Paul Wolfowitz: ‘I’m Not An Architect Of Anything’

[babylonsister]

:scared: :scared:

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/05/31/wolfowitz-architect/

Paul Wolfowitz: ‘I’m Not An Architect Of Anything’

Shorly after 9/11, Paul Wolfowitz began advocating an attack on Iraq, establishing “what amounted to a separate government” to push for war. He invited journalists to secret meetings, laying out the foundation for his plans. Former counterterrorism official Richard Clarke recounts one particular meeting:

“I began saying, ‘We have to deal with bin Laden; we have to deal with al Qaeda.’ Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, said, ‘No, no, no. We don’t have to deal with al Qaeda. Why are we talking about that little guy? We have to talk about Iraqi terrorism against the United States.‘”

Last night on the Charlie Rose show, Wolfowitz denied being “an architect” of the catastrophic decision to go to war. “I’m not an architect of anything,” he said. Rather, he clarified that he was someone who was “closely associated with a controversial Iraq policy,” and that his involvement with Iraq is what doomed his reign at the World Bank.

Watch it at link~

Unlike Richard Perle, Wolfowitz revealed that he has not given up hope in the neoconservative dream of transforming Iraq through U.S. occupation. Comparing Iraq to El Salvador, Wolfowitz said, “El Salvador fought a terrible, terrible civil war for more than 10 years. … And today El Salvador is one of the most successful economies in Central America.”

But the U.S. never occupied El Salvador. While El Salvador grapples with problems today, it serves as an example of the fact that a long-term U.S. occupation is not a requirement for the democratic transition of a country.

Instead of learning the lesson of El Salvador, Bush is more interested in the Korean model. Yesterday, Bush said he envisions an occupation of Iraq similar to that of South Korea, where U.S. troops “have helped keep an uneasy peace for more than 50 years.”

Transcript:

WOLFOWITZ: Maybe it was — look, maybe I could have done it differently. Maybe I could have consulted more. Maybe if it weren’t me and somebody else doing it, look, I’ve said from the beginning…

ROSE: Somebody who’s not an architect of the war, and all that.

WOLFOWITZ: I’m not an architect of anything, but somebody who is not so closely associated with a controversial Iraq policy, yes.

<…>

ROSE: And has the — have we failed in Iraq?

WOLFOWITZ: I think we’re trying to do the right thing. I hope it will succeed. I don’t…

ROSE: Hope and we’re trying, and hope — I mean, there’s a reality on the ground there. And there’s a reality for Americans and there’s a reality for Iraqis. And it’s beyond trying and hoping, isn’t it? WOLFOWITZ: Well, that’s another whole subject. But…

ROSE: But give us some sense of, I mean, you know, you’re…

WOLFOWITZ: I still believe — and I think the evidence is strong — that the majority, great majority of Iraqis would like a peaceful, stable country. That what we’re fighting is not the majority of the people.

ROSE: Really? And is what we have done the best way for them to achieve that?

WOLFOWITZ: That’s another whole subject. There’s too much — no, obviously there are things that should have been done differently. But it’s a tough environment.

ROSE: Are you the least bit — the least bit believing that the things that you hope would accomplish would be accomplished? The least bit — in Iraq?

WOLFOWITZ: Oh, yes, the least bit. But…

ROSE: But not much more, or…?

WOLFOWITZ: I’m not here to measure. I’m not current on it. I, you know, El Salvador fought a terrible, terrible civil war for more than 10 years. I think 5 percent of the population was killed, which would mean a little more than 13 million people in the United States, and I think it finally ended in 1992. And today El Salvador is one of the most successful economies in Central America. I’m not saying that’s going to happen in Iraq. I’m just saying it’s a tough environment. It’s hard to know at this stage what the future is going to be like. But let’s also remember, there were no good choices there, given the regime that they had.

[Tom Joad]

1. He is to bush what Speer was to another infamous historical figure.

He promoted genocide in Central America, he supports genocide in the Middle East.

[tularetom]

2. Oh yes you are wolfie - the architect of shit

Everything he touches turns to it.

[BOSSHOG]

3. So who's lying? limbaugh or wolfowitz?

Prior to bush turning his lies into a disaster of megaproportions, limbaugh said that wolfowitz and his sidekick perle were the two greatest most brilliant military strategists ever to have walked the face of the earth. Per limbaugh, those two were the ones to watch relative to war strategy; architecture if you will. I thought limbaugh, of ass pimple fame, was the greatest military mind this country ever produced. Its just so fucking hard keeping up with all the conservative brilliance.

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. He's a real fumbler and a jerk too.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. He left out the part about the USA being a major cause of the 5% dead in El Salvador.

As we supported the right wing death squads and the military.

[shain from kane]

6. ‘I’m Not An Architect Of Anything’, as he began licking his comb. Tastes like strawberries.

Captain Queeg: Ahh, but the strawberries that's... that's where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt and with... geometric logic... that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox DID exist, and I'd have produced that key if they hadn't of pulled the Caine out of action. I, I, I know now they were only trying to protect some fellow officers...

[TahitiNut]

7. "Iraqi terrorism against the United States"???????????

Just what the fuck is he smoking???

Our strongman stooge in Iraq stops being compliant with the global corporatists so he gets wrong-footed by Bush41's useful idiot April Glaspie and we pour in in 'support' of a Kuwaiti monarch/despot. We bomb and strafe the country for ten years and impose draconian intrusions on their sovereignty and then, based on a fabric of outright lies and frauds, invade and occupy the country and promulgate the creation of a 'government' of corporatist stooges who'll sell out their only national resource.

God forbid that people who've been bombed and invaded by a foreign military ever fight it! (Sheesh!!)

[eleny]

8. I watched the last few minutes of that interview last night

I was wanting to catch Tavis S's program about New Orleans.

If I wasn't in bed, I would have fallen down from where I stood.

Wolfie was so creepy. He didn't always look at Rose while he spoke. he kept looking off to his right and consequently stared directly into the camera.

I think he's desperate to keep his myths alive. We're supposed to believe that he cares about the people of Africa. Oh, brother!

"Yellowitz"

[malaise]

9. Not one of them is responsible for a damn thing

Guess voices in their heads should be blamed.

[bdamomma]

10. oh, these thugs should be in prison, and I could say more

but I don't want to wake up Agent Mike!!!

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

11. The Iraq invasion must have come about by magic

It was no one's idea and it just happened somehow all on its own.

[yurbud]

12. yeah, he's not an architect, he's a salesman like Rove--he just aims for a slightly higher audience

Rove aims for the hillbillies, and Wolfowitz shoots for people in suits.

[TwilightGardener]

13. Except his own demise, hopefully soon.