Ask the White House Wolfowitz Transcript

Ask the Whitehouse ^

[gilliam]

A couple of interesting questions and answers in last Friday's Ask the White House interview with Wolfowitz:

jon, from huntington beach, ca writes:
I realize that Iraq is in control of a great deal of the government but why dont you catch the insurgents off-guard and turn full control over to Iraq now. What difference does a few days make? I have the feeling that they are planning some big attack on the 30th. Remove the significance of June 30th.

Let the Iraq deel with the insurgents starting right now.

Paul Wolfowitz
That’s an interesting idea. The terrorists work by surprising us and we need to think about what we can do to throw them off balance. But their real target is not so much a date as it is the new government. Saddam’s killers and Zarqawi’s terrorists are already ramping up their attacks.

The terrorists know that if the Iraqi people succeed in setting up a free and democratic government, their days are numbered. So it’s very dangerous right now to serve in the Iraqi government.

But Iraq has courageous new leaders. And Iraqi security forces are also stepping up to the challenge that they face. They are serving heroically. They will still need our help for some time to beat back the terrorist challenge, but the key to victory is building up the Iraqi Army and police as rapidly as possible.

Ben, from Atlanta writes:
My cousin is now serving in the Army in Iraq and I worry about him, and, increasingly, the cause that he is fighting for. Does the president believe that the Iraq war will have been worth it even if we don't find any WMD or substantial links to Bin Laden in Iraq?

Paul Wolfowitz
Ben, you can be very proud of your cousin and the part he has played in helping to liberate 25 million Iraqis from one of the most brutal dictatorships of modern times. I have visited with many of our troops in Iraq, and they are performing with great heroism.

As I am sure you know, we went into Iraq for a number of reasons, not only to destroy the WMDs that everyone agreed Saddam Hussein had. Remember that he used chemical weapons against his own people and against his neighbors. He had produced biological weapons and come very close to nuclear weapons ten years ago. He was in violation of 17 UN Resolutions. Resolution 1441 was his last and final chance to come clean on WMDs and he failed to do so.

We have not yet determined why we didn’t find more when we got to Iraq, but there is no question that he had the capability to build new ones, and there is no question that Saddam Hussein posed a very real threat to world peace. He invaded his neighbors. His regime supported and harbored terrorist elements like Al Qaida.

And today, a key figure in the resistance in Iraq is an Al Qaida-associated fugitive and terrorist, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, who has taken “credit” for personally beheading several U.S. hostages and for sponsoring numerous suicide bombings.

By giving the Iraqi people a chance to live in freedom and peace, we have opened the door to progress throughout the Middle East, which has been a source of so much terrorism. Already there are important signs of positive change in the Middle East from Muammar Qaddafi giving up his WMD to some Arab governments talking for the first time about democratic reform.

So yes, the war has been worth the great investment we have made and the great sacrifices our servicemen and women are making. I believe future generations will look back at them with the same sense of gratitude that we look on the World War II generation.

[johnfrink]

Good call by "Jon" from Huntington Beach!

[MonroeDNA]

Wonder if he is a Freeper?

If not, he should be invited.