Wolfowitz Denies Woodward Report

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz yesterday denied a report in a new book that the Pentagon in 2002 secretly diverted $700 million to a covert military construction program in Kuwait linked to a future war with Iraq without adequately informing Congress.

Wolfowitz, responding to questions by members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, took strong issue with an account of the Pentagon spending contained in "Plan of Attack," by Washington Post assistant managing editor Bob Woodward.

The book describes a $700 million plan, approved by President Bush, to use money that Congress had approved for the war in Afghanistan and the general war on terrorism to finance airfields and pipelines in Kuwait, setting the stage for a "giant invasion." Congress, Woodward wrote, "had no real knowledge or involvement."

In testimony yesterday, Wolfowitz said that the U.S. Central Command had prepared a $750 million contingency plan for Iraq by July 2002. He said that the Pentagon had earmarked $241 million of the total before Congress voted for an Iraq war resolution in October 2002. But the money, he said, went only "to strengthen our capabilities in the region," and "no funding was made available for those things that had Iraq as the exclusive purpose."

The administration, Wolfowitz said, had tried "scrupulously" to live up to reporting requirements to Congress.

Nevertheless, the Woodward account has spurred concerns about the nearly unprecedented flexibility Congress gave the Pentagon over counterterrorism funds.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28864-2004Apr20.html

enough said

What's going on? Woodward says one thing, Bush says another.

Wasn't that how Watergate started?

he says. He may be infact setting Bush up for the fall.

Woodward would let it come slowly.

did they not? Let's roll the tape!

And CBS has heard the tapes also, I would guess.

and thanks to Tom "bug killer" Delay, that just isn't going to happen.

We need to drop this impeachment fantasy and get on with ensuring a fair election in November.

gotta listen or be thrown out of office.

.. and the bug can always be stepped on.

Don't ever ever give up.

"no funding was made available for those things that had Iraq as the exclusive purpose."

Isn't that an admission of the very wrongdoing they're being accused of? Or am I not understanding the charges and their defense of those charges?

he's trying to claim that the money wasn't JUST for Iraq, but other terrorism-related expenses as well.

What we still haven't heard is what Iraq has to do with terrorism, and why the whole gang of them claimed they were trying to resolve the Iraq problem peacefully up until the last moment.

for the Shrub Admin.. He may have duped them all with his book BUSH AT WAR. I dearly hope this is the case. He played a major role in bringing down Nixon. ...Oscar

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=199853

you should enable your pm

You must have read some of my other postings. So DU is onto all this. I`m glad to know that and I am working my way through that thread you provided and learning a lot of stuff I did not know. I will end by paraphrasing the originator of that thread by saying : Maybe it`s time to get another BUSH/NAZI thread started.

I'm glad you got back here. I saw this
What is with DU and Shrub/Walker ties to WWII Nazi Germany ? yesterday and didn't want you to have the wrong impression. It seems things moved a little slower back then. Here's another. Some of those guys really know alot.

The Bush Organized Crime Family

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=875102

and this might get interesting
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1449548


pm me if you want

Woodward has tapes, interviews, etc. One vibe that I get from Woodward is that he is a very thorough reporter, he presents himself as really dotting the i's and crossing the t's on this book.

bushie and uncle dick have his book listed as recommended reading, and yet everyday someone is coming out saying that his book is wrong. Did they set him up? This is very strange.

On one hand Woodward seems to have covered all his bases with tapes and transcripts that sppear to be damning to the administration. On the other hand his book is being touted as recommended reading by members of the administration? Something is not right here.

This Administration deals in smoke and mirrors- If they distanced themselves from Woodward, it would give the impression of guilt.

Something like the Godfather mantra...

"Keep your friends close to you and your enemies CLOSER."

I watched Rumsfeld discussing it last night on (i know) Fox being interviewed by (i know) Hannity and if you'd take his word for it the entire book was a piece of Fiction.

after all, Wolfowitz has said it is so, therefore it must be so.

Why question this administration? They are good Christian men after all.

Uh ... except for Wolfowitz, who's a Jew. And Perle, who's a Jew ..... and ....

He's a top-notch reporter with huge credentials and he was careful to back up everything he wrote, but you can count on Wolfowitz to "spin".

oily tongue while he was in the hot seat, Walt Kelly's comic strip Pogo came to mind and a certain character(a pole cat)named Simple J.Malarkey.

Lawmakers hope Wolfowitz will provide insight into Iraq strategy
By Pauline Jelinek, Associated Press, 4/21/2004 08:35


WASHINGTON (AP) Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz appears again Wednesday before another panel of lawmakers, a day after he irritated some senators with a half-hour speech on how brutal Saddam Hussein was, and how better off Iraq was without him.

Wolfowitz's testimony Tuesday opened three days of hearings that senators hoped would shed light on the Bush administration's strategy for the increasingly troubled campaign in Iraq information Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike say the administration has consistently denied them.

''What we've been given is a series of just glossy overstatements ... and how bad Saddam Hussein is ... really, really bad,'' Democratic Sen. Mark Dayton of Minnesota said sarcastically some three hours into a four-hour hearing at the Senate Armed Services Committee. ''We have a right to know, and we should be told, what is going on over there, in factual terms, in military terms.''

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., called Wolfowitz's presentation disingenuous. ''There wasn't a word in this presentation about the weapons of mass destruction,'' the administration's main rationale for the invasion, he said.
(snip/...)

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/112/wash/Lawmakers_hope_Wolfowitz_will_:.shtml

when we practice to deceive.

"Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., called Wolfowitz's presentation disingenuous. ''There wasn't a word in this presentation about the weapons of mass destruction,'' the administration's main rationale for the invasion, he said."

Thanks, Ted

you are such a liar

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/09/04/september11/main520830.shtml

WASHINGTON, Sept. 4, 2002

Plans For Iraq Attack Began On 9/11

(CBS) CBS News has learned that barely five hours after American Airlines Flight 77 plowed into the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was telling his aides to come up with plans for striking Iraq — even though there was no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the attacks.

That's according to notes taken by aides who were with Rumsfeld in the National Military Command Center on Sept. 11 – notes that show exactly where the road toward war with Iraq began, reports CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin.

<snip>

With the intelligence all pointing toward bin Laden, Rumsfeld ordered the military to begin working on strike plans. And at 2:40 p.m., the notes quote Rumsfeld as saying he wanted "best info fast. Judge whether good enough hit S.H." – meaning Saddam Hussein – "at same time. Not only UBL" – the initials used to identify Osama bin Laden.

Now, nearly one year later, there is still very little evidence Iraq was involved in the Sept. 11 attacks. But if these notes are accurate, that didn't matter to Rumsfeld.

...more...

'In this year's budget that we're voting on, for 2005, they haven't asked for one single penny for next year for Afghanistan and Iraq. Give me a break,'' Sen. Joseph Biden, ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said Wednesday on NBC''s ''Today'' show.

''They already know that it's going to cost a minimum of $60 billion to keep the troops there,'' the Delaware Democrat said.

Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., said on the same show that lawmakers want the administration ''to be honest with the Congress. Be honest with the American people. ... It's going to be $50 to $75 billion in additional money.''

HONESTY with the American people?

Demanding "honesty" from Bushco is the metaphoric equivalent of a crucifix to a vampire..

Please note, here, The World's Greatest Lists of Media Contacts – updated April 14, 2004– in the following thread:

LINK:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1413842#

IF THEY THINK WE DON’T CARE, THEY WON’T, EITHER!

Guess everyboby knows? I just got in - sorry!!

You have used up all of your credibility and then some. If you had any honor you would resign.

I guess Bushevik Bootlicker Woodward. Though I'm guessing their both lying.

on fire and he's deny it.

just cuz Tokyo CoCo doesn't like Kerry.

it's only been a few pages, but it just doesn't seem up to par for him - maybe it will as I read more. Also, bush is going to come out looking good in this no matter what - I know I heard Woodward say on one of the talk shows that as he was talking to bush (taping or otherwise), he would keep asking if something sounded right, is this what you want to say, play it back for him, etc. Did anyone else hear that?