Seeker Blog has a look at the new intereview with Paul Wolfowitz in The Atlantic (not yet available on line):
Anyone who has read the previous Wolfowitz interviews knows that the legacy media characterization of Wolfowitz is very nearly the anti-Wolfowitz. But this interview is probably the best I have read because (a) being current, it reflects recent experience in Iraq and Afghanistan; (b) the sessions were unhurried, giving Wolfowitz time to express himself, and (c) it appears that Bowden was honest in quoting Wolfowitz (such journalistic honesty is not common regarding Wolfowitz).
Wolfowitz is notonly misunderstood, he is smart.
I do agree with the idea that the jihadis function like a crime family. I also agree that Iraq will not be Switzerland.
Roger:
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Wolfowitz is not nuanced. He is a neo-con warmonger and the whole Iraq war was a complete screwup quaqmire that was not thought out and was led by a group of Zionist ideologues who are Haliburton flunkies and care for money only. This story is a fraud and a lie. My whole political worldview will crumble if i recognize this as true.
My Former Liberal mind.
Roger,
That was a superb interview; it struck me as fair-minded and objective.
By the way, I do believe there is such a thing as journalistic objectivity, and it is not the same as perfect neutrality, nor is it the same as having no definite point of view. You, Roger, often display this kind of objectivity, though I know you would deny it!
Anyway, Wolfowitz is a thoughtful, brilliant and sane person who puts his thoughtless, vituperative critics to shame.
This article so impressed me that I subscribed to The Atlantic! We need to encourage this kind of behavior in the MSM whenever we can.
Jamie Irons
If it’s the same Bowden (author of Blackhawk Down,
Killing Pablo, etc.), it’s because the guy is a great journo. He down’t interject himself or his preconceptions into an article/story.
Vegetius,
It is the same Mark Bowden. He is the only reason why I did not cancel my Atlantic yet, though the mag is steadily going down the tubes. It looks like it became a private fiefdom of James Fallows who, when not bashing the administration (they had no plan! no plan I tell you!) is engaged in writing futuristic articles predicting everything from war with China to economic downfall of the US. It is cool kind of journalism and nobody can accuse him of making stuff up because making the stuff up is the whole point of the articles.
Thanks Katherine,
I dropped my subscription 2 years ago for the same reasons. I may pick up this issue at the bookstore.
Remember the Michael Kelly years? Sigh. I too will get my copy at the bookstore. The interview looks wonderful.