732 Quotes by Donald Rumsfeld

Obviously it's something that one has to be attentive to and be concerned about, but I haven't seen anything to suggest that the risk is greater today than it was yesterday or the day before.

We, needless to say, do not want to leave abruptly in a way that could inject an instability in this situation, which is why we're working with the interim government to see if we can be helpful in getting their army going and up to speed,

We will stay as long as necessary to help you do that, and not a day longer.... Let me be clear: Iraq belongs to you,

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.

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.

You will launch many projects, but have time to finish only a few. So think, plan, develop, launch and tap good people to be responsible. Give them authority and hold them accountable. Trying to do too much yourself creates a bottleneck.

It's an unfortunate fact of war that inevitably innocent civilians are killed. This has been true throughout the history of warfare and it remains true even in this age of advanced technology and precision-guided munitions,

We need joint integrated approaches to battlefield challenges. We need weapon systems capable of producing the precise and timely destruction of enemy targets.

What's happened is amazing for the speed with which it was executed, but also for all the things that did not happen, all the bad things that could have happened, because of that speed,