Rumsfeld on dictatorship-to-democracy transition

i couldn't believe what i was hearing on NPR radio tonight.
Rumsfeld -- his own actual voice -- defending the situation
in Iraq by saying that no country ever transtitioned from
dictatorship to democracy without fighting and problems.
i'm paraphrasing so far, but he actually did say "not a
single country" at one point.

this is so ridiculous ... what about almost all of the
former Soviet republics? what about East Germany, Czechia,
Slovakia, Hungary?

granted, there is a small kernel of truth in what he said,
and he pointed to "us" (America, which did have a violent
revolutionary war to gain its independence) as a prime
example. but to blatantly lie about events that just
happened 15 years ago ... this is just too much.

-monz