Rummy's 'Foot in Mouth' mantelpiece

This blog, which I put up on June 16, has won US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld the 'Foot in Mouth' Award given out by Britain's Plain English Campaign.

OK, I was plain kidding. It wasn't my blog that landed Rummy a FTM. He earned it by himself.

Well, there is this campaign that strives to have public information delivered in clear, straightforward English.

And Rummy's mantelpiece (AFP calls it gobbledegook), "The Unknown", is based on the February 12, 2002 Department of Defense news briefing, where Rumsfeld's thoughts were as illusive as his reasoning for waging a war on Iraq invoking the dangers of the WMD. Recap:

Reports that say 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.

John Lister, spokesman for the campaign, has 'unknowingly' said: "We think we know what he means. But we don't know if we really know."

Via Guardian, CNN and agencies.