Paul Wolfowitz

Paul Wolfowitz (born December 22, 1943) United States Deputy Secretary of Defense

Sourced:

• "I think all foreigners should stop interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq. Those who want to come and help are welcome. Those who come to interfere and destroy are not."(2003 )
  • Press conference in Mosul, Iraq (July 21, 2003) Commentary on comments by Wolfowitz

• "...the importance of leadership and what it consists of: not lecturing and posturing and demanding, but demonstrating that your friends will be protected and taken care of, that your enemies will be punished, and that those who refuse to support you will regret having done so." [1]

• "Fuck you."
  • To Al Franken at the White House correspondents dinner after Franken asked, "Hi. Dr. Wolfowitz. Hey, the Clinton military did a great job in Iraq, didn't it?" (see page 221 of the paperback edition of Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right)

• "There's a lot of money to pay for this. It doesn't have to be U.S. taxpayer money. We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon."
  • Congressional Testimony, March 27, 2003

"There's definitely a rule in the Convention against humiliating prisoners and I'd have to see exactly the interview to see whether that in itself violated the Convention, but the Convention is very clear that prisoners have got to be treated properly. We are treating the Iraqi prisoners extremely well. In fact I think they get good food and shelter and they're free from the horrible commanders they used to work for. I think most of them are much happier, frankly."

Sunday March 23, 2003

"We know that in Basra and in the other cities the people do not want to repeat the experience of 12 years ago where they rise up against Saddam and then they're slaughtered. But before we take care of the killers that are left behind in those cities, we've got to take care of the regime. It's almost like cutting off the head of the snake and then the rest of the body will go." --Paul Wolfowitz

Misattribution:

• "The terrorists in Iraq believe their attacks on innocent people will weaken our resolve. They believe we will run from a challenge. They are mistaken. Americans are not the running kind."
  • Yahoo News article October 10, 2003 This statement is identical to one made by President Bush on October 9, 2003 and is likely to have been a mis-reporting of Wolfowitz quoting the president's statement.

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