Wolfowitz says U.S. was 'clueless on counterinsurgency'

Posted By Blake Hounshell Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - 9:38 AM Share

Eli Lake catches Paul Wolfowitz making rare public comments on Iraq:

Paul Wolfowitz, in his first public remarks on the Iraq war in years, said the American government was "pretty much clueless on counterinsurgency" in the first year of the war.

The former deputy secretary of defense said yesterday that the force sent to Iraq was adequate for fighting Saddam Hussein's military, citing the speed with which American troops toppled the regime. But Mr. Wolfowitz said no one in the Bush administration anticipated that Saddam would order his security services to wage an insurgency after their formal defeat on the battlefield.

It's important, however, to unpack Wolfowitz's definition of "counterinsurgency." In his mind, the United States should have armed and trained tens of thousands of Iraqi exiles and put Ahmad Chalabi in charge of an interim government. It's the same fantasy Wolfowitz and his colleague Douglas Feith have been pushing for years now, not some kind of new candor on Wolfowitz's part.

(Hat tip: Laura Rozen)

EXPLORE:BUSH ADMINISTRATION, IRAQ

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