Donald Rumsfeld participated in the unveiling of his official portrait on Friday at the Pentagon. The portrait commemorates his service as our 21st Secretary of Defense. Excerpts from his remarks at the unveiling were posted yesterday at the Heritage Foundation Blog: The Foundry.
Donald Rumsfeld: America Remains the Greatest Republic Ever Established | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.
Here are some excerpts from those excerpts:
Yet, America remains the greatest republic ever established, with the finest military ever assembled, and still stands as the brightest symbol of humankind’s best hopes and aspirations. And that, I would add, is not something for which we need to apologize to anyone – here or abroad.
Some might ask how our country has endured? Well, it should be no mystery. It is because we are a free people, blessed with a free political and a free economic system –
The night satellite image of the Korean Peninsula, my favorite as many of you know well, captured many miles above the earth, tells the whole story.
Below the 38th parallel, South Korea is bathed in the light of dozens of cities, monuments to that nation’s freedom. In one of the most successful economies in the world, millions of South Koreans go about their work, creating opportunity and prosperity for themselves and their families.
North of the DMZ is darkness. There live exactly the same people, with the same natural resources. But those millions of Koreans labor not for themselves or their families, but for a regime that enslaves them.
This country – which has treated me so well, and which offers so much opportunity for us all – exists and prospers because the members of the United States armed forces, have stepped forward and volunteered to protect it. In a very real sense, America is their gift to the future …
