Rumsfeld: Non-interventionist libertarians would make world ‘less safe’

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is Part III of Campus Reform’s EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld attacked libertarians on Wednesday, suggesting their anti-interventionist positions would result in a more a dangerous world if put into practice.

“I have no doubt that if the people of that persuasion who are against, who are non-interventionist if you will... if they prevail I think the world will be a less safe place,” Rumsfeld said in an exclusive interview with Campus Reform earlier this week.

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told Campus Reform that if anti-interventionist libertarians prevail, “the world will be a less safe place.”

Rumsfeld, who worked under the President George W. Bush administration as secretary of defense, is often hailed as one of the key architects of the the Iraq War which began on March 20, 2003 and continued for nearly a decade.

Rumsfeld made the remarks on Wednesday in response to a question on the rise of popularity of libertarians and former presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-Texas) among conservative youth during the 2012 Republican primaries.

Rumsfeld suggested that while he finds some libertarian positions appealing, their position on war and foreign policy are simply out of date.

“There is a lot of appeal in the libertarian movement, in the country, and as I say a number of things I find that I agree with,” said Rumsfeld. “[T]he non-interventionist aspect of it, the idea that we can sit here with two big oceans like we were able to do in the 1700s and the 1800s I think is not realistic.”

WATCH: Rumsfeld says anti-interventionist libertarians would make world a “less safe place.”

Rumsfeld went on to argue that the U.S. ought to continue to promote peace in the world by maintaining its military might.

“We don’t need intervention but we need a presence, a capability that the rest of the world looks at,” he said. “Weakness is provocative. To the extent there is a weakness, people in the world will try to take advantage of it.”

Rumsfeld now heads up the Rumsfeld Foundation, an organization dedicated that “supports military charities, rewards leadership and public service at home, and encourages the growth of free political and free economic systems abroad.”