The World has Spoken: Wolfowitz’s lasting legacy may very well be his role in planning and managing the Iraq war while serving at the Pentagon.
The Petty Salary Rigging: for his girlfriend at the World Bank meant nothing. In the world’s eyes, his executive handiwork only reflects the more lurid bid rigging for contractors in Iraq. Contractors paid with billions of dollars in cash seized from the Iraqi people that was then squandered and lost.
The World is Watching: If the US Congress needed only Monica Lewinsky to drive a US president to impeachment, why can’t the World Bank president get the boot for giving raises to his girlfriend? Especially when you can count the number of contractors in Iraq on a soldier’s maimed hand that the Bush administration has prosecuted for theft, fraud and murder. (It is amusing that Robert Bennett, the lawyer representing Wolfowitz in this current ordeal, also represented Clinton during his impeachment.)
Financing War the Wolfowitz Way: “There’s a lot of money to pay for this (war) that doesn’t have to be U.S. taxpayer money, and it starts with the assets of the Iraqi people…and on a rough recollection, the oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 (billion) and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three year….. We’re dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon.” [Source: House Committee on Appropriations Hearing on supplemental war spending, 3/27/03]
Wolfie’s Girlfriend was a Means to an End:
Most staffers saw Wolfowitz’s role in Iraq policy as governance gone horribly bad, the ribbons became a symbol of anger, a silent demand for the big boss’s resignation. At World Bank, Blue Ribbons Became Attire Of Their Ire.
Staff members described a celebratory mood inside the World Bank’s headquarters near the White House, with people embracing, singing songs and hoisting flutes of Champagne.
I was watching some panel with Noam Chomsky where an aucdneie member asked him why, despite the public having all the facts at their disposal, time and time again, history repeats itself. I think Iraq is a perfect example of this guy’s point. Here we are: the U.S. is entangled in a war of choice which was sold to the public on false premises, and waged without an intelligent plan — we’ve been here before! What’s more amazing, though, is how incredibly quickly we forget that we’ve been here before. Historically it would take at least a generation to get over the fatigue of the last war. In the case of Iraq, however, it seems that we, as a nation, have already forgot about it while it’s still going on! How else can you explain the fact that people are seriously talking about a coming invasion of Iran? Soldiers are still dying in Iraq and this war is already a footnote in history.
I think if by some remote chacne the Bush Crime Family is brought to justice we should use the interregation techniques that they used on others. How about some electrodes to their balls? Or some water boarding? Get them to admit to all the numerous crimes they have committed.