Wolfowitz Defends War, Illicit Iraqi Arms or Not

NY Times ^ | 2/1/04 | Thom Shanker

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

Paul D. Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary, said Saturday that the Bush administration was justified in toppling Saddam Hussein, regardless of whether American intelligence before the war that Iraq had stockpiled unconventional weapons was proved wrong.

"You have to make decisions based on the intelligence you have, not on the intelligence you can discover later," Mr. Wolfowitz said during a visit here with troops of the First Infantry Division, which is to go to Iraq in coming weeks.

The invasion of Iraq, he said, was about more than biological, chemical or nuclear weapons.

"We have an important job to do in Iraq, an absolutely critical job to do, and that is to help the Iraqi people to build a free and democratic country," he added.

Earlier this week, David Kay, the United States' former chief weapons inspector for Iraq, testified that his team had gathered no evidence that Iraq had produced or amassed any large stockpiles of unconventional weapons just before the American invasion, contradicting a cornerstone argument in the administration's case for war. Bush administration officials have said they want to await the final report of the weapons inspection team, called the Iraq Survey Group, and have rejected calls for an outside investigation.

Mr. Wolfowitz said that "it's important to understand where you got it right and where you got it wrong," but he was not asked and did not comment on any of the continuing inquiries or proposals for examining the record of American intelligence on Iraq.

While it is still too early to declare victory in Iraq, he said, "we're heading there, and it's going to be a very important turning point in the whole war on terrorism." The Middle East, he said, "has been heading down the wrong road" for the last 20 years, but "the Iraqi people have a chance now to start turning the course of history."

Mr. Wolfowitz, regarded as the intellectual architect of the administration's Iraq policy, spent a sizable part of his day in classified briefings about the coming troop rotation to Iraq, the largest movement of American forces since World War II.

Maj. Gen. John R. S. Batiste, the First Infantry Division commander, said his troops would have two parallel missions once they arrived in north-central Iraq.

"On one hand we will be killing and capturing terrorists and foreign fighters," he said in brief comments to reporters traveling with Mr. Wolfowitz. "Simultaneously we've got our work cut out with respect to stability and support operations to set the conditions for Iraqi civil-military self-reliance."

Mr. Wolfowitz greeted soldiers wearing the infantry's famous patch — the Big Red 1 — and told their spouses, "You are heroes."

In a morning meeting with the spouses, whose work here is called "the rear detachment," he was told that family members supported the mission, but that they craved greater predictability from the military.

One wife questioned whether the Army was too small, citing her husband's frequent deployments. Another suggested that Laura Bush, the First Lady, could help by recording a videotape explaining the Iraq mission to the worried children of departing soldiers.

The final speaker was Michelle Batiste, the wife of the division commander, who said all of the spouses agreed that they were "part of something good." But in a heartfelt statement to the deputy defense secretary, she said family members "just want some predictability and some stability," as they feel that they are "constantly saying goodbye" to soldiers and officers shipping out to dangerous assignments.

Mr. Wolfowitz paused, and told the spouses, "I got the message."

[MEG33]

God bless the loved ones who support,worry about and wait for our military.Thank you all!

[Ranger]

Hearing Wolfowitz talk about the reasoning for war with Iraq is like talking to a magician after he's performed his trick. Everybody knows the audience was conned, they just can't quite figure out how.