Wolfowitz says Saudi troop withdrawal was 'huge' reason for war with Iraq

Associated Press ^

[fritter]

Wolfowitz says Saudi troop withdrawal was 'huge' reason for war with Iraq

Associated Press

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- European critics of the Iraq war expressed shock Friday at published remarks by a senior U.S. official playing down Iraq's weapons of mass destruction as the reason for the conflict.

In an interview in the next issue of Vanity Fair magazine, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz cited "bureaucratic reasons" for focusing on Saddam Hussein's alleged arsenal and said a "huge" reason for the war was to enable Washington to withdraw its troops from Saudi Arabia.

"For bureaucratic reasons we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction, because it was the one reason everyone could agree on," Wolfowitz was quoted as saying.

He said one reason for going to war against Iraq that was "almost unnoticed but huge" was the need to maintain American forces in Saudi Arabia as long as Saddam was in power.

Those troops were sent to Saudi Arabia to protect the desert kingdom against Saddam, whose forces invaded Kuwait in 1991, but their presence in the country that houses Islam's holiest sites enraged Islamic fundamentalists, including Osama bin Laden.

Within two weeks of the fall of Baghdad, the United States announced it was removing most of its 5,000 troops from Saudi Arabia and would set up its main regional command center in Qatar.

However, those goals were not spelled out publicly as the United States sought to build international support for the war. Instead, the Bush administration focused on Saddam's failure to dismantle chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs.

The failure of U.S. forces to locate extensive weapons stocks has raised doubts in a skeptical Europe whether Iraq represented a global security threat.

Wolfowitz's comments followed a statement by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who suggested this week that Saddam might have destroyed his banned weapons before the war began.

On Friday, the commander of U.S. Marines in Iraq said he was surprised that extensive searches have failed to discover any of the chemical weapons that U.S. intelligence had indicated were supplied to front line Iraqi forces at the outset of the war.

"Believe me, it's not for lack of trying," Lt. Gen. James Conway told reporters. "We've been to virtually every ammunition supply point between the Kuwaiti border and Baghdad, but they're simply not there."

The remarks by Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld revived the controversy over the war as President Bush left for a European tour in which he hopes to put aside the bitterness over the war, which threatened the trans-Atlantic partnership.

In Denmark, whose government supported the war, opposition parties demanded to know whether Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen misled the public about the extent of Saddam's weapons threat.

"It was not what the Danish prime minister said when he advocated support for the war," Jeppe Kofod, the Social Democrats' foreign affairs spokesman, said in response to Wolfowitz's comments. "Those who went to war now have a big problem explaining it."

Former Danish Foreign Minister Niels Helveg Petersen said he was shocked by Wolfowitz's claim. "It leaves the world with one question: What should we believe?" he told The Associated Press.

In Germany, where the war was widely unpopular, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeiting newspaper said the comments about Iraqi weapons showed that America is losing the battle for credibility.

"The charge of deception is inescapable," the newspaper said Friday.

In London, former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, who quit as leader of the House of Commons to protest the war, said he doubted Iraq had any such weapons.

"The war was sold on the basis of what was described as a pre-emptive strike, 'Hit Saddam before he hits us,' " Cook told British Broadcasting Corp. "It is now quite clear that Saddam did not have anything with which to hit us in the first place."

During a visit to Poland, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Friday he has "absolutely no doubt" that concrete evidence will be found of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction.

"Have a little patience," Blair told reporters.

Wolfowitz was in Singapore, where he is due to speak Saturday at the Asia Security Conference of military chiefs and defense ministers from Asian and key Western powers.

He told reporters at the conference that the United States will reorganize its forces worldwide to confront the threat of terrorism.

"We are in the process of taking a fundamental look at our military posture worldwide, including in the United States," Wolfowitz said. "We're facing a very different threat than any one we've faced historically."

[jimbo123]

Hana Saadour, an Iraqi woman, grieves in a hall as she searches for the remains of her son among hundreds of bodies found in a mass grave 50 km south of Baghdad, and brought for identification to the nearby town of Al-Mesayeb, May 22, 2003. In central Iraq (news - web sites), Iraqis are trying to identify their loved ones whose bodies were exhumed from several mass graves, said by local people to contain the remains of hundreds of Shi`ite Muslims executed by the regime of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) after their uprising in 1991. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

[Wolfstar]

WARNING, WARNING, WARNING!
Vanity Fair "INTERPRETED" what Wolfowitz said. For those interested in the truth, CLICK THIS LINK to read a complete, unfiltered transcript of the interview.

[Republican Wildcat]

Is that why they are being moved to Qatar?

[RightWhale]

Why did we go to war?

The usual. American interests were attacked.

[jimbo123]

Shoes found in a mass grave are displayed beside human remains for identification in Al-Mesayeb, central Iraq (news - web sites) May 22, 2003. In central Iraq, Iraqis are trying to identify their loved ones whose bodies were exhumed from several mass graves, said by local people to contain the remains of hundreds of Shi`ite Muslims executed by the regime of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) after their uprising in 1991. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

[jimbo123]

Vanity Fair's editor can be reached at vfmail@vf.com

[Republican Wildcat]

Did you seriously not know why the base in Saudi Arabia was there?

[Pukin Dog]

Still waiting for a fact. Dont you have one? Just one, liberal?

[Republican Wildcat]

This place just isn't worth my time.

Most of us deal in facts, here. If you find that annoying, as your posts on this thread indicate, then this probably isn't the place for you.

[finnman69]

If you read what Wolfowitz says , they agreed on one issue as the primary reason to invade Iraq. The WMD worries were not made up, but was the biggest among many reasons to remove Saddam.This title is a mis-spin.

What I find very interesting is Wolfowitz accurately spelling out that for the US to extracate itself from Saudi Arabia, the need for those troops to be in Saudi Arabia must be removed first.

[finnman69]

BS..don't you have a bridge to go live under?

[jimbo123]

An Iraqi man checks a bag containing a body found in a mass grave 50km south of Baghdad and displayed for identification in the nearby town of Al-Mesayeb, May 22, 2003. In central Iraq (news - web sites), Iraqis are trying to identify their loved ones whose bodies have been dug up from several mass graves, said by local people to contain the remains of hundreds of Shi`ite Muslims, executed by the regime of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) after their uprising in 1991. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

[finnman69]

This thread has the full interview.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/920374/posts

[MEG33]

Develop a thicker skin and come armed with correct sources.

[Captain Kirk]

Ah...the new Freeper line. WMD's don't matter, government lies don't matter. It was all justified because it was a war of "liberation" a la Kosovo and Haiti. BTW, do you also think we should invade the Congo and Zimbabwee? There are plenty of mass graves there too.

[jimbo123]

Uday? Is that you? Can't play with your people shredders anymore?

[Captain Kirk]

No outrage eh? Freepers bought the WMD line hook line and sinker and now that it has been proven to be a chimera they rationalize. All's fair in politics (to cite Clinton's theory) I guess

[Captain Kirk]

I suppose you also believed that conservatives who opposed the Kosovo war supported Milosovic and conservatives who were against the Haiti invasion loved Baby Doc.

[VRWCmember]

Freepers bought the WMD line hook line and sinker and now that it has been proven to be a chimera they rationalize.

Oh, it's been proven to be a chimera, eh? Then you must believe that Hans Blix was a more effective detective than Inspector Clouseau.

[Republican Wildcat]

WMD was never the only reason for going to war. Your suggestion that it was and that we "fell" for it indicates that it is you that has a lack of honesty in this discussion.

Now that the mobile weapons laboratories have been confirmed, as well as the finds which prove Saddam was a sponsor of international terrorism, the lies you and your fellow liberals continue to peddle will fall on increasingly deaf ears.