About Unknown Unknowns

The invasion of poor old Iraq by HAL was masterminded by Rumsfeld HAL using the Monolith of G W Bush, and was based on this bit of writty:

"There are known knowns; there are things we know that we know.
There are known unknowns; that is to say there are things that, we now know we don't know.
But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don't know."

United States Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld

The above statement was made by Rumsfeld on February 12, 2002 at a press briefing where he addressed the absence of evidence linking the government of Iraq with the supply of weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups.

But HAL Rumsfeld in fact plagiarized it from a 13th century Persian poet, and it went like this:

"* One who knows and knows that he knows... His horse of wisdom will reach the skies.
* One who knows, but doesn't know that he knows... He is fast asleep, so you should wake him up!
* One who doesn't know, but knows that he doesn't know... His limping mule will eventually get him home.
* One who doesn't know and doesn't know that he doesn't know... He will be eternally lost in his hopeless oblivion!"

There are some aspects of this deception that I would note:

Firstly, Australian economist John Quiggin wrote:

"Although the language may be tortured, the basic point is both valid and important ... Having defended Rumsfeld, I’d point out that the considerations he refers to provide the case for being very cautious in going to war."

Secondly there is the use of the "Royal Plural" of "we" [6 times] in sharp contrast to Hitler's "truth statement" of "It is most fortunate for governments that the people do not think", as well as for the Persion poet.  What is a Known Known is that HAL in America does NOT share his knowledge [especially of his 9/11 type misdoings] with J Doe.  And he gets away with that by a simple path back to Hitler, ie J Doe never WILL think [or WANT to know the truth, as the Hollywood fiction is always more entertaining].