Of What Is Right, Decent And Uniquely Good About America.

The Commander In The Field Is Always Right And The Rear Echelon Is Wrong, Unless Proved Otherwise.

If You Are Black, If You Are Puerto Rican Or Hispanic, Be Proud Of That. But Don't Let It Become A Problem. Let It Become Somebody Else's Problem.

You Can't Get It All Done Yourself. The Best Leaders Are Not Afraid Of Picking People Who Are Better Than They Are And Who May One Day Replace Them.

When You Help The Poorest In The World, You Start To Move Them Up An Economic And Social Ladder, And They're Not Going To Be Moving Toward Violence Or Terrorism Of The Kind That We Worry About.

President Reagan Fueled The Spirit Of America. His Smile, His Optimism, His Total Belief In The Ultimate Triumph Of Democracy And Freedom, And His Willingness To Act On That Belief, Helped End The Cold War And Usher In A New And Brighter Phase Of History.

What Could Be More Important Than Equipping The Next Generation With The Character And Competence They Need To Become Successful

You Should See What Our Founding Fathers Used To Say To Each Other And In The Early Part Of Our Nation. But What They Were Able To Do, Especially In Philadelphia In 1787, Four Months, They Argued About What A House Should Be, What A Senate Should Be, The Power Of The President, The Congress, The Supreme Court. And They Had To Deal With Slavery.

Good Leaders Must Know How To Reward Those Who Succeed And Know When To Retrain, Move, Or Fire Ineffective Staff.

A Mirror Reflects A Man's Face, But What He Is Really Like Is Shown By The Kind Of Friends He Chooses.

Company You Keep

Let Me Blow That Up For You Again.

Terrorism Threat Is Serious, And Not Just To American Interests. The Assaults In Russia Against Two Airliners, Bringing Them Out Of The Sky, And Against A Subway Station, And Then That Horrible Scene At The School In Beslan. This Kind Of Terrorist Activity No One Is Immune From It. And So It Suggests That We Have To Do Even More Together To Make Sure The Civilized Worlds Join Together In The War Against Terrorism.

No War On The Face Of The Earth Is More Destructive Than The Aids Pandemic.

Being In Charge Sometimes Means Making People Mad. Some Days You Have To Overrule Even The Best Advice, Because You Think It Is Not Right.

My Own Experience Is That You Get As Much Information As You Can And Then You Pay Attention To Your Intuition, To Your Informed Instinct.

It's Really Not A Number I'm Terribly Interested In.

America Has A Terrible Educational Problem In The Sense That We Have Too Many Youngsters Not Finishing School. A Third Of Our Kids Don't Finish High School, 50 Percent Of Minorities Don't Finish High School.

Another Rule I Have Is: Don't Let Your Ego Get Tied Up In A Policy Dispute. Otherwise, If Things Don't Go Your Way, You Can End Up Breaking A Relationship With Somebody With Whom You Can't Afford To Break.

I Always Like To Take My Time And Examine The Two Candidates, See Not Only The Two Candidates But The Policies They Will Bring In, The People They Will Bring In, Who They Might Appoint To The Supreme Court, And Look At The Whole Range Of Issues Before Making A Decision.

I Have Always Tried To Do My Job In A Way That I Have People Give Me Different Points Of View.

We Have Gone Forth From Our Shores Repeatedly Over The Last Hundred Years And We've Done This As Recently As The Last Year In Afghanistan And Put Wonderful Young Men And Women At Risk, Many Of Whom Have Lost Their Lives, And We Have Asked For Nothing Except Enough Ground To Bury Them In, And Otherwise We Have Returned Home To Seek Our Own Lives In Peace.

You Can't Just Have Slogans, You Can't Just Have Catchy Phrases. You Have To Have An Agenda. And I Think What The Republican Party Has To Do, If It's Going To Incorporate The Tea Party Efforts In It, Is To Come Up With An Agenda That The American People Can See, Touch, And Actually Believe In, And Something They Believe In.

Diplomacy Never Stops, And, With Or Without An Election, It Never Stops.

I Would Caution My Republican Friends That [obama Has] Three Years To Go, And In That Three Years The American People Are Going To Want To See Some Progress And Not Just Claims That This Guy Is Out Of Office And We're Going To Do Everything To Destroy Him Or That Somehow He Is A 'socialist' Taking Over The Country. Have We So Lost Our Faith In This Country That We Think One Person, One Man Can Be Can Suddenly Change Our Entire System? That's Kind Of Absurd.

Even The Greatest Of All Strategists Must Occasionally Take Into Account The Presence Of An Enemy.

None Of Us Can Change Our Yesterdays But All Of Us Can Change Our Tomorrows.

The Best Leaders Are Those Who Break That Mission Down Into The Organization's Constituent Parts, So That Everybody Understands Their Role And How It All Builds Into The Whole.

Use The Formula P=40 To 70, In Which P Stands For The Probability Of Success And The Numbers Indicate The Percentage Of Information Acquired. Once The Information Is In The 40 To 70 Range, Go With Your Gut.

The Best Way To Create A Winning Team Is To Train Them, Give Them Everything They Need To Get The Job Done And Second, Make Sure They Know What The Job Is And What The Job Will Be. So You Connect Strategy To Resources.

Fit No Stereotypes. Don't Chase The Latest Management Fads. The Situation Dictates Which Approach Best Accomplishes The Team's Mission.

I Don't Think We Handled The Aftermath Of The Fall Of Baghdad As Well As We Might Have. But That's Now History.

I Think Whether You're Having Setbacks Or Not, The Role Of A Leader Is To Always Display A Winning Attitude.

The Root Cause Of Poverty Is Social Injustice And The Bad Government That Abets It

Experts Often Possess More Data Than Judgment.

If Everybody Trusts One Another, Then The Person Who Didn't Prevail Will Faithfully Execute The Decision As If It Was Their Idea.

I'm Going To Be Bringing People Into The Public Diplomacy Function Of The Department Who Are Going To Change From Just Selling Us In The Old Usia Way To Really Branding Foreign Policy, Branding The Department, Marketing The Department, Marketing American Values To The World And Not Just Putting Out Pamphlets.

We Now Believe It Is Appropriate For Saddam Hussein To Be Forced To Change, Either By The Threat Of War, And Therefore That Compels Him To Cooperate. If He Cooperates, Then The Basis Of Changed Regime Policy Has Shifted Because His Regime Has, In Fact, Changed Its Policy To One Of Cooperation. So If He Cooperates, Then That Is Different Than If He Does Not Cooperate.

You Have To Create Circumstances Where Your First-tier Leader Knows What You Are Trying To Accomplish, Because He Is The One Who's Going To Get It Done.

Our Failure Was That Our Intelligence Community Thought [saddam Hussein ] Had Stockpiled Weapons Of Mass Destruction. That Was A Mistake. There Is Fallibility In Human Intelligence And In Human Decisions.

Mass Destruction

Actually, There Is No More Important Task For A Leader Than To Pick People. To Make Sure You Have The Very Best People Working For You.

All Values Are Important, Everyone Who Has Ever Touched My Life In Some Way Was A Mentor For Good Or Bad. Life Is A Blend, And A Person Is A Blend Of All The Influences That Have Touched Their Lives.

Organization Doesn't Really Accomplish Anything. Plans Don't Accomplish Anything, Either. Theories Of Management Don't Much Matter. Endeavors Succeed Or Fail Because Of The People Involved. Only By Attracting The Best People Will You Accomplish Great Deeds.

I Regret That The Presentation I Made At The Un Turned Out To Be Wrong. It Was Wrong On The Stockpiles Of Weapons Of Mass Destruction, But Pretty Much Right On Intentions And Capabilities.

Mass Destruction

I'm Absolutely Sure That There Are Weapons Of Mass Destruction There And The Evidence Will Be Forthcoming. We're Just Getting It Just Now.

Mass Destruction

It Is The Us Government's Desire For The Iraqi People To Lead Themselves, Not For Any Outside Power To Be The Leadership For Iraq In The Future. There May Be Some Transition Period Where The International Community Would Have To Help The Iraqi People Put In Place A Representative Government. But That Is The Goal, Not For The United States, Or Any Other Nation, For That Matter, Who Might Be In Such A Coalition, If One Is Formed, To Serve As The Leader Of The Iraqi Nation.

Almost Invariably, Whoever Doesn't Win The Argument Is Going To Be Unhappy.

In Terms Of The Legal Matter Of Creating A Contract Between Two People That's Called Marriage, And Allowing Them To Live Together With The Protection Of Law, It Seems To Me Is The Way We Should Be Moving In This Country.

Perpetual Optimism Is A Force Multiplier. I Am Talking About A Gung-ho Attitude That Says 'we Can Change Things Here, We Can Achieve Awesome Goals, We Can Be The Best. 'spare Me The Grim Litany Of The 'realist;' Give Me The Unrealistic Aspirations Of The Optimist Any Day.

I Don't Think Anyone Would Disagree With The Conclusion That Saddam [hussein] Was A Terrible Dictator. He Had Gassed His Own People And His Neighbors. He Had Killed Thousands Of People, And He Had Started A Couple Of Wars And Destroyed His Country.

He (saddam Hussein) Has Not Developed Any Significant Capability With Respect To Weapons Of Mass Destruction. He Is Unable To Project Conventional Power Against His Neighbours.

Mass Destruction

Always Be Looking For The Opportunities, And Always Be Optimistic About What You Can Do With That Opportunity.

Being Optimistic

Look At The World. There Is No Pure Competitor To The United States Of America.

Decision-making Is Lonely.

Decision Making

Change Of Regime With Respect To Iraq Had Nothing To Do With This; It Had Everything To Do With The Fact That Iraq Had Weapons Of Mass Destruction. And At The Time Change In Regime As A Policy Came Into Effect In 1998, It Was Seen As The Only Way To Compel Iraq To Get Rid Of Its Weapons Of Mass Destruction.

Mass Destruction

War Should Be The Politics Of Last Resort. And When We Go To War, We Should Have A Purpose That Our People Understand And Support.

Every Organization Should Tolerate Rebels Who Tell The Emperor He Has No Clothes

I Think We Can Make A Contribution To Their [saudi Arabia] Thinking As They Decide How They Should Deal With The Economic And Social Challenges That They Are Facing.

I Was Born In Harlem, Raised In The South Bronx, Went To Public School, Got Out Of Public College, Went Into The Army, And Then I Just Stuck With It.

Failure Is A Part Of Life And You Have To Learn To Deal With It. Failure Is Something That Is Part Of Life's Cycle And It's From Failure That You Gain Life Experience.

Life Experience

Let It [racism] Be A Problem To Someone Else... Let It Drag Them Down. Don't Use It As An Excuse For Your Own Shortcomings.

No One Has Done More To Prevent Conflict - No One Has Made A Greater Sacrifice For The Cause For Peace - Than You, America's Proud Missile Submarine Family. You Stand Tall Among Our Heroes Of The Cold War.

We Believe, From Everything We Have Been Told By The Intelligence Community, By 12 Years Of History With Iraq, By The Experience Of The U.n. Inspectors And By Other Intelligence Agencies In Other Countries That Saddam Hussein Had The Intention To Develop Weapons Of Mass Destruction And To Have Such Weapons, And That Was A Sound Judgment Which I Still Believe To This Day Because He Had Had Them In The Past, He'd Used Them In The Past.

Giving Back Involves A Certain Amount Of Giving Up.

We Can Seldom Get Our Children To Do What We Tell Them, But They Almost Never Fail To Imitate Us.

In The Military We Are Always Looking For Ways To Leverage Up Our Forces. Having Greater Communications And Command And Control Over Your Forces Than Your Enemy Has Over His Is A Force Multiplier. Having Greater Logistics Capability Than The Enemy Is A Force Multiplier. Having Better-trained Commanders Is A Force Multiplier. Perpetual Optimism, Believing In Yourself, Believing In Your Purpose, Believing You Will Prevail, And Demonstrating Passion And Confidence Is A Force Multiplier. If You Believe And Have Prepared Your Followers, The Followers Will Believe.

You Should Never Be So Involved With Your Position/job That When The Position Is Gone Your Entire Self Image Is Gone With It.

Saudi Arabia Will Have To Decide Its Own Path, And I Don't Know If It Will Decide A Path Like Any Other Nation In The Region Or If It Will Design Something That Is Unique To Saudi Arabia.

The Freedom To Do Your Best Means Nothing Unless You Are Willing To Do Your Best.

Always Do Your Best. Somebody Is Watching You.

There's No Doubt In My Mind, Though, That The Iraqi People Would Be Better Off With A Different Leader Who Did Not Waste Their Oil On Weapons, As Opposed To Education, As Opposed To Healthcare, As Opposed To Food, As Opposed To Roads, As Opposed To Clean Water. It Is Really Sinful, A Crime, What Saddam Hussein Has Done With The Wealth Of The Iraqi People Over The Last 30 Years.

All Children Need A Laptop. Not A Computer, But A Human Laptop. Moms, Dads, Grannies And Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles - Someone To Hold Them, Read To Them, Teach Them. Loved Ones Who Will Embrace Them And Pass On The Experience, Rituals And Knowledge Of A Hundred Previous Generations. Loved Ones Who Will Pass To The Next Generation Their Expectations Of Them, Their Hopes, And Their Dreams.

Excellence Is Not An Exception, It Is A Prevailing Attitude

I Served 40 Years In Government, And I'm Not Looking Forward To A Position Or An Assignment. Of Course, I Have Always Said If A President Asks You To Do Something, You Have To Consider It. But I Am In No Way Interested In Returning To Government. But I, Of Course, Would Sit And Talk To Any President Who Wishes To Talk To Me.

Preferring Members Of Any One Group For No Reason Other Than Race Or Ethnic Origin Is Discrimination For Its Own Sake. This The Constitution Forbids.

Look For Intelligence And Judgment And, Most Critically, A Capacity To Anticipate, To See Around Corners. Also Look For Loyalty, Integrity, A High Energy Drive, A Balanced Ego And The Drive To Get Things Done.

It Was Not The United States Who Invaded Kuwait; It Was Iraq. It Was Not The United States That Went To War With Iran; It Was Iraq. It Was Not The United States That Fired Chemical Weapons At Iran; It Was Iraq. And It Was Not The United States That Murdered Innocent Iraqi Citizens With Chemical Weapons; It Was Iraq.

As A Leader You Set The Tone For Your Entire Team. Communicate Your Vision.

Pissing People Off Doesn't Mean You're Doing The Right Things, But Doing The Right Things Will Almost Inevitably Piss People Off.

The United States Is Still Seen As The Leader At The World That Wants To Be Free.

Don't Be Afraid To Challenge The Pros, Even In Their Own Backyard.

Always Find Different Ways To Accomplish The Mission. Then Run A Counter-analysis And List The Advantages And Disadvantages. When You Have Done That, You Are Ready To Make A Decision.

We Want To Approach This In A Multilateral Way, Talking With Our Friends, Consulting With Our Security Council Colleagues In The United Nations, Hoping To Find A Way To Solve This Peacefully, But At The Same Time Recognising That Unless The Threat Of Military Force Is There, Iraq Will Not Disarm.

As I've Thought About Gay Marriage, I Don't See Any Reason Not To Say That [couples] Should Be Able To Get Married.

Marriage Equality

What You’re Seeing With Occupy Wall Street And The Others Are People Who Are Unhappy And They’re Directing Their Unhappiness Now Toward Wall Street And Toward Those They Think Are Doing Too Well In Our Society.

Trending Author

Kelley Armstrong

Category