Bookmarklets | MOVABLE TYPE Donald Rumsfeld is definitely a poet after all his incredible statements about Iraq. In the same line as Samuel Beckett and Franz Kafka, he deals with absurd things. Slate has compiled a collection of Rumsfeld's poems, taken from the official transcripts on the Defense Department Web site. One of the bets is the following :
The Unknown As we know, There are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know There are known unknowns. That is to say We know there are some things We do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, The ones we don't know We don't know.
Feb. 12, 2002, Department of Defense news briefing Glass Box You know, it's the old glass box at the At the gas station, Where you're using those little things Trying to pick up the prize, And you can't find it. It's
And it's all these arms are going down in there, And so you keep dropping it And picking it up again and moving it, But
Some of you are probably too young to remember those Those glass boxes, But
But they used to have them At all the gas stations When I was a kid.
Dec. 6, 2001, Department of Defense news briefing
A Confession Once in a while, I'm standing here, doing something. And I think, "What in the world am I doing here?" It's a big surprise.
May 16, 2001, interview with the New York Times
Happenings You're going to be told lots of things. You get told things every day that don't happen.
It doesn't seem to bother people, they don't It's printed in the press. The world thinks all these things happen. They never happened.
Everyone's so eager to get the story Before in fact the story's there That the world is constantly being fed Things that haven't happened.
All I can tell you is, It hasn't happened. It's going to happen.
Feb. 28, 2003, Department of Defense briefing
The Digital Revolution Oh my goodness gracious, What you can buy off the Internet In terms of overhead photography!
A trained ape can know an awful lot Of what is going on in this world, Just by punching on his mouse For a relatively modest cost!
June 9, 2001, following European trip
The Situation Things will not be necessarily continuous. The fact that they are something other than perfectly continuous Ought not to be characterized as a pause. There will be some things that people will see. There will be some things that people won't see. And life goes on.
Oct. 12, 2001, Department of Defense news briefing
Clarity I think what you'll find, I think what you'll find is, Whatever it is we do substantively, There will be near-perfect clarity As to what it is.
And it will be known, And it will be known to the Congress, And it will be known to you, Probably before we decide it, But it will be known.
Feb. 28, 2003, Department of Defense briefing