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Behind the Headlines by Justin RaimondoAntiwar.com April 8, 2002 WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA POSTREL?Post-9/11: Who speaks for libertarianism – the Old Right or the Neocon Clones? A note from the author: I apologize, in advance, for the sheer length of this column, but since it addresses the sell-out of basic libertarian principles by people and institutions who purport to speak in its name, I thought it important to address these questions thoroughly, with extensive quotations from those I name. Too bad, in attacking Antiwar.com, these pathetic losers didn't do the same – but then what can one expect from craven...

In an interview with Spiegel, former United States Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz has called for the declassification of intelligence service reports on Russian meddling in the U.S. election. “The American people need to know the truth about Russian interference in last year’s elections completely and quickly,” Wolfowitz told Spiegel in this week’s cover story. “The reports that have been the basis for various anonymous leaks should be made public as fast as possible,” he said. “The relevant committees of Congress, along with the FBI, have the ability to uncover the truth and to make it public and they...

Paul Wolfowitz, a top official in the George W. Bush administration referred to as the architect of the Iraq war, said he will likely vote for Hillary Clinton in November. Wolfowitz is part of a growing list of GOP national security and foreign policy officials who have announced their intention to support the Democratic presidential nominee. But though Clinton has proudly announced the backing of other Republicans, it’s less likely she will roll out a news release touting the support from Wolfowitz. As deputy secretary of Defense under Bush, Wolfowitz was among the earliest and biggest cheerleaders for invading...

Jeb Bush stepped onto the fabled soapbox under a broiling sun at the Iowa State Fair here Friday and offered himself to voters as a sober adult campaigning in a summer of anger — a reformer, a consensus-builder, a competent executive who would roll up his sleeves and fix things. "I’m tired of the divides," the former Florida governor said. "I campaign the way that I would govern — out amongst everybody, no rope lines, totally out in the open." Then the fairgoers started asking Bush questions. They asked about the legacy of his brother, a former president. And his...

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.” […] 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. …

Buzzfeed D.C. Bureau Chief John R. Stanton posted a death wish on Twitter Tuesday morning for Ambassador John Bolton, reporter Judith Miller and former Bush 43 Pentagon official Paul Wolfowitz. Not just any death, a fiery death by conflagration. “Paul Wolfowitz, Judith Miller and John Bolton should start a 3 Doors Down cover band. and then die in a Great White style fire” Maybe the FBI should be notified of Stanton’s deadly feelings about former high ranking government officials and a fellow reporter?

The Justice Department under President Barack Obama has quietly dropped its legal representation of more than a dozen Bush-era Pentagon and administration officials - including former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and aide Paul Wolfowitz - in a lawsuit by Al Qaeda operative Jose Padilla, who spent years behind bars without charges in conditions his lawyers compare to torture. Charles Miller, a Justice Department spokesman, confirmed Tuesday that the government has agreed to retain private lawyers for the officials, at a cost of up to $200 per hour. Miller said “conflicts concerns” prompted the decision. He did not elaborate. One private...

Push to blame the Iraq war on "Jewish influence" sounds a familiar theme http://www.jewishworldreview.com | A few months ago, a great deal of tut-tutting and dignified outrage emanated from much of the civilized world over the broadcast of a series on Egyptian television which sought to dramatize the "truth" of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. But, as the debate over President Bush's rightful determination to pursue war against the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein heats up, it looks like the dimwitted propagandists who write scripts for Egyptian potboilers have been sharing sources with prominent Washington pundits, leftist anti-war...

Keith Weissman and Steven Rosen Are PhDs and Middle East Experts Who Did Some Lobbying. They Thought They Were Doing What Washington Insiders Always Do. Thomas O’Donnell didn’t reveal his job when he phoned Keith Weissman in 2004 and got the policy analyst’s wife. He says he didn’t want to scare her. When Weissman returned the call and found out O’Donnell was an FBI agent, his first reaction was to attempt a joke: “What did I do?” “I’m sure you didn’t do anything,” O’Donnell told him. He wanted to meet that day, for five or ten minutes, and get Weissman’s...

Some good may yet come from the successful putsch by the staff of the World Bank against Paul Wolfowitz. A great deal of good, in fact. Not that we should cheer the ability of an overpaid staff, besotted with anti-war fervour, to zap its president, first by urging him to resolve personally the conflict created by his girlfriend’s employment at the bank, and then by attacking him for doing just that. But this cloud has more than one silver lining. The first is that it finally made President Bush realise that he has been too attentive to those who advise...

Most of the war hawks who stood with President George W. Bush on Iraq are gone or departing, leaving Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney increasingly without much company in trumpeting a steely resolve. And it is Cheney who stands out as the administration's foreign-policy heavy, as Bush combines his war rhetoric with overtures to Democrats who control Congress. Bush's top ally in Iraq, U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, just paid a farewell U.S. visit. The supportive leaders of Spain and Italy are long gone. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld resigned under pressure. World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz - one of...

In a classic example of misleading by omission, OpinionJournal.com editor James Taranto’s bio states, "He attended California State University, Northridge." In a commentary about Marilee Jones, who had lied to her bosses at Massachusetts Institute of Technology about her educational credentials for 28 years, Taranto belatedly fills in the blanks: I left high school after my sophomore year; and although I spent several years in college, I never bothered to graduate. Noting that "[b]y all accounts Marilee Jones did an excellent job," Taranto brushes aside the central issue in her dismissal - "[o]stensibly Ms. Jones was forced out because she...

The "homework" being done in the White House on the issue of a polygraph for former White House insider Sandy Berger, who admitted taking classified documents from the National Archives and disposing of them, isn't finished, presidential spokesman Tony Snow told WND. Snow had promised a week earlier to check into the commitment made by Berger as part of a plea bargain to resolve criminal charges against him to submit to a polygraph, something that has yet to occur. Snow was responding to a follow-up question on the issue from Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House. (Story continues...

The resolution offered by the gentleman from Ohio reads sensibly. It alleges crimes high and low, misdemeanors galore -- all of them representing an effort to mislead the American people and take them into war. It is Dennis Kucinich's articles of impeachment directed at Dick Cheney. The vice president will, of course, deny being a liar. As long as Kucinich is at it, add that to the articles. The congressman's case is persuasive, although his remedy may be too radical. He calls for Cheney to be impeached by the House and tried by the Senate, just as Bill Clinton was...

FOR the past few weeks, the world has been riveted by the difficulties of Paul Wolfowitz, president of the World Bank, regarding a potential conflict of interest involving the salary of his partner, also a senior official there. With the bank’s board deliberating this week over how to handle the charges, the controversy now needlessly and regrettably threatens Mr. Wolfowitz’s presidency, which has been largely defined by his energetic support for a new Africa that is struggling to emerge. Over the last two years, Mr. Wolfowitz has effectively directed the bank’s energies toward fighting poverty and improving human life. He...

April 16, 2007, 6:00 a.m. Iraqi BlowbackExplaining why Paul Wolfowitz is a travesty and Sandy Berger is a snooze. By Victor Davis Hanson The resigned Scooter Libby did not leak Valerie Plame’s name, a fact known to a special prosecutor charged with finding out who did and if were a crime. After hours of testimony, he was found self-contradictory under oath (though self-contradictory hardly to the extent of a Joe Wilson who said and wrote things about his yellow-cake inquiries that could not be conceivably true), and now faces a possible prison sentence. Ditto the exemption given to the...

The sordid tale now making the rounds in the "mainstream" press of a rogue Pentagon intelligence operation has all the elements of an urban legend: heavy breathing, a secret basement office "down by the ramp" and government officials who form a hidden alliance based on long-ago ties to an obscure but influential university guru. Only the work of a few good men with the courage to face up to this "cabal" - and a few crusader-journalists to help them - can make the demons scatter and scare the dark ones into the light. Or so the story goes on those...

THIS WEEK, trade ministers from 148 nations are gathering in Hong Kong for negotiations hosted by the World Trade Organization, the latest in the so-called Doha development round that started in Doha, Qatar, four years ago. The aim of these negotiations has been to liberalize trade — especially to open the world's richest markets to the world's poorest producers of goods and services. And the crucial issue in Hong Kong is agriculture. The world community can look back at 2005 with some pride when it comes to helping its poorest citizens. Commitments were made to double aid for African countries...

By JAMES RISEN WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 — As American soldiers massed on the Iraqi border in March and diplomats argued about war, an influential adviser to the Pentagon received a secret message from a Lebanese-American businessman: Saddam Hussein wanted to make a deal. Iraqi officials, including the chief of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, had told the businessman that they wanted Washington to know that Iraq no longer had weapons of mass destruction, and they offered to allow American troops and experts to conduct an independent search. They also offered to hand over a man accused of being involved in the...

Paul Wolfowitz has marked his first day as the new head of the World Bank by reaffirming his plan to focus primarily on reducing poverty in Africa. In addition, he intends to tackle corruption and make poor countries feel more involved in the decision making process at the global lender. Mr Wolfowitz added that although Africa would be his main focus, he would not forget other developing regions. Some have attacked his appointment because of his role in the Iraq War. Previously the US Deputy Defence Secretary and a key "hawk" in George W Bush's administration, he was one of...