Speak the Truth and Shame the Devil

Paul Wolfowitz shocks the world with his openness
U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz has already become the star of the Pentagon and of the American administration on the whole. Wolfowitz' statements outshone American President George W. Bush, although the deputy defense secretary has never had the image of a man who likes to express all of his ideas. One may only guess at what made Wolfowitz release such sensational statements concerning the reasons for the war in Iraq. Probably, it is all about cynicism - America is allegedly the only superpower in the world, so it does not have to look for any reasons to justify its actions. However, it is also possible that there is a certain yet inexplicable struggle going on between different groups in the American administration. Regardless of whether Mr. Wolfowitz wants it or not, his statements have cast doubts on the actions of the American president.

Several days ago, Wolfowitz said in an interview given to Vanity Fair magazine that the war in Iraq had been launched for bureaucratic reasons. "For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction, because it was the one reason everyone could agree on," Wolfowitz said in the interview. Donald Rumsfeld's deputy added more fuel to the fire of the scandal over American and British intelligence services fabricating information on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

The British Parliament has already started investigating the issue, and the American Congress is going to do the same. No one likes to be deceived, even for good reasons, although it dubious if there were any good reasons for the military operation in Iraq.

Bush has been trying to convince everyone lately that weapons of mass destruction have already been found in Iraq. The American president said that some missiles had been found on the outskirts of Baghdad. However, such statements are absolutely not convincing, and people just turn a deaf ear to Bush's words - they do not believe the US president, to be more precise.

The British newspaper the Guardian wrote that Wolfowitz stated at the Asian security summit that oil was the major reason for launching the war on Iraq. This means that the opponents of the military campaign were absolutely right. Donald Rumsfeld's tender emotions towards American tanks that brought freedom and democracy to the people of Iraq look ridiculous against such a background.

Speaking of the summit, Wolfowitz shocked everyone with his openness. Answering a question about the USA's attitude to other nuclear powers like North Korea, Wolfowitz said that the major difference between North Korea and Iraq was oil. The deputy defense secretary said that the American administration had no choice in Iraq from the economic point of view, since the country is swimming in oil. Furthermore, Wolfowitz added that American officials were interested in controlling oil, not in weapons of mass destruction.

We wonder what the White House thought of all this. It goes without saying that Wolfowitz has chosen a bad moment for his confession. What will President Bush and Prime Minister Blair say about it? Will Wolfowitz resign?

Nevertheless, the Pentagon still insists that the intelligence information about Iraqi WMD was correct. This is a strange situation: the second-highest senior official in the department says that WMD were not important for the American administration, but his subordinates are trying to convince the world of the opposite. On the other hand, Wolfowitz was honest about the subjects that had occurred to everyone in the very beginning. It looks rather cynical, and the American administration has gained the control over the Iraqi crude. There may be no point in looking for lethal weapons anymore.

The White House is not making it a secret that this is the new stage in a struggle to control natural resources. If there is a need to use military force - they will use it. Weapons of mass destruction are only used as a justifiable cover-up.