Q: Mr. Secretary, the bill of particulars that you have laid out over the months with regard to Iraq has to do with the leadership, the threat to its neighbors, the evidence that they are interested in building weapons of mass destruction, possible -- and the concern that these weapons of mass destruction might be passed to terrorist groups. Hence, regime change is something the U.S. favors. The same can be said in the bill of particulars for Iran, North Korea, Syria. Does the United States, do you, favor regime change and potentially military action against those countries that are doing often the same things and some even greater support for terrorism than is Iraq?
Rumsfeld: Would it be a good thing for the world if the government of Iran stopped repressing its people? You bet. If you're asking me personally. Now, is that our policy in the United States government? Well, the president articulates U.S. policy and the secretary of State.
But there's no question but that the people of Iran are being ruled by a minority faction with severe fundamentalist rules and laws and requirements and are imposing that on the Iranian people. And it's harmful to them. And goodness knows, I would wish them better than that. I have a feeling that the people of Iran know that. And I have a feeling that in my adult lifetime we may still see the people of Iran do something about that regime.
I don't think that's possible in some other countries. In North Korea -- the president's talked about that as well. If you think of the people that are starving in that country, the people that are fleeing that country, the people that are in prison camps in that country, one can't help but feel great empathy for the people of Korea. It's a terrible, terrible thing.
Q: The issue here is threat to American vital interests and potential threat to the United States, as you have outlined it with regard to Iraq. Some of those other countries pose an equally great threat to American interests with their ties to terrorist groups and with their already well-established programs for developing weapons of mass destruction. They would seem to be a higher degree of a target for the United States, with the kind of policy that appears to be just focused on Iraq.
Rumsfeld: Well, I don't know that the word -- that I would want to leap into a question with the word "target" in it. But you're quite right, the policy of the government of the United States has been to regime change for Iraq. That's the Congress and the executive branch both. It has not been that for some other countries. And I guess life's just untidy. And -- but you're quite right in pointing out that the other countries, that the president included, for example, in the Axis of Evil, have some similar characteristics.
I think we should stop.
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