Joseph Goebbels Quotes
The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of it's powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth becomes the greatest enemy of the State.
Joseph Goebbels, 1897-1945, Nazi Germany Minister of Propaganda, The Goebbels Diaries, 1942-1943
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The quotation was given by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld just prior to the war with Iraq, 2003.
Every military establishment has secrets that they should maintain and are not always forthcoming with facts d explanations. However, the Pentagon is so large with so many layers that there are subgroups and vested interests, prevaricate and lie, even to their own superiors. No one knows how prevalent this is, but there have be a number of major incidents where the were lies and cover-ups—usually to prevent public embarrassment to some element of the military industrial complex.
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. One of Adolf Hitler's close associates and most devoted followers, he was known for his skills in public speaking and his deep and virulent antisemitism, which led to his supporting the extermination of the Jews in the Holocaust.
