Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Henry Rumsfeldis an American politician and businessman. Rumsfeld served as the 13th Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and as the 21st Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. He is both the youngest and the second oldestperson to have served as Secretary of Defense. Additionally, Rumsfeld was a three-term U.S. Congressman from Illinois, Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, Counsellor to the President, the United States Permanent...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth9 July 1932
CityEvanston, IL
CountryUnited States of America
The problem is, to a large extent, we are in unexplored territory with this unconventional and complex struggle against extremism,
There are people running around with digital cameras, taking these unbelievable pictures, sending them out against the law, and they haven't even arrived at the Pentagon yet!
You cannot defend against terrorists by hunkering down, ... You simply must go after them. That is the only proper defense is an offense.
We wanted to be here and meet with the senior leadership in this country because we value their advice, we value their counsel and we recognize that this is a campaign, a war, a battle against a problem that crosses the globe,
It's not an effort against the Afghan people, ... Indeed, we are providing humanitarian assistance.
It's impossible ... to defend in every location against every conceivable kind of attack at every time of the day or night,
We're not going to making requests of the Saudi Arabian government. We are respectful of the circumstance of the countries of the region. We understand that, ... Our interest is to create a set of conditions, a sustained effort against terrorist networks in the region.
We should put this S.O.B. up against a wall and say, 'This is one of our bad days,' and pull the trigger.
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.
This effort is certainly not against the Afghan people. It's not against a race. It's not against a religion. It's against terrorists who came into the United States and killed thousands of human beings, innocent people,
Our challenge in this new century is a different one, ... It's really to defend our nation against the unknown, the uncertain and, what we have to understand, will be the unexpected. That may seem on the face of it an impossible task but it is not.
The goal is to have the pressure be so great that Saddam Hussein cooperates, ... Short of that -- an unwillingness to cooperate -- the goal is to have the capabilities of the coalition so clear and so obvious that there is an enormous disincentive for the Iraqi military to fight against the coalition.
These are not tactics of war, they are crimes of war, ... Deploying human shields is not a military strategy, it's murder, a violation of the laws of armed conflict and a crime against humanity, and it will be treated as such.
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.