This is from the November 2, 2003 program of Meet the Press.
Rumsfeld: The Casualties Are Worth Winning This War (Small – 3 Mb)
Tim Russert:
“So far, we have lost 377 Americans in Iraq. 2,130 have been wounded or injured.
How would you explain to the American people this morning that it is worth that price for the war in Iraq.”
Donald Rumsfeld:
“Tim, the uh, battle we’re engaged in. The global war on terrorism. Is an important one. It is a different one than we’ve been in previously. Although terrorism’s not new. But the nature of terrorism is that its purpose is to terrorize. Its purpose is to alter people’s behavior. And to the extent free people end up behaving in a way that is different from the way free people behave, they’ve lost. And therefore, the only thing to do is do what the President has announced he’s doing, and that is to take the battle, the war on terrorism to the terrorists. Where they are. And that’s what we’re doing. We can win this war. We will win this war. And the President has every intention of staying after the terrorists and the countries that harbor terrorists until we have won this war.”