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So farewell then, President Bush has said goodbye to his secretary of defence, who became in so many ways the personification of the war on terror. His departure is unlikely to be mourned -- indeed those Republicans who've just lost their jobs on the Hill may wonder why Rummy wasn't retired six months ago, when his departure may have limited the electoral damage of the Iraq war.

Notwithstanding Rumsfeld's war record, many will miss his press conferences. Standing behind the DoD podium, Rummy delivered some of the most memorable Rumsfeldisms. My favourite is the following, which establishes Rummy's reputation as one of the great epistemologists of our time:

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.

Who can deny the truth of that? Or, for that matter, this:

We do know of certain knowledge that he [Osama Bin Laden] is either in Afghanistan, or in some other country, or dead.

The logic is undeniable. And he's not just a great philosopher; Rummy's wisdom is delivered with the cadences of a great poet:

I believe what I said yesterday. I don't know what I said, but I know what I think, and, well, I assume it's what I said.

Beautiful. In other instances, the voice of a living prophet can be heard:

Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war.

Yet, throughout it all, he remained the consumate politician:

Needless to say, the President is correct. Whatever it was he said.

So farewell, Donald Henry -- law school drop-out, congressman, special counsellor to Richard Nixon, investment banker, and the youngest Defence Secretary in US history -- and the oldest.