Joe Conason’s Journal
Will the Times right itself? Plus: Defending (believe it or not) Paul Wolfowitz.
ByTopics: Politics News
Raines drops Walking into my favorite saloon the night before last, I ran into an old friend (and superb reporter) who works on the New York Times metro desk. Everyone at the paper believes Raines and Boyd have to go, he said disconsolately. Now that hope has been fulfilled, presumably to the great relief of the staff of the world’s most important newspaper. I wish both paper and staff well, but I have to wonder whether Joseph Lelyveld, appointed as the interim executive editor, will be any great improvement. As editorial page editor, Raines bore a great responsibility for the Times’ errors and excesses during the Clinton era, from Whitewater to Wen Ho Lee, yet Lelyveld carries just as much baggage with the same labels. Sometimes he seems thoughtful about that troubled era; other times, far less so.
The right has gleefully torched Raines without ever acknowledging that he served as its most reliable “liberal” ally throughout the scandal years, up to the moment of impeachment. Presumably he’ll explain it all in his memoirs.
Wolfowitz’s nonconfession Did Paul Wolfowitz actually confess that the Iraq war was all about oil? No, he didn’t — despite the excited circulation by his critics of a damning “quotation” from him on the Internet and elsewhere. (Within the past 24 hours, dozens of messages about this story have arrived in my mailbox.) The bogus report emanated from yesterday’s Guardian, which in turn cited stories from the German press about remarks made by the deputy defense secretary last weekend at a security conference in Singapore.
Evidently, the translation from English to German and back into English seriously distorted his answer to a question from a German journalist. The reporter asked Wolfowitz to explain the Bush administration’s different approaches to North Korea, which probably has nuclear weapons, and Iraq, which certainly didn’t.
According to the Guardian article he replied: “Let’s look at it simply. The most important difference between North Korea and Iraq is that economically, we just had no choice in Iraq. The country swims on a sea of oil.” A damning admission, except that isn’t what he said. Here’s the accurate quote, according to the Defense Department transcript of the Singapore press conference (scroll down about halfway):
“Look, the primarily difference — to put it a little too simply — between North Korea and Iraq is that we had virtually no economic options with Iraq because the country floats on a sea of oil. In the case of North Korea, the country is teetering on the edge of economic collapse and that, I believe, is a major point of leverage, whereas the military picture with North Korea is very different from that with Iraq. The problems in both cases have some similarities but the solutions have got to be tailored to the circumstances, which are very different.”
(The link to the Guardian story no longer works, but the original story can still be read here.)
I have no doubt that the editors of the Guardian will correct the Wolfowitz story shortly, if they haven’t done so already by the time you read this. Speaking of Guardian corrections, I must also report that the venerable London daily posted the following correction today concerning an article I recently linked:
“In our front page lead on May 31 headlined ‘Straw, Powell had serious doubts over their Iraqi weapons claims,’ we said that the foreign secretary Jack Straw and his US counterpart Colin Powell had met at the Waldorf Hotel in New York shortly before Mr. Powell addressed the United Nations on February 5. Mr. Straw has now made it clear that no such meeting took place. The Guardian accepts that and apologises for suggesting it did.”
None of this means that Powell, Straw or the Pentagon told the whole truth about Iraq’s alleged arsenal, of course — or that oil didn’t play an important part in the broader strategic calculations of the Pentagon hawks.
[10:12 a.m. PDT, June 5, 2003]
For your regular Joe, bookmark this link. To send an e-mail, click here.
Related Stories
More Related Stories
-
Report: Obama to make big speech about drones, Guantanamo
-
Paul Krugman's right: Austerity kills
-
Poll: Obama approval at 53 percent amid IRS, Benghazi controversies
-
Sunday shows round-up: All about the IRS and Benghazi
-
Colin Quinn's "Unconstitutional" history lesson
-
Paul Ryan: "I don't know" if there was a Benghazi cover-up
-
Jon Karl makes things worse
-
FBI reportedly joins Bachmann campaign finance probe
-
How Guantanamo affects China: Our human rights hypocrisies
-
Jindal: IRS officials should "go to jail" for targeting
-
Dem Congressman slams GOP for "doctored" Benghazi emails
-
Must-see morning clip: Amy Poehler returns to SNL
-
Top 5 investigative videos of the week: Nailing a dictator
-
Doug Henwood: Capitalism thrives on class exploitation
-
Growing, lurking threat: "Paper terrorism"
-
How right-wingers use semantic tricks to kill government
-
The conservative case for raising the minimum wage
-
Alex Gibney: Julian Assange has become like "those he despises"
-
The week in 10 pics
-
We're living in an Ayn Rand economy
-
Obstruction will ruin GOP
Featured Slide Shows
The week in 10 pics
close X- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- Thumbnails
- Fullscreen
- 1 of 11
- Previous
- Next
-
Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
Credit: AP/LM Otero -
Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
Credit: AP/Matt Rourke -
A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher -
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
Credit: AP/Molly Riley -
Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite -
Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster -
O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid -
Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield -
When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin -
A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin -
Recent Slide Shows
-
The week in 10 pics
-
The week in 10 pics
-
Mobile Entertainment: 9 Amazing Drive-In Movie Theaters Still Standing
-
The week in 10 pics
-
- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- Thumbnails
- Fullscreen
- 1 of 11
- Previous
- Next
-
The week in 10 pics
-
Mobile Entertainment: 9 Amazing Drive-In Movie Theaters Still Standing
-
The week in 10 pics
-
The week in 10 pics
-
The week in 10 pics
-
The week in 10 pics
-
Netflix's April Fools' Day categories
-
The week in 10 pics
-
The week in 10 pics
-
The week in 10 pics
-
The week in 10 pics
-
The week in 10 pics
-
Slideshow: Nerd Obama
Related Videos
Most Read
-
Obstruction will ruin GOP
Jonathan Bernstein
-
Revenge, ego and the corruption of Wikipedia
Andrew Leonard
-
We're living in an Ayn Rand economy
Paul Buchheit, AlterNet
-
Jaron Lanier: The Internet destroyed the middle class
Scott Timberg
-
Will you marry me -- once you're done peeing?
Tracy Clark-Flory
-
"Jodorowsky's Dune": The sci-fi classic that never was
Andrew O'Hehir
-
Temple Grandin on DSM-5: "Sounds like diagnosis by committee"
Temple Grandin
-
The man behind Abercrombie & Fitch
Benoit Denizet-Lewis
-
My open relationship went awry
David Farley
-
Is Reddit censoring openly racist users?
Fidel Martinez, The Daily Dot
Popular on Reddit
links from salon.com

232 points233 points234 points | 201 comments
From Around the Web
Presented by Scribol
-
Dem Senator Takes Aim At 'Outrageous Special Interest Provision' -
10-Year-Old On Dad's Deportation: 'Why Do They Have To Be So Cruel?' -
Report: Military Sex Assault Victims Ignored, Labeled Mentally Ill - Richard (RJ) Eskow: A Letter From Senator Warren
-
Robert Kuttner: Needed: A Mass Movement for College Debt Relief
- The 10 Most Anti-Gay Statements From The Republican Nominee For Lt. Governor Of Virginia
-
Republican Virginia Lt. Governor Nominee: Obama Sees World "From A Muslim Perspective" -
Rep. Issa Aware Of IRS Investigation Since Last July -
French President Hollande Signs Marriage Equality Bill -
Obama Group Braces For Progressive Backlash Over Keystone


Comments
0 Comments