...more recent posts
Tuesday, Jun 24, 2003
Another trainee for the Joint Taskforce for Specious Assessment and Embellishment
Wolfowitz, Democracy's Best Friend
In my efforts to find Wolfowitz transcripts from the 80's and 90's, I came across this article.
Asian Fantasies
Paul Wolfowitz's Makeover in the Times
First of the Month -- October 2002
By Tim Shorrock
During a 1983 visit to South Korea, he recalled, the Korean government jailed many dissidents, requiring Wolfowitz to become a "poor hapless administration official sent out to brief the traveling press corps on what was going on and to explain what was our human rights policy." That policy, he insisted, was to quietly advise Chun, who was later held responsible for the murders of at least 200 people during the 1980 Kwangju rebellion, to "honor the South Korean constitution and to step down after one term as president". Chun's decision in 1986 not to run again, he argued, "has indeed been far more important in resolving human rights problems in Korea than any number of lists of political prisoners that the American president might have taken to him."And the speech cited by the above article ...
That is fantasy, and an insult to the hundreds of political prisoners jailed and tortured by Chun as Reagan and Wolfowitz whispered democratic shibbeloths in his ear. Even long-time diplomats who supported the basic thrust of US policy in Korea believe that Reagan's public embrace of Chun discouraged Korean dissidents and fueled the fierce anti-American sentiment that still burns today. But more to the point, it wasn't American pleading that forced Chun out. Rather, it was millions of students, workers, and ordinary citizens pouring into the streets day after day that forced Chun to back off and eventually slink away to his family home in the mountains before he was tried and convicted in 1996 on charges of murder and treason.
Asian Democracy and American Interests
The Heritage Foundation -- September 29, 2000
by Ambassador Paul Wolfowitz
And the NY Times Magazine profile of Wolfowitz cited by the above article ...
The Sunshine Warrior
The New York Times Magazine -- September 22, 2002
By Bill Keller
And other article about Wolfowitz by Tim Shorrock ...
Paul Wolfowitz: A man to keep a close eye on
Asia Times -- March 21, 2001
By Tim Shorrock
Monday, Jun 23, 2003
Dr. Paul does not suffer fools gladly
Wolfowitz on ABC's Good Morning America, February 28, 2003
Diane Sawyer: Yesterday, you got kind of taken to the woodshed by some members of Congress who really went after you saying, you've told the president how much you expect it to cost, but you won't tell them. And --U.S. Senators Say Five Years in Iraq Likely
Wolfowitz: Well, first of all, we haven't told the president. We've told the president the very wide range of different ways of figuring out costs. As Secretary Rumsfeld said, if it lasts six days, it's one cost; if it lasts six months, it's something else. If we have to occupy Iraq for years, as some people are foolishly suggesting, it's one cost. If, in fact, as the Iraqi Americans in Dearborn are saying, we're going to be greeted as liberators, it's a very different and much lower cost. We won't really know the cost; that's an unfortunate fact.
Reuters -- June 23, 2003
By Sue Pleming
WASHINGTON - Leading U.S. senators from both parties said on Monday American troops could be in Iraq for at least five years but the White House cautioned it was too soon to set a time limit on U.S. involvement in Iraq.Iraq to Get New Army, Senators Warn of Long U.S. Stay
The senators, members of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee who are on a fact-finding visit to Iraq, said they expected a long-term commitment of U.S. troops and urged the White House to be more open with its plans.
"I think we're going to be here in a big way with forces and economic input for a minimum of three to five years," Sen. Joseph Biden, the committee's ranking Democrat, told reporters in Baghdad.
Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Republican from Nebraska, agreed with Biden that five years was a realistic figure as did committee chair, Republican Richard Lugar of Indiana.
"I think that the numbers, the years that Chairman Lugar has talked about, Senator Biden -- a five-year time frame -- I think that's realistic," Hagel said in an interview with U.S. network ABC's "Good Morning America" show.
Reuters -- June 23, 2003
By Alistair Lyon
Richard Lugar, a Republican, urged President Bush to do some "real truth-telling" to explain to his people how much commitment and money would be needed to rebuild the country from the ruins of war and 35 years of Baathist rule.Related story ...
War by other means: the "reconstruction" of Iraq
Daily KOS -- June 22, 2003
older posts...