People listen. EFL:
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, speaking in Munich February 7 during a question and answer session with participants at a conference on security, tackled the subject of how NATO might address strategic issues before they become military ones."[O]ne thing NATO might do," Rumsfeld said, "would be to do a better job of seeing that the intelligence capabilities of the respective countries are brought together and that the people in NATO and the capitals of NATO countries are kept tuned into those threats and the kinds of capabilities that we as free people face. We’re much more likely to get a faster common understanding to the extent we have a reasonably similar perspective with respect to what the facts are." Asked for a good rationale to explain the doctrine of pre-emptive military action to European allies, Rumsfeld said what is at risk "is something that we all, collectively, individually, are going to have to think through. ... What we’ve seen in the press is a ... private network in some instances ... moving around weapons of mass destruction and the abilities to produce them. If that’s happening ... one has to say, we know there’s an appetite on the part of terrorists to kill people. They’re training. People are being trained in schools to do that. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that at some point these private networks and these terrorist networks are going to connect, and at that moment people are going to have to face up to the realities of the 21st century." Asked how the United States could contribute to relieving "stress" in the Middle East and Europe caused by the Israeli-Palestinian problem, Rumsfeld said, "The United States needs to ... continue to work on it, Europe needs to ... continue ... working on it, but in the last analysis, a lasting solution in that part of the world is going to come because people are exasperated, exhausted and tired of seeing their opportunities for prosperity go down the drain and tired of listening to people shoot off their mouths and ... weapons and fire bullets and no one deliver a ... thing for the people." Slap!
Following is the transcript of Rumsfeld’s question and answer session:
Read the whole thing, but here is the best:
Some Palestinian general(?) opens his mouth:
Q: [Palestinian general]: Mr. Secretary, You talked about countries that were trying to produce weapons of mass destruction. You talked about Iraq and you talked about Iran and North Korea. I have a question, a direct question to you. What are you doing with Israel? As far as Israel is concerned, Israel has more atomic weapons in the region than any other country. Why do you remain silent in regard to Israel? I think it’s important to answer this question because this has to do with the world, the strategy that we are pursuing today. I think that if the position towards Israel were different then the situation would be different in the Near East, and this is a great problem.
And Rummy hands him his head:
Rumsfeld: You know the answer before I give it, I’m sure. The world knows the answer. We take the world like you find it; and Israel is a small state with a small population. It’s a democracy and it exists in a neighborhood that in many -- over a period of time has opined from time to time that they’d prefer it not be there and they’d like it to be put in the sea. And Israel has opined that it would prefer not to get put in the sea, and as a result, over a period of decades, it has arranged itself so it hasn’t been put in the sea. Thank you very much.
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