Chuck Hagel Quotes
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There are always consequences to actions that you take. There are consequences to inaction. And thinking through, asking the questions, "Well, then what happens? What comes next?" is critically important.
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We can't ... take that piece of reality in this business and set that aside and say, well, that doesn't count. And the Republicans on my side understand that the majority is in fact up for grabs next year. So there's not a decision made up here that doesn't have that factor coursing through that current.
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If America is to succeed in responding to these 21st Century challenges, our political system cannot continue to bog down in the mire of partisan gamesmanship.
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I'm not sure leaders listen enough, especially to their people. And I've always thought in everything I've tried to do in my life, in the jobs I've had, is that if we can turn our transmitters off and our receivers on more often, we're better leaders and we know more of what is going on and therefore we can lead more effectively.
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No one person leads alone - can't do it, it's impossible. It doesn't make any sense. You need a team.
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My overall worldview has never changed: that America has and must maintain the strongest military in the world, that we must lead the international community to confront threats and challenges together, and that we must use all tools of American power to protect our citizens and our interests.
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Engagement is not appeasement. Engagement is not surrender.
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This is eventually how Syria will be resolved - through a political settlement.
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Well, let's go back to the original intent of Social Security. It is an insurance contract.
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If you wanted a safe job, go sell shoes. This is a tough business.
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Closing Guantanamo Bay is not a military solution. The closing of that prison, which I support, I supported it when I was in the Senate, requires more than just a military dimension.
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And this - this board was - was impanelled in 1951. And it's gone through ups and downs in how the secretaries have used it. But I have put a premium on that advisory board.
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No border that touches Israel is always secure.
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I am fully supportive of 'open service' and committed to LGBT military families.
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Things aren't getting better; they're getting worse. The White House is completely disconnected from reality. It's like they're just making it up as they go along. The reality is that we're losing in Iraq.
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The president of the United States is the commander in chief, and the people who work with him at the National Security Council are his arm in working with the Defense Department. And, quite frankly, they have responsibility for all of the government. We are one component of the government.
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Iraq was a war of choice, like Vietnam.
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This is a complicated time to govern in the world today because of so much going on and it's coming at us at such an unprecedented rate.
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You can't just drop the 82nd Airborne into Baghdad and it will all be over.
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History has shown that a country most effectively speaks with one voice. When nationally elected officials work together, build consensus, and provide leadership, the American people will follow.
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I don't think it's a matter of going back and having a review of our process. Our process is about as thorough as there can be. Is it imperfect? Yes. Is there risk? Yes, but we start with the fact that we have an American that's being held hostage and that American's life is in danger and that's where we start. And then we proceed from there.
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I believe, and always have, that America must engage - not retreat - in the world.
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Peace comes through dealing with people. Peace doesn't come at the end of a bayonet or the end of a gun.
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Imposing democracy through force is a roll of the dice.
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The twenty first century will require a re-affirmation and re-definition of our alliances and international organisations.
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I took an oath of office to the Constitution, I didn't take an oath of office to my party or my president.
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I'm the first secretary of defense that's had to deal with sequestration. I've prepared two budgets that deal with sequestration. And you bring the chiefs together, the leadership of this enterprise together, to work through, how do we then take these cuts? Where do we apply those cuts? Readiness is the first thing that suffers.
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It is easy to get into war, not so easy to get out.
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Alliances and international organizations should be understood as opportunities for leadership and a means to expand our influence, not as constraints on our power.
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We live in a world of absolute immediacy. It is an interconnected, combustible world, where technology and many other actions have given nonstate actors a reach, into countries and societies, for both good and evil, that we have never seen before. So it isn't a matter of just state versus state challenges or conflict. The bigger problem is nonstate actors.
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Related Authors
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Barack Obama 44th U.S. President -
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Bowe Bergdahl Soldier -
Ashton Carter United States Secretary of Defense -
Eric Holder United States Attorney General -
Jeh Johnson United States Secretary of Homeland Security -
Hillary Clinton Former United States Secretary of State -
John F. Kerry United States Secretary of State -
Robert M. Gates United States Secretary of Defense -
Buck McKeon U.S. Representative -
Joe Biden Vice President of the United States -
John McCain United States Senator -
Leon Panetta Former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency -
Susan Rice United States Ambassador to the United Nations -
David Petraeus Former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency -
Donald Rumsfeld Former U.S. Secretary of Defense -
George W. Bush 43rd U.S. President -
Melvin Laird Former U.S. Secretary of Defense -
Eric Cantor U.S. Representative -
