Wolfowitz Rides Again with Bush/Cheney

by John Stauber — December 6, 2007 - 1:08pm
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Bill Berkowitz reports that Paul Wolfowitz "has been offered a position as chairman of the International Security Advisory Board -- formerly known as the Arms Control and Nonproliferation Advisory Board -- a prestigious State Department panel. The 18-member panel, which has access to highly classified intelligence, advises Condoleezza Rice on disarmament, nuclear proliferation, WMD issues and other matters. Wolfowitz will replace former senator Fred Thompson, who quit over the summer to run for the Republican Party's presidential nomination. ... 'Wolfowitz will get some image redemption being back in the White House and involved with foreign policy, with a title to his name and access to and the blessings of Bush, Cheney and presumably Rice,' John Stauber ... told Media Transparency via an e-mail exchange. Stauber pointed out that since this 'is a lame duck Administration responsible for the biggest foreign policy disaster in US history,' it is probably having 'a difficult time filling positions because no one wants to book a ride on a doomed vessel.' ... One of the other big issues remaining for the Bush presidency is whether or not it will 'attack Iran or Syria and expand the war in the Middle East,' said John Stauber. ... 'Whatever the Administration decides to do, Wolfowitz is a team player with Bush and Cheney and he can perform any role they designate.' "

Main Source: 
Media Transparency, December 6, 2007

Comments

Doomed vessel?

Submitted by Mutternich on December 6, 2007 - 3:00pm.

"Stauber pointed out that since this 'is a lame duck Administration responsible for the biggest foreign policy disaster in US history,' it is probably having 'a difficult time filling positions because no one wants to book a ride on a doomed vessel.'"

Once they're "in," I don't think any of these folks is ever really "out," although one or another may be forced into a lower profile on occasion.

This gig Wolfowitz has landed sounds like one he might well be asked to stay on in and get promoted from if our next president is another Republican. For a tenaceous power-seeking ideologue who takes the long view, like Wolfowitz, "doomed vessel" is a shortsighted frame.

And here's some broader context.

Submitted by Mutternich on December 8, 2007 - 10:13am.

Neocons Down, Not Out

By Robert Parry
December 6, 2007

Since the neoconservatives began to emerge as a political force in the mid-to-late 1970s, they have followed a consistent strategy of targeting the information flows inside the United States, paying particular attention to controlling the nation’s intelligence analysts and purging independent thinking from the U.S. news media....

[...]

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/120507.html