Reason TV’s Nick Gillespie sat down for an extended chat with noted documentary film-maker Errol Morris who claims that Donald Rumsfeld’s success as Secretary of Defense of George W. Bush was not based on his brilliance – rather it was due to the fact that the American people are “morons.”
Reason TV reports “Donald Rumsfeld’s ‘war crime,’ says Oscar-winning filmmaker Errol Morris, is ‘the gobbledygook, the blizzard of words, the misdirections, the evasions…and ultimately at the heart of it all…the disregard and devaluation of evidence.'”
The former secretary of defense’s complicated relationship with the truth is the subject of Morris’ new documentary, The Unknown Known, which opens in theaters nationwide on Friday, April 4. The Unknown Known is an extended conversation with Rumsfeld, tracing his long career through the Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Bush administrations, and focusing on his role in leading U.S. military forces into Iraq to fight a bloody and senseless war.
Gillespie begins the interview by talking about Rumsfeld’s now infamous phrase “the unknown known,” which serves as the title of Morris’ new documentary discussed above. Morris elaborates that “the unknown known” was an evasive answer Rumsfeld gave to a very specific question regarding Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction.
Morris elaborates on this practice of dodging questions by Rumsfeld: “It was a question about evidence — the ‘e’ word,” Morris said, adding Rumsfeld’s answer was that there’s “‘the known known, the unknown known, and the unknown unknown.’”
Gillespie goes on to ask: “If Saddam Hussein is not producing weapons of mass destruction or consorting with terrorists, there’s really no cause for action. So, how did Rumsfeld get away with this type of evasion? Why did so many people seem to respond warmly to the fact that the Secretary of Defense…evaded questions left and right?”
MORRIS: “Do you really want an answer?”
GILLESPIE: “At least the start of one.”
MORRIS: “We’re all morons. You want the big words? Philosophy? Epistemology? Blah blah blah?”
You can watch the exchange below. The relevant portion begins at about 1 minute 24 seconds and continues for about 6 minutes.
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