Donald Rumsfeld On The Nature Of Our Enemy

In a 2006 Q & A, Donald Rumsfeld responds to the question, "Who is our enemy, and why?".

While answering this question, Mr. Rumsfeld touches on a much more salient issue, and reveals a fundamental truth too often overlooked:
The natural state of man is not prosperity, it is poverty.

Those who blame America for their poverty and hardships would do well to understand this, for the United States is the single greatest force for freedom and prosperity that has ever existed.

This is true not just for the American people, but also for our allies, our trading partners and even our foes, who are so often the recipients of our aid, and the beneficiaries of our scientific and technological advances.

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Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Islam
• terrorism
• terror
• Rumsfeld
• war
• Iraq
• Afghanistan
• enemy
• poverty
• prosperity
• freedom
• political
• liberal
• conservative

[brainouty]

A great man. Him and Wolfwitz. And the team in Iraq. President Bush will go down as one of the century's great leaders -- notwithstanding all the jerks who love to hate and criticise, same as in my Vietnam generation -- President Bush will go down as one of the century's great leaders, partly because he knew how to pick a good team. I'm so proud of all of them, and of our troops, I can't see straight. Thanks for this vid, KafirAlalazoo. 5/5 and fav'd.

[popeaustini]

wow, that was one of the most brilliant things i've ever heard a secretary say

[emineid]

Rumsfeld is brilliant. No one could have put it better. Why the poverty? Why the misery? What is the natural state of man?

Here are some of my personal observations:

1. Many people from the "axis of evil" countries treat even their own kind horribly. There is savagery.

2. Crime causes poverty, not the other way around. No one is going to invest in a country full of looting.

3. Until someone can come up with a better system, the way to prosperity is to emulate the habits of successful people.

[isreasontaboo]

He is wrong on one thing: it is not a few extremists who hijack a religion. Islam itself is the problem. There are 164 hate verses against infidels in the qur'an itself. And that is without even talking about the ahadith which contain even more. Islam is a cult of terror.

[NoGuff]

What a great speech. Everyone should hear it. He is totally right. Thank goodness there are people like Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, and John Bolton out there.

[NoGuff]

"the United States is the single greatest force for freedom and prosperity that has ever existed."

--100% true.

We GIVE AWAY food, money, the humanitarian efforts of our mulitary, our medical help & our medical technology advances, our scientific knowledge, our agricultural knowledge, our high-tech knowledge, etc., etc. All we do is give away things to others. WHO GIVES US ANYTHING OF VALUE?

[brainouty]

LOL KarlUshanka, you said it better, with more panache!

[KarlUshanka]

Well said Brainouty! A great president. More courage and vision in his pinky than any of the bozos criticizing him in their petty 15 minutes of fame.

[RonaldDumbsfeld]

Rumsfeld said, "We are not what's wrong with the world." He suggested we look at what works in the world economically. He compared North and South Korea economies.

This pragmatic approach can be applied to freedom. A recent poll indicated the happiest country is Denmark, were free speech is a hallmark. The Islamic Republic of Iran ranked just below hell in the happiness poll.