James B. Nicholson, Trustee vs. Harmon

David C. Farmer, Successor-Trustee vs. Harmon

(Formerly Woo vs. Harmon & Nicholson vs. Harmon)

CV05-00030 DAE KSC

U.S. District Court For the District of Hawaii

Judges: David A. Ezra; Kevin S. Chang

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DEFENDANT’S WITNESS

PAUL WOLFOWITZ

From International Relations Center:

Paul Wolfowitz, the controversial former Pentagon official closely associated with pushing the Iraq War who lost his post as president of the World Bank, is a visiting scholar at the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in Washington, DC. Wolfowitz followed a well-worn path to the AEI, which houses a number of former George W. Bush administration figures, including former ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton and former chair of the Defense Policy Board Richard Perle. According to AEI, Wolfowitz's research areas include development issues, Africa, public-private partnerships, and entrepreneurship.

Wolfowitz joined AEI shortly after stepping down from the presidency of the World Bank in June 2007. His resignation from the bank came at the end of a tumultuous tenure during which the bank's board and staff issued a stream of criticism regarding Wolfowitz's efforts to get his girlfriend (a bank employee) promoted, allegations of poor management, and fears that he was using the bank to advance U.S. interests. Shortly after Wolfowitz announced his intention to resign, President Bush nominated career diplomat Robert Zoellick to fill the post (Associated Press, May 30, 2007).

As head of the World Bank, Wolfowitz won both praise and criticism. He badgered the United States and other wealthy countries to cut subsidies to aid development in poorer countries, fervently pursued anti-corruption policies, and announced moves aimed at strengthening the bank's internal watchdog, the Department of Institutional Integrity (Inter Press Service, April 18, 2006). However, his connection with the Iraq War and his controversial choice to staff the bank with close associates and supporters of the George W. Bush administration's "war on terror" spurred widespread dissension within the bank's staff and board.

This dissension reached a boiling point in early 2007, when allegations emerged that Wolfowitz was improperly involved in securing a promotion and compensation package for his girlfriend, Shaha Riza, a career bank staffer who was seconded to the U.S. State Department.

Shortly after taking over as bank president, Wolfowitz seemed to pressure the bank to take on a larger role in Iraq. According to the Inter Press Service (April 13, 2007), Wolfowitz's persistent efforts to "recruit a new country manager for Iraq despite concerns over staff security there—as well as the bank's attempts [in May 2007] to suppress reports about an incident in which a bank employee was injured in Baghdad, apparently to avoid derailing his recruitment efforts—have lent credence to critics' charges that he has been more than eager to line up the institution and its resources behind U.S. policy there."

Also driving the "impression that at critical moments [Wolfowitz] was putting American foreign policy interests first," reported the New York Times (April 13, 2007), was his decision to suspend "a program in Uzbekistan after the country denied landing rights to American military aircraft."

He also "directed huge amounts of aid to the countries he once recruited to sign on to Washington's counterterrorism agenda ... [and] relied heavily on a pair of aides drawn from the Bush administration, Robin Cleveland and Kevin Kellems, who created an inner circle that the bank's professional staff members said they had great trouble piercing."

And according to Emad Mekay and Jim Lobe, "Of the top five outside international appointments made by [Wolfowitz] during his nearly two-year tenure, three were senior political appointees of right-wing governments that provided strong backing for U.S. policy in Iraq" (" Wolfowitz's Quid Pro Quo?" Right Web, April 17, 2007).

These appointments included former Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher, who was named senior vice president for external affairs in early 2007. Muasher was Jordan's ambassador in Washington in the lead up to the Iraq War and reportedly helped ensure his country's cooperation during the 2003 invasion.

Wolfowitz also secured posts for former Salvadoran Finance Minister Juan Jose Daboub, who was chief of staff to former President Francisco Flores Perez at the time when El Salvador sent nearly 400 Salvadoran combat troops to Iraq, more than any other developing country, and former Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio, who was an outspoken proponent of the Iraq War during the administration of former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who sent 1,500 troops to Iraq despite widespread opposition to the war in Spain.

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1390

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January 22, 2008

Study: False statements preceded war

By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The study concluded that the statements "were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses."

The study was posted Tuesday on the Web site of the Center for Public Integrity, which worked with the Fund for Independence in Journalism.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel did not comment on the merits of the study Tuesday night but reiterated the administration's position that the world community viewed Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, as a threat.

"The actions taken in 2003 were based on the collective judgment of intelligence agencies around the world," Stanzel said.

The study counted 935 false statements in the two-year period. It found that in speeches, briefings, interviews and other venues, Bush and administration officials stated unequivocally on at least 532 occasions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to produce or obtain them or had links to al-Qaida or both.

"It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to al-Qaida," according to Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith of the Fund for Independence in Journalism staff members, writing an overview of the study. "In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003."

Named in the study along with Bush were top officials of the administration during the period studied: Vice President Dick Cheney, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan.

Bush led with 259 false statements, 231 about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 28 about Iraq's links to al-Qaida, the study found. That was second only to Powell's 244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 10 about Iraq and al-Qaida.

The center said the study was based on a database created with public statements over the two years beginning on Sept. 11, 2001, and information from more than 25 government reports, books, articles, speeches and interviews.

The cumulative effect of these false statements — amplified by thousands of news stories and broadcasts — was massive, with the media coverage creating an almost impenetrable din for several critical months in the run-up to war," the study concluded.

"Some journalists — indeed, even some entire news organizations — have since acknowledged that their coverage during those prewar months was far too deferential and uncritical. These mea culpas notwithstanding, much of the wall-to-wall media coverage provided additional, 'independent' validation of the Bush administration's false statements about Iraq," it said.

On the Net:

Center For Public Integrity: http://www.publicintegrity.org/default.aspx

Fund For Independence in Journalism: http://www.tfij.org/

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Paul Wolfowitz is expected to testify regarding his business, professional, personal and political relationships with Condoleezza Rice, Chevron-Texaco, Donald Rumsfeld, Saddam Hussein, George W. Bush, Henry Paulson, Goldman Sachs, James A. Baker, III, Jack Abramoff, Mark Foley, Dennis Hastert, Henry Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft, Carla Hills, Dan Inouye, Daniel Akaka, Eric Shinseki, Norman Mineta, Linda Lingle, Ted Stevens, Robert Rubin, Citigroup, Titan Corp, Robert Kihune, Admiral Thomas Fargo, Trex Enterprises, Halliburton, Bechtel, DynCorp, Gilead Sciences, DuPont, Robert Gates, Fidelity Investments, Parker Drilling, Global Crossing, Gale Norton, Faye Kurren, The Nature Conservancy, Tesoro Petroleum, Aloha Petroleum, Harken Energy, BP Petroleum, Frank Carlucci, The Carlyle Group, Rand Corp, Marsh & McLennan, Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, American International Group (AIG), Chubb Group, St. Paul Travelers, Allied World Assurance, Wackenhut, Richard Helms, NutraSweet, Cindy Sheehan, V.K. Durham, John Garibaldi, Hawaii Superferry, Jim Nicholson, David C. Farmer, and others to be named upon discovery.