這是一場如何發生的戰爭

這是一場如何發生的戰爭？
就我們所知
有些事是早已眾所周知
有些事我們知道自己知道
我們也知道
有些事早已知道是不可知的
也就是說
我們知道有些事我們不知道
不過也有些不可知的事我們並不知曉
那些我們不知道的事
我們也就不知道

－ 美國國防部長唐納德．倫斯裴Donald Rumsfeld

此文引自張翠容著作《中東現場》一書，原文出自2002年2月12日美國國防部記者會，當時的國防部長倫斯裴回答記者提問，關於伊拉克擁有大規模毀滅性武器且欲提供給恐怖份子的證據。


Q: Could I follow up, Mr. Secretary, on what you just said, please? In regard to Iraq weapons of mass destruction and terrorists, is there any evidence to indicate that Iraq has attempted to or is willing to supply terrorists with weapons of mass destruction? Because there are reports that there is no evidence of a direct link between Baghdad and some of these terrorist organizations.

Rumsfeld: Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because 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. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones.

And so people who have the omniscience that they can say with high certainty that something has not happened or is not being tried, have capabilities that are -- what was the word you used, Pam, earlier?


布希在內閣會議中清楚說明：「由於伊拉克可能會造成石油市場的不穩定，這是美國無法接受的風險，因此軍事干預是必需的。」

錢尼曾經擔任CEO的兩家美國最大石油企業Halliburton，Bechtel及子公司KBR，在伊拉克戰後順利承包了最大的重建工程，當然，一貫的模式是不知名的競標者與高價得標後的低價轉承包再轉承包，一如阿富汗戰後重建的再版。

這場戰爭就是這樣發生的。