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Wolfowitz: Obama slowness on Libya is 'a devastating image'
The Hill ^

Posted on 02/26/2011 5:16:20 PM PST by Sub-Driver

Wolfowitz: Obama slowness on Libya is 'a devastating image' By Bridget Johnson - 02/26/11 04:45 PM ET

Former deputy secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz said he's been "mystified" at how the White House has handled the bloody crisis in Libya.

"We've been just way too slow," Wolfowitz said in an interview airing Sunday on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS." "And that slowness, we're going to pay a price for, for a long time.

"Al Jazeera, which is no friend to the United States but which has become, with some justification, a hero of these revolutionary movements is taking the -- showing a picture of the White House or the president, why is the U.S. being so silent?" he said. "Why is it being as silent as these people? And then it shows pictures of the people who have been killed in the protests. It's a devastating image."

The former Bush administration official, who also served as president of the World Bank, was asked if the U.S. applying pressure to endangered leaders in the region would rattle countries such as Saudi Arabia and spread a message that Washington is angling for regime change.

"I don't think that's a legitimate reason to stand by a man who's slaughtering his own people," Wolfowitz said. "And I have a lot of criticisms to make of the Saudis, but I don't believe they're capable of this sort of butchery.

"We'd be in a much better position to say, look, with all its faults, Saudi Arabia doesn't treat its subjects as trash," he continued. "It doesn't kill them, brutalize them, and threaten to take them back to the Stone Age. So let's put Saudi Arabia in one category. We'd be in a much better position to do that if we were clear about Gadhafi."

Of the Bush administration decision to normalize relations with Libya in return for the country giving up its weapons of mass destruction, Wolfowitz said the White House gave Gadhafi "a lot by, in effect, saying you won't suffer the fate of Saddam Hussein."

"Some move was appropriate," he said of the restoration of relations. "I think we went too far. And I think the Obama administration continued that.

"Al Jazeera is having great fun showing pictures of Hillary Clinton meeting with Mutassim Gadhafi who is, I don't know which of his sons is the most hideous, but this is the National Security Advisor, he's a pretty bad man," Wolfowitz said.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: foreignpolicy; libyacrisis; obamunism; wolfowitz
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You have to be kidding.............
1 posted on 02/26/2011 5:16:24 PM PST by Sub-Driver
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To: Sub-Driver

slowness = 18 holes of golf, ice cream and hoops


2 posted on 02/26/2011 5:18:15 PM PST by max americana
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To: max americana

Obama can say squat since he gave gadaffi’s kids 400k.


3 posted on 02/26/2011 5:19:46 PM PST by GlockThe Vote (Who needs Al Queda to worry about when we have Obama?)
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To: max americana

And dancing to Motown tunes.


4 posted on 02/26/2011 5:20:04 PM PST by Fresh Wind (TOTUS knows how to give a speech. Obama knows how to read.)
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To: max americana

He is busy planning his trip to the “old sod”.


5 posted on 02/26/2011 5:21:52 PM PST by eyedigress ((Old storm chaser from the west)?)
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To: max americana

He was slow on Libya because he was way to preoccupied with Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio......


6 posted on 02/26/2011 5:22:48 PM PST by Red Badger (Want to be surprised? Google your own name. Want to have fun? Google your friend's names.....)
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To: Sub-Driver

*eyeroll*

Amazing isn’t it.

Babe Ruth hit home runs.

Henry Ford made cars.

Albert Einstein did physics.

Barack Obama hobbles a nation.

No one who paid *any* attention to this man prior to the 2008 election should be surprised.

When it is all over and done with we will equate Barack Obama with Benedict Arnold and the Rosenbergs.

Yes, he is that bad.


7 posted on 02/26/2011 5:24:26 PM PST by turfmann
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To: max americana

you forgot the motown event... which he ducked of long enough to tell Iran they had better straighten up, or else...


8 posted on 02/26/2011 5:24:37 PM PST by bareford101 ("Aslan's on the move." The Last Battle-CS Lewis)
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To: max americana

you forgot the motown event... which he ducked out of long enough to tell Iran they had better straighten up, or else...


9 posted on 02/26/2011 5:24:52 PM PST by bareford101 ("Aslan's on the move." The Last Battle-CS Lewis)
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To: Sub-Driver

Wolfowitz is big on promoting conflicts where he doesn’t have to risk his own butt. Anything the US does to intervene in Libya will only help prop up that crazy tyrant a while longer.

Is it possible that we don’t have to involve ourselves in every blasted crisis on the planet? Libya exports most of its oil to Europe. Let them do something for a change.


10 posted on 02/26/2011 5:27:36 PM PST by Pining_4_TX
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To: Sub-Driver
Obama should have a special understanding for Libya.

The country calls itself the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.

Obama is great (at least in his own mind), he's a socialist, he's people (at least in contrast to animal, vegetable, or mineral), he may have some Arab blood...and for all anyone knows he had an ancestor whose name was Jamahiriya.

Too bad Billy Carter isn't still alive. He seemed to know the Libyans pretty well. He could be called in as a consultant to straighten things out for Obama...probably wouldn't do any worse than Obama and would free up some time for Obama to play golf.

11 posted on 02/26/2011 5:30:09 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: bareford101

Oh yes, the Motown event...WE are supposed to “sacrifice” says the WH.


12 posted on 02/26/2011 5:33:10 PM PST by max americana
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To: Sub-Driver
"And I have a lot of criticisms to make of the Saudis, but I don't believe they're capable of this sort of butchery. "We'd be in a much better position to say, look, with all its faults, Saudi Arabia doesn't treat its subjects as trash," he continued. "It doesn't kill them, brutalize them, and threaten to take them back to the Stone Age. So let's put Saudi Arabia in one category. We'd be in a much better position to do that if we were clear about Gadhafi."

He must be joking. The Saudis behead their citizens in public on a regular basis. http://blog.amnestyusa.org/deathpenalty/an-execution-and-crucifixion-in-saudi-arabia/

13 posted on 02/26/2011 5:33:20 PM PST by research99
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To: Sub-Driver
"We'd be in a much better position to say, look, with all its faults, Saudi Arabia doesn't treat its subjects as trash," he continued. "It doesn't kill them, brutalize them, and threaten to take them back to the Stone Age. So let's put Saudi Arabia in one category. We'd be in a much better position to do that if we were clear about Gadhafi."

Talk to any women in Saudi Arabia??

14 posted on 02/26/2011 5:38:38 PM PST by Truth29
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To: Sub-Driver

Now that Obama has hired his very own Homosexual Party Planner, things should run much smoother.


15 posted on 02/26/2011 5:40:16 PM PST by Gator113 (I'm voting for Sarah Palin, Liberty, our Constitution and American Exceptionalism.)
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To: max americana

Why would anyone, even libs now obey this message from the so called President of the United States? Do as I say, not as I do? He is just a playboy with the power....and he’s making very bad decisions. People are waking up to this. Can’t blame Bush for this can he..


16 posted on 02/26/2011 5:42:40 PM PST by freebird5850 (Of course Obama loves his country...it's just that Sarah Palin loves mine!)
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To: Sub-Driver

Is Obama the only one who knows an asteroid is going to smash the Earth in six months? He acts like it.


17 posted on 02/26/2011 5:43:52 PM PST by Crawdad
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To: Crawdad

I’m using that next week. Very good.


18 posted on 02/26/2011 5:53:00 PM PST by eyedigress ((Old storm chaser from the west)?)
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To: Sub-Driver

Maybe the teleprompter was on vacation.


19 posted on 02/26/2011 5:54:57 PM PST by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all -- Texas Eagle)
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To: turfmann

bttt


20 posted on 02/26/2011 6:03:06 PM PST by BenLurkin (This post is not a statement of fact. It is merely a personal opinion -- or humor -- or both)
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