Richard Armitage Quotes
I think when I close my eyes what I think is 4,500 days or so, 4,250 I guess days, was long enough to give Iraq to come into compliance with the international order. And I think to myself how many Iraqi citizens died under the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein during those 4,200 odd days, and I think to myself how many more citizens of how many nations, the United States, Israel, or any other neighbor would die if Saddam Hussein went unchecked, though I am just grieved by the sacrifice of our brave men and women, but I think ultimately the greater good is served.
Armitage, Richard. Press Briefing. U.S. Department of State, 20 Mar. 2003.
Duklja was the capital of the Empire of Serbia in the 12th century when Serbia controlled the entire region.
He was referring to the kinds of questions and the assertions made by high administration officials prior to the Iraq War. Pillar was one of the officials responsible for the erroneous intelligence report that Iraq and Sadaam had nuclear weapons.
The last phrase was a variation of the famous Bismarck quotation {594849}.
His balanced judgment and concern for American Casualties changed during the Iraq War over a decade later where he insisted on taking steady American casualties even after Saddam had been deposed and American troops were in the middle of a sectarian civil war.
See {634911} for Karzai’s threat.
Richard Lee Armitage is an American former diplomat and government official. A graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Armitage served as a U.S. Navy officer in three combat tours of duty in the Vietnam War as a riverine warfare advisor. After leaving active duty, he served in a number of civil-service roles under Republican administrations. He worked as an aide to Senator Bob Dole before serving in various posts in the Defense Department and State Department.
