Rummy

was no dummy,

despite

his slightly

self evident

statement

about unknown

unknowns:

“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 tends to be

the difficult ones.”

Then “Mission Accomplished”

was declared

and we 

all know

how well 

that fared.

And yet,

the Iranian 

nuclear threat

seemingly contained

for years

diplomatically,

was fantastically

upended

when Israel

descended upon

Iran’s

nuclear sites 

and military

brass;

exquisitely precise

for a military

operation

of decapitation.

Whether you like

a preemptive strike

or not

is not up to Congress

right now.

Trump’s surprise move

may behoove him,

if Iran’s nuclear threat

was obliterated.

But what 

we don’t 

seem to learn

is my very concern:

we don’t know

the unknown

unknowns .

And history

has shown

that home grown

autocracies

don’t easily

or necessarily

become democracies,

so I’m not sure

which mission

has been

accomplished.

The bravery

of diplomacy

and norms

of democracy

must be brought 

back 

to the fore

before

strike three.

There are just

too many

unknown

unknowns

for me

to be 

assured 

of safety.