Paul Wolfowitz

Paul Dundes Wolfowitz (born December 22, 1943) is an American academic and political figure. Wolfowitz is a polarizing and controversial figure both within the United States and abroad. He is often seen as a leading proponent of the 2003 Iraq War and architect of the ambitious foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration known as the Bush Doctrine. His views are often characterized as representing a modern American philosophy of neoconservatism. He is currently President of the World Bank.

U.S. State Department Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs

In 1982 Wolfowitz was appointed Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs by new U.S. Secretary of State George Schultz who would become an influential mentor. At the time the Reagan?s foreign policy was beset with difficulties caused by conflict between Schultz and U.S. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. Wolfowitz was able to turn this to his favor by forming a powerful alliance with Weinberger?s Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asia Richard Armitage and Gaston Sigur of the National Security Council. Between them these three men controlled the administration?s policy for Asia.

Related Topics:
1982 - East Asian - Pacific - U.S. Secretary of State - George Schultz - U.S. Secretary of Defense - Caspar Weinberger - Richard Armitage - Gaston Sigur - National Security Council - Asia

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Jeanne Kirkpatrick, on a visit to the Philippines, had been eagerly welcomed by the dictator Ferdinand Marcos who quoted heavily from her 1979 Commentary article Dictatorships and Double Standards and although Kirkpatrick had been forced to speak-out in favor of democracy the article continued to influence Reagan?s policy toward Marcos. Following the assassination of Philippine opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr. in 1983 many within the Reagan administration including the President himself began to fear that the Philippines could fall to the communists and the U.S. military would lose it?s strongholds at Clark Air Force Base and Subic Bay Naval Station. Wolfowitz took this opportunity to re-orientate the administration?s policy, stating in an April 15th 1985 article in The Wall Street Journal that; The best antidote to Communism is democracy. This was already the administration?s policy in Eastern Europe and Wolfowitz has since argued that; ?You can?t use democracy, as appropriately you should, as a battle with the Soviet Union, and turn around and be completely hypocritical about it when it?s on your side of the line.?

Related Topics:
Jeanne Kirkpatrick - Philippines - Ferdinand Marcos - 1979 - Commentary - Benigno Aquino Jr. - 1983 - Communists - U.S. military - Clark Air Force Base - Subic Bay Naval Station - April 15th - 1985 - The Wall Street Journal - Eastern Europe

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Wolfowitz claims that this policy did not deviate from that lain out by Kirkpatrick in her 1979 article as the ?necessary disciplines and habits? she wrote of were already in place. ?When we went to work on Marcos, it was not to dismantle the institutions of the Philippines; it was actually to get him to stop dismantling them himself,? Wolfowitz later argued of the specifics of the policy; ?Military reform, economic reform, getting rid of crony capitalism, relying on the church, political reform: It was very institutionally oriented.? In pursuance of this policy Wolfowitz and his assistant Lewis Libby made trips to Manila where they called for democratic reforms and met with non-communist opposition leaders but the approach was still very soft. As Wolfowitz later explained; ?If we had said, ?We are enemies of the Marcos regime. We want to see it?s demise rather than reform,? we would have lost all influence in Manila and would have created a situation highly polarized between a regime that had hunkered down and was prepared to do anything to survive and a population at loose ends,? that would have strengthened the communists. So at the same time Wolfowitz also fought against moves by the U.S. Congress to end military aide to the Marcos regime.

Related Topics:
1979 - Lewis Libby - Manila - U.S. Congress

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As Mann point out ?the Reagan administration?s decision to support democratic government in the Philippines had been hesitant, messy, crisis-driven and skewed by the desire to do what was necessary to protect the American military instillations,? but it did eventually pay-off when, following massive street protests, Marcos fled the country on a U.S. Air Force plane and Reagan reluctantly recognized the government of Corazón Aquino. Wolfowitz has since claimed that this demonstrates that democracy ?needs the prodding of the U.S.? but critic Noam Chomsky dismisses this in Hegemony or Survival (2003) stating that the Reagan Administration ?backed Marcos until he could no longer be sustained in the face of popular opposition joined even by the business classes and the army.? Wolfowitz?s commitment to democracy would be put to the test in his next posting.

Related Topics:
Corazón Aquino - Noam Chomsky - Hegemony or Survival - 2003

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