Now here is a word-for word quote from Donald Rumsfeld, US Defence Secretary. He spoke them at a Press Conference in the Pentagon on August 27th, but it doesn't seem to have had the attention it deserved.

Anyway it turned up in the paper today. And just in case Doug reads this, no it wasn't The Guardian, it was the Daily Telegraph, which is probably conservative, even by US standards - well, maybe I exaggerate there, but it is well on the right-wing of the Conservative Party here.

Anyway, here it is, and it pretty clearly seems to suggest a man who is somewhat disoriented. I suppose it might not be a permanent condition - perhaps he was off his head on some legal or illegal drug at the time. Either way though it is pretty scary:

Reporter: What Makes a pre-emptive strike legal under international law, in your eyes?

Rumsfeld: Say the United States was considering a pre-emptive strike against the moon. Of course, the advantage of not acting against the moon would be that noone could say that you acted. They would say "Isn't it good? You didn't do anything against the moon." The other side of the coin of not acting against the moon in the event that the moon posed a serious threat would be that you then suffered a loss and you're sorry after that's over.