Wolfowitz: We 'Won' The Iraq War

[big_dog]

Source: The Hill

Paul Wolfowitz, a former senior George W. Bush administration official and one of the chief Iraq War architects, said on Tuesday that the U.S. "won" the war in Iraq. When asked his thoughts about the current situation in Iraq and whether the war was a mistake, Wolfowitz replied, "We have won it — in 2009."

The U.S. planned to leave some troops in Iraq to train and advise Iraqi forces after the combat mission ended in 2011, but those forces withdrew after the Obama administration and the Iraqi government were not able to sign a bilateral security agreement that would have granted U.S. troops immunity.

Iraq is now facing a terrorist insurgency from a Sunni extremist group, and critics blame the Obama administration for not working hard enough to secure an agreement. "I think we could have had one if we wanted it," Wolfowitz said of the agreement. The former deputy Defense secretary played a large role in supporting the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, on the premise that its leader, Saddam Hussein, had weapons of mass destruction in violation of international law.

Wolfowitz made the remarks at a roundtable gathering with African leaders and journalists during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington this week




Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/defense/214453-wolfowitz-we-won-the-iraq-war

[madokie]

1. The question is Why is he not at the Dock at the Hague

in a war crimes trial?

[warrant46]

36. Tell that to the 5000 or so Gold Star Mothers

At least Saddam would have controlled Isis

[madokie]

42. What do you mean by that

The gold star mother would be happy to see his sorry ass at the Hague.
It was wrong what the bush/cheney cabal did with Iraq. Saddam was not a threat to us and yes he was in control in his country. Have you seen pictures of Iraq before the invasion compared to now as well as compared to most of the other countries in the region.

[warrant46]

44. Yes I have seen pictures

Under Saddam women could go to college, did not wear veils, and the ruler was a nationalist not an Islamic nutjob.

He ruled with an iron hand and after he went after the Kuwaiti Royal family and threatened the Saudis the PNAC folks under War Criminal G H. Bush decided he had to go and 10 years later the son of G.H. the CHIMPANZEE G.W. finished the job.

And the NeoCons and the 1% have made Billions and mislead the sheep.

[Bill USA]

61. Yeah, those Gold Star mothers would like to deal with him themselves!

War based on lies, paid for fake intelligence, prosecuted with inadequate troop strength as using realistic troop strength numbers would have seriously jeopardized the selling of the war.

General Shinseki, who testified in February 2003 that we would need upwards of 250,000 troops to control Iraq, [font color="red"]was denounced by Wolfowitz[/font], because Shinseki’s answers didn’t conform to the neo-con mantra.

The Office of Special Plans was created by then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary of Defense, Paul Wolfowitz to grind out the kind of 'intelligence' that Cheney needed to sell the war to Free Iraqi Oil. The professional intelligence people at CIA were not producing the intelligence/propaganda cheney needed, so they created the Office of Special Plans which operated independently of any supervision in the Pentagon.

Yeah, the Gold Star Mothers would like to get their hands on Wolfowitz but, there is a long list of others who want to get their hands on Wolfowitz too.

[warrant46]

68. +1000

[emsimon33]

47. If there were any justice he sure would be and would end up dying in prison

[emsimon33]

48. Along with Bush, Cheney, and the rest

[24601]

70. Does your "justice" include anyone who ordered a drone strike on a US citizen without trial? Or do

you just follow the situational ethics of partisan politics?

What about anyone who ordered the bombing of Serbia without Congressional authorization?

[Enrique]

2. congratulations

[sakabatou]

3. Just like we "won" Vietnam, right?

[big_dog]

8. 'mission accomplished'

[mdbl]

9. I wonder if the person taking that graphic

thought we was a big moron. How did this country get behind that Texas Air National Guard drop-out? The picture is disgusting without the stats.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

34. Actually, by that set of statistics, the 'win' was that the Iraq war only cost

(in dollars, not lives) 1/10th of the damage down by the assclowns in the finance sector when they wiped 16-17 trillion of net worth from the American people playing their ponzi schemes on each other.

[yurbud]

30. What I can't figure out is what"winning" would have changed.

Would they be making our Nikes for even less if we had won?

[Botany]

4. Stick it up your ass Paul

You lied to start the war, you lied during the war, and you are
still lying. Remember your little "the war will pay for itself"
line?

BTW the withdrawal of US troops was under a time table
negotiated by the w bush admin..

[underpants]

5. Paul, do you want to be a firetruck?

How's that commute on your unicorn working for you?

Are there still bugs all over you?

[backscatter712]

6. Well, technically, he's right.

If we're following the stated goals of our military actions in Iraq.

Saddam Hussein is no longer in power, and we verified there are no WMDs in Iraq. The regime has been changed.

Good job soldiers. Let's pack up our shit and go home!

Of course, what positive things were really accomplished in Iraq? Absolutely nothing.

[4Q2u2]

10. So Technically

If I punched him in the face I would be doing a vigorous skin ex foliation while simultaneously an external dental exam.

[backscatter712]

16. Technically speaking...

[mdbl]

11. Oh but don't forget,

It made Dick Cheney's friends rich.

[AngryDem001]

19. And that was the REAL mission accomplished.

I hope our veterans can rest easy knowing that hell they went through was worth it. They helped buy Cheney and company new mansions.

Paul Wolfowitz can go to Iraq and STAY THERE.

[tridim]

26. And President Obama destroyed that cash cow.

And yet the ultra-leftright thinks he's a fucking used car salesman.

[OnyxCollie]

32. I hate to burst your bubble.

POP!

The Carlyle Group Has Made $2 Billion Off Of Booz Allen
http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2013/06/10/the-carlyle-group-has-made-2-billion-off-of-booz-allen/

In 2008, the Carlyle Group made a large $910 million investment to buy a majority stake in Booz Allen’s government consulting business. The deal saw Booz Allen’s big government advisory unit, which produced most of the firm’s revenue, split off from its corporate consulting group, on the eve of the financial crisis.

But Washington-based Carlyle, which has a long and successful history doing deals involving government contractors, has really made the Booz Allen deal work. It has been an amazing transaction for Carlyle. The private equity firm has made $2 billion in realized and unrealized profits on the Booz Allen Hamilton deal so far. Its $910 million investment is now worth $3 billion.

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[mdbl]

49. Geez Onyx

You're such a mood killer

[OnyxCollie]

58. If you prefer instead to live under delusions,

there's a place for you.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1102

[ck4829]

53. The stated goal was to find those WMDs

[24601]

71. We are fortunate that Congress listed the rationale in the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military

Force. We can therefore, see what was and was not in the resolution that could not have passed without Democratic votes (Republicans had only 49 Senators at the time).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War_Resolution

[copied from wiki - I added bold & underline formats, numbers, spacing and removed footnotes - my added comments have brackets]

The resolution cited many factors to justify the use of military force against Iraq:
[WMD was #2 of 12]

1. Iraq's noncompliance with the conditions of the 1991 ceasefire agreement, including interference with U.N. weapons inspectors.

2. Iraq "continuing to possess and develop a significant chemical and biological weapons capability" and "actively seeking a nuclear weapons capability" posed a "threat to the national security of the United States and international peace and security in the Persian Gulf region."

3. Iraq's "brutal repression of its civilian population."

4. Iraq's "capability and willingness to use weapons of mass destruction against other nations and its own people".

5. Iraq's hostility towards the United States as demonstrated by the 1993 assassination attempt on former President George H. W. Bush and firing on coalition aircraft enforcing the no-fly zones following the 1991 Gulf War.

6. Members of al-Qaeda, an organization bearing responsibility for attacks on the United States, its citizens, and interests, including the attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, are known to be in Iraq.

7. Iraq's "continu[ing] to aid and harbor other international terrorist organizations," including anti-United States terrorist organizations.

8. Iraq paid bounty to families of suicide bombers.

9. The efforts by the Congress and the President to fight terrorists, and those who aided or harbored them.

10. The authorization by the Constitution and the Congress for the President to fight anti-United States terrorism.

11. The governments in Turkey, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia feared Saddam and wanted him removed from power.

12. Citing the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, the resolution reiterated that it should be the policy of the United States to remove the Saddam Hussein regime and promote a democratic replacement.



Introduced in Congress on October 2, 2002, in conjunction with the Administration's proposals, H.J.Res. 114 passed the House of Representatives on Thursday afternoon at 3:05 p.m. EDT on October 10, 2002, by a vote of 296-133, and passed the Senate after midnight early Friday morning, at 12:50 a.m. EDT on October 11, 2002, by a vote of 77-23. It was signed into law as Pub.L. 107–243 by President Bush on October 16, 2002.

United States Senate

Party Y N
Republican 48 1
Democratic 29 21
Independent 0 1
TOTALS 77 23

58% of Democratic senators (29 of 50) voted for the resolution. Those voting for the resolution are:
Sens. Lincoln (D-AR), Feinstein (D-CA), Dodd (D-CT), Lieberman (D-CT), Biden (D-DE), Carper (D-DE), Nelson (D-FL), Cleland (D-GA), Miller (D-GA), Bayh (D-IN), Harkin (D-IA), Breaux (D-LA), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Kerry (D-MA), Carnahan (D-MO), Baucus (D-MT), Nelson (D-NE), Reid (D-NV), Torricelli (D-NJ), Clinton (D-NY), Schumer (D-NY), Edwards (D-NC), Dorgan (D-ND), Hollings (D-SC), Daschle (D-SD), Johnson (D-SD), Cantwell (D-WA), Rockefeller (D-WV), and Kohl (D-WI).

42% of Democratic senators (21 of 50) voted against the resolution. Those voting against the resolution are:
Sens. Boxer (D-CA), Graham (D-FL), Akaka (D-HI), Inouye (D-HI), Durbin (D-IL), Mikulski (D-MD), Sarbanes (D-MD), Kennedy (D-MA), Stabenow (D-MI), Levin (D-MI), Dayton (D-MN), Wellstone (D-MN), Corzine (D-NJ), Bingaman (D-NM), Conrad (D-ND), Wyden (D-OR), Reed (D-RI), Leahy (D-VT), Murray (D-WA), Byrd (D-WV), and Feingold (D-WI).

1 (2%) of 49 Republican senators voted against the resolution: Sen. Chafee (R-RI).

The only Independent senator voted against the resolution: Sen. Jeffords (I-VT)

United States House of Representatives

Party Yeas Nays Not Voting
Republican 215 6 2
Democratic 82 126 1
Independent 0 1 0
TOTALS 297 133 3

82 (40%) of 209 Democratic Representatives voted for the resolution.

6 (<3%) of 223 Republican Representatives voted against the resolution: Reps. Duncan (R-TN), Hostettler (R-IN), Houghton (R-NY), Leach (R-IA), Morella (R-MD), Paul (R-TX).

The only Independent Representative voted against the resolution: Rep. Sanders (I-VT)

Reps. Ortiz (D-TX), Roukema (R-NJ), and Stump (R-AZ) did not vote on the resolution.

[my comment - regardless of his vote, Ron Paul and his son continue to be unfit to be President]

[George II]

7. Wolfowitz is the one who blatantly admitted that the bush administration faked "intelligence"....

...(I hesitate to use that word in the same sentence as bush or any of his administration) because it would make it easier to make a case for the Iraq War.

[RobertEarl]

12. We had it won before we invaded

What happened then was we lost trillions of dollars, and thousands of people to make you, Paul, feel like a winner. It was all about ego for you damned warmongers.

You, Paul, should have gone over and set up your kingdom in Iraq. But you did not? Why not? Because your winnings would have meant a sure death to you, you chicken-shit chicken hawk.

You should be on your knees at Obama's feet thanking him for not putting your sorry ass in jail. FU.

[BeyondGeography]

13. Some people are always

[liberal N proud]

14. If the objective was to leave the nation in shambles then Wolfowitz may be correct

Which nation did they leave in shambles you might ask... well both the US and Iraq.

This clown is just trying to rewrite history.

[NV Whino]

15. Oh, Wolfie, go comb your hair

Nobody won that war. Least of all the Iraqi people.

[tabasco]

17. Yeah, I remember the Iraqi people throwing flowers

on US troops in that big victory parade in Baghdad.

[warrant46]

37. It was a Rose Petal Parade in Fallujah too

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Horror-at-Fallujah-SAVAGE-ATTACK-Bodies-2772639.php

EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT **Iraqis chant anti-American slogans on a bridge over the Euphrates River where charred bodies are hanging in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, Wednesday March 31 2004. Enraged Iraqis in this hotbed of anti-Americanism killed four foreigners Wednesday, including at least one U.S. national, took the charred bodies from a burning SUV, dragged them through the streets, and hung them from the bridge spanning the Euphrates River. (AP Photo

[LibertyLover]

18. Ugg - what an awful man

I hated that my 10 years at IFC photo was taken with him, because he was President of the World Bank Group at the time. I know the photo got sent to me but I never opened it or displayed it and sadly lost it during one of my office moves. Quelle bummer.

[Blue Idaho]

20. Oh Yeah, I remember the tickertape parade in New York City...

Not.

[reflection]

21. If that was a win, I'd hate to see what a loss looks like. n/t

[WhoWoodaKnew]

51. Exactly

[Maedhros]

22. We did, indeed, win the Iraq War.

However we absolutely botched the occupation that followed.

[tabasco]

54. Nope. No we didn't

The war objectives were not accomplished. We lost the war.

In fact, many of the objectives could not be accomplished because they were based on LIES.

[Maedhros]

56. I think we're looking at different aspects of the Iraq operation.

We defeated the Iraqi armed forces in the field and deposed Saddam, which could be considered "winning" the war. The insurgency that followed, however, is another matter.

[tabasco]

62. Nope, the war objectives were not accomplished

and never had a chance.

An "insurgency" did not defeat us, militarily or otherwise. We wisely chose to unass Iraq.

The criminal Bush regime's idiotic belief that we could install a lasting, democratic government was proven to be a fantasy. The war did not have just cause and the objectives were not met. Yet, you say we won. YAY!

The War College disagrees.

[Maedhros]

63. You don't have to convince me. The Iraq invasion was a stupid, cruel mistake on all fronts.[n/t]

[24601]

69. Yep, you nailed it precisely. Won the war & then lost the peace.

[bobthedrummer]

23. GO BACK TO THE IMF YOU MURDERING FUCKSTICK POS AND TAKE YOUR IRANIAN HONEY TRAP WITH YA!

[calimary]

28. What bobthedrummer said!

Oh and one more thing. Hey wolfie - YOU FIRST. You out there agitating for America to go back into Iraq? YOU FIRST. Sign up, suit up, and ship out. The sooner the better. Go see what you did. And deal with it first-hand.

[rurallib]

52. take McCain and Lyndsey Graham with you!

[calimary]

65. AND contradicta, and rummy, and cheney, and dougie feith and ken adelman,

george tenet, elliott abrams, scooter libby, bill kristol, charles krauthammer, george will, lester holt, judith miller, frank gaffney, the kagans, and all the other vermin. Take 'em all with you. And don't forget jebbie bush. HE TOO is a PNAC signatory. As is michael o'hanlon of the so-called "liberal" think tank the Brookings Institute. Back in the day, that was pretty much the ONLY non-wrong-wing institute or think tank or other comparable establishment to the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute and that sort of dreck. ALWAYS more of 'em on the enemy's side than on ours. Even back then. They were already up 'n' running while our side was just starting to wake up and start stumbling outta bed.

[lark]

24. So, we won the war, but lost the country to the extremist we put in charge?

So, we won but it cost us Trillions of $$, 4000+ US deaths and an estimated more than 100,000 Iraqui dead and the devastation of the Iraqui economy and had zero positive results? How is that a win, except in alternate reality bizzarro busho land?

[Liberal_from_va34]

25. Wow, talk about complete delusion.

Wolfowitz must be on drugs to say such absolute tripe. Or has just gone clinically insane. In any case, he's a truly reprehensible scumbag.

[PoliticAverse]

27. So "We won the war and lost the peace" then?... n/t

[Cal Carpenter]

29. Fuck off piece of shit war criminal. n/t

[yurbud]

31. all the neoconservatives should walk down the streets of Bagdad, Fallujah, and Basra unarmed

Last edited Thu Aug 7, 2014, 06:22 PM - Edit history (1)

And collect their reward from the people of Iraq.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

33. if 'We' = war profiteers like Halliburton (and therefore Cheney), then yeah

'we' won there.

America lost, Iraq lost, but the war profiteers, from KBR to Halliburton to Blackwater/Xe won bigtime, at the expense of everyone else.

[wordpix]

39. true, good points all

[workinclasszero]

50. Yeah those neocon republican warpigs won alright

Everybody else lost like the poor soldiers who were maimed for life or died in that Godforsaken hellhole.

The MIC won big oh HELL YES!

[PeoViejo]

35. Wolfie must be thinking of Grenada

..but, then, nobody really wins Wars, it's more a matter of who loses the least.

[wordpix]

38. just like Iraqi oil would pay for the war and we would "win" in two months

Good try rewriting history, Wolfie

re: "not working hard enough to secure an agreement" - al Maliki wanted us out so we should have stayed, right? And done our own thing, spending trillion$ more in blood and treasure.

[kwassa]

40. How do the wildly incompetent and delusional rise to such high positions of authority?

Not a speck of sense anywhere in this guy.;

[Octafish]

41. Guy's licked one comb too many.

[jmowreader]

43. You know how much he looks like Alfred E. Neuman in that picture?

The difference is, Alfred E. is supposed to be stupid.

[Thor_MN]

45. Sure, if "Win" means transferring trillions of tax dollars into private pockets...

[Blue_Tires]

72. ^^^^ TRUTH

[Corgigal]

46. Haven't heard from him in awhile

This reminds me of the time I had two fighting Siamese fighting fish. One named Wolfie, the other Rummy. They just puffed at each other all the time, but both were safe because of the divider in the tank.

They both passed on to the fishbowl in the sky. However, both those fish has more of a purpose then the idiots I named them after.

[The Second Stone]

55. What did "we" "win"?

I'm thinking we are not included in "we" and all the consequent violence and cost is a loss for the American people.

[corkhead]

57. by "we" he must mean the MIC

[Jefferson23]

59. What percentage of people around the planet would agree with this man?

Talk about a disconnect from reality.

[dmosh42]

60. Time to go back to the home!

[mvd]

64. Delusional

No one won in our illegal war there! Boy they are desperate to convince themselves of things.

[daleo]

66. Just like Russia won its Afghanistan war

If killing lots of people constitutes winning, they won too.

[randome]

67. That's like running down the street, kicking someone in the ass then running away.

"I won! Nya-nya!"
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Birds are territorial creatures.
The lyrics to the songbird's melodious trill go something like this:
"Stay out of my territory or I'll PECK YOUR GODDAMNED EYES OUT!"[/center][/font][hr]