Donald Rumsfeld defines the unknown known in the Errol Morris documentary as what he thought he knew but it turned out he did not. I've always considered the unknown known to be what Rumsfeld left out because much that his subconscious knew, his conscious brain did not. Rumsfeld, I suggest, is, like so many of his cohorts, lacking in self-awareness. I've been writing about this for some time hereand here. Now Errol Morris has used it as the title of his documentary about Donald Rumsfeld. In an interview with Rachel Maddow, Morris referred to it as evidence of an absence of self-reflection. I'd say, one can't reflect on that of which one is not aware.
The link for the trailer will have to do because the iframe does not embed.
http://www.imdb.com/...
Let me just add that the release of the Senate Intelligence Report on torture at this point in time is not a happenstance. Now that the ACA has been fully implemented and Congressional obstruction has been largely whipped, it's time to open the can of worms that was Iraq. It is, I think, the President's judgement that the country is ready to confront the dirty secrets.
Having the NSA spying made public was just an appetizer. Barack Obama likes him a kerfuffle, but seeks to avoid surprises at all cost.
This is going to be one heck of a kerfuffle. The object is to insure Democrats take back the House by discrediting all the war mongers that are left. That's a prediction. Of course, I may be wrong.
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6:00 AM, after having watched the whole documentary, I just want to add a couple more things.
Image of man in capture hood against metal bars in Abu Ghraib.
At one point Rumsfeld agrees "things happen" in war. Capture hoods don't just happen. They have to be ordered from a supplier in Philadelphia and transported half way around the globe.
Donald Rumsfeld signature on offer to resign.
Secondly, Rumsfeld, as seems to be characteristic of instinct-driven people, is inconsistent in his use of person when he speaks. I think it's because their personalities are not well integrated or contained. His signature suggests the same. He can't decide whether to use capitals, lower case, printing or cursive. All four appear in his signature.
The signature is on a note in which he offers to resign his office in response to the snapshots from Abu Ghraib, as if they were evidence of the worst that happened in Iraq. Morris asks why the images affected him so. Rumsfeld says they were disgusting, not like the memos from the DoJ about torture, which he claims to have never read. It is passing strange that people who rely primarily on superficial optics as their source of information manage not to see so much. Is that on purpose? Rumsfeld also claims not to be able to believe all the things he wrote. Finally, he claims to wish his resignation had been accepted when first tendered. Don't we all?