From AP, “Rumsfeld: Iran regime sponsors terrorism”
MUNICH, Germany – Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld urged America’s allies to increase their military spending to prevent the rise of a “global extremist Islamic empire.”…
“We could choose to pretend, as some suggest, that the enemy is not at our doorstep. We could choose to believe, as some contend, that the threat is exaggerated.
“But those who would follow such a course must ask: what if they are wrong? What if at this moment, the enemy is counting on being underestimated, counting on being dismissed, and counting on our preoccupation,” Rumsfeld said…
Rumsfeld said violent extremism is a danger faced as much in Europe as in the United States.
“The struggle ahead promises to be a long war that will cause us all to recalibrate our strategies, perhaps further adjust our institutions, and certainly work closely together,” he said…
“They seek to take over governments from North Africa to Southeast Asia and to re-establish a caliphate they hope, one day, will include every continent,” he said. “They have designed and distributed a map where national borders are erased and replaced by a global extremist Islamic empire.”
Likening the war on terror to the Cold War, Rumsfeld said the battle could be won if nations persevered. He invoked Merkel’s own experience – growing up in Communist East Germany to become chancellor of a unified Germany.
“Freedom prevailed because our free nations showed resolve when retreat would have been easier, and showed courage when concession seemed simpler,” he said.
Oh, Rummy, you make my heart skip a beat.