Paul Wolfowitz Quotes
The idea that we could live with another 20 years of stagnation in the Middle East that breeds this radicalism and breeds terrorism is, I think, just unacceptable- especially after September 11th.
Paul Wolfowitz, Undersecretary of Defense, Comment in the Jerusalem Post, 2001 Quoted in Thomas E. Ricks, Fiasco- The American Military Adventure in Iraq
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This quotation is used by some non Americans to illustrate a hypocrisy and double standard that they see the United States arguing for in dealing with terrorism. The PKK terrorists have been infiltrating from Northern Iraq (Kurdistan) into Turkey for years. Kissinger and most American leaders tried to dissuade the Turks from militarily moving into Iraq to cut off the terrorists there and deal the border. They preferred an international policy approach. However, after 9-11 when the U.S. mainland was attacked by terrorists, the United States not only reacted unilaterally, but invaded Afghanistan and Iraq supposedly to nullify the terrorists.
The Security Counsel was meeting it the Situation room at the White House
This clause has been the cause of immense problems in the Mid-East. Hamas castigates any Palestinian who even suggests that there should be negotiations with Israel that are sincere as nothing less than the end of Israel is consistent with their charter. Anyone who uses the peace process for anything else but tactical advantage and buying time to strike again is a traitor. Meanwhile, the clause is taken be Israel to demonstrate that there is no point to any negotiations so long as the Palestinian Authority allows such an organization with this charter clause to be legal and operate in the open. The Palestinian Authority leadership are not willing to risk a civil war, and thus little or no progress is made.
Over a century ago, modern Islamists were critical of the Wahhabi sect for their extremism. Unfortunately, the Saudi Arabian royal family whose absolute control of the kingdom could be threatened by an extremist religious movement, cut a deal with the Wahhabi that not only gave them control over all religious and legal interpretations of Sharia in the kingdom, but also gave them large amounts of money with which the Wahhabi expanded and exported their extremist brand of Islam to many other counties—including the United States. A large part of the Islamic terrorism of the end of the 20th century into the 21st was caused by fanatics who had been exposed to Wahhabi schools (madrassas), mosques or materials which are virulently anti-Christian and ant-Semitic. Muslim intellectuals like Muhammad Abduh had warned about extremism in general and Wahhabi extremism in particular.
In the Asymmetric Warfare the insurgent “wins” a battle by surviving even if the insurgent takes massive casualties. As long as some exist—they can recruit and expand.
Paul Dundes Wolfowitz is an American political scientist and diplomat who served as the 10th President of the World Bank, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, and former dean of Johns Hopkins SAIS. He is currently a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
