Freedom`s untidy and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things, stuff happens.

They`re lying.

You go to war with the army you have, not the one you might want or wish to have.

But, as Donald Rumsfeld, who, sadly, passed away today, said numerous times, the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.

we went to war with the Army we had, not the Army we would have liked to have.

The actions of the soldiers in those photographs are totally unacceptable and un-American.

Success in Fallujah will deal a blow to the terrorists in the country.

Our goal is to defend the American people and to eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and to liberate the Iraqi people.

Our goal is to defend the American people and to eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and to liberate the Iraqi people.

Success in Fallujah will deal a blow to the terrorists in the country.

Our goal is to defend the American people and to eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and to liberate the Iraqi people.

The actions of the soldiers in those photographs are totally unacceptable and up American.

We will win this war. It's a test of wills. And let there be no doubt that is what it is.

Leadership is not about doing what's easy. It's about doing what's right, even when it's hard -- especially when it's hard.

I will remember the fallen. And I will particularly remember their families and the -- from whom I have drawn inspiration.

There are many who did their duty professionally. And we should mention that as well, 1st Specialist Joseph Darby, who alerted the appropriate authorities that abuses were occurring.

If anyone here lived in the Middle East and watched a network like al-Jazeera, day after day after day, even if you were an American, you would begin to believe that America was bad.

They have a pattern of playing propaganda over and over and over again. What they do is when there's a bomb that goes down, they grab some children and women and pretend that the bomb hit the women and children.

You're looking for some sort of a guillotine to come falling down if some date isn't met. That is not what this is about. So, you ought to just back off, take a look at it, relax, understand that it's complicated; it's difficult.

This war, like other wars, has not been a steady, smooth upward path. To some, that's a surprise. To those who study history, it is not a surprise.

I wish I had a magic wand and the power to say, yes. I don't.

Of course I bear responsibility. My Lord, I'm secretary of defense. Write it down. Quote it. You can bank it.

Well, I think that anyone who looks at it with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight has to say that there was not an anticipation that the level of insurgency would be anything approximating what it is.

Over time the American people have been right. If they're not, they would have tossed in the towel on the Revolutionary War. We wouldn't have had a country. Think of the people who were telling Abraham Lincoln not to even have a civil war…