Part of interview went as follows...
TUBBS: You gave some comments earlier this week at the War College and I just wanted to quote one sentence, Mr. Rumsfeld that you said. "In today's debate possibly the most significant division is between those who realize that we are a nation at war and those who do not."
With that said from earlier in the week... I'm wondering what do you think is the biggest misperception of the war that maybe people out there have???
SECRETARY RUMSFELD: That's a fascinating question.
If one goes back and thinks throughout history the wars that our country's been engaged in, they have always been unpopular, they have always been difficult, they have always been challenging, and there has always been opposition to them. I get the impression -- Even the Cold War that was the case. There were people constantly offering amendments in Congress to pull the troops out of Europe and to toss in the towel, and that Euro Communism wasn't really all that bad, and that the Soviet Union would not really expand the way it was expanding. People forget that. They think that each situation is a brand new one and it's the first time it's ever happened.
So I think if one thinks about it the persistence that our predecessors showed in the revolutionary War and certainly in the Civil War and in World War I and World War II, the persistence they showed and demonstrated has changed the face of the earth and it's made this country what it is. That's why the President is absolutely determined to be steadfast and to be persistent and to see this through, and he recognizes that the center of gravity of this war is not in Baghdad, it is in Washington, D.C., and it's in the United States, and the enemy knows they do not have to beat us on the battlefield, they know they can't. They won't even win a single battle on the battlefield. They know that they have to beat us in a test of wills and that's what their hope and prayer is...
Read DoD’s full News Transcript HERE...
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