Donald Rumsfeld Quotes
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Presidential leadership needn't always cost money. Look for low- and no-cost options. They can be surprisingly effective.
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Work continuously to trim the White House staff from your first day to your last. All the pressures are to the contrary.
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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.
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Stuff happens.
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Be precise. A lack of precision is dangerous when the margin of error is small.
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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.
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What we are seeing is not the war in Iraq. What we're seeing is slices of the war in Iraq.111213
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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.
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It recalls to mind the statement by Winston Churchill, something to the effect that: I have benefited greatly from criticism, and at no time have I suffered a lack thereof. 15
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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.
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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.8910
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If the staff lacks policy guidance against which to test decisions, their decisions will be random.
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Enjoy your time in public service. It may well be one of the most interesting and challenging times of your life.
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Many people around the President have sizeable egos before entering government, some with good reason. Their new positions will do little to moderate their egos.
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Osama bin Laden is either alive and well or alive and not too well or not alive.
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Preserve the President's options. He may need them.
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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.
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Don't speak ill of your predecessors or successors. You didn't walk in their shoes.
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Don't necessarily avoid sharp edges. Occasionally they are necessary to leadership.
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If you develop rules, never have more than ten.
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And there is, I am certain, among the Iraqi people a respect for the care and the precision that went into the bombing campaign.
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Oh, Lord. I didn't mean to say anything quotable.
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After he saw what happened to Saddam Hussein, he (Gaddafi) did not want to be Saddam Hussein. He gave up his nuclear program.
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Prune - prune businesses, products, activities, people. Do it annually.