Paul Wolfowitz Yearns For Democracy

The New Yorker ran a 12,000 word profile of Paul Wolfowitz this week. It begins and ends with discussions of Wolfowitz's history with Turkey, and in between spends 2,000 words describing it and a recent Wolfowitz visit there for the World Bank. Among other things, we learn that during this visit Wolfowitz was ferried around on a Turkish military helicopter, and is old friends with the prominent Turkish General Cevik Bir.

Given this, you might assume that somewhere in those 12,000 words the New Yorker could have found time to mention a famous May, 2003 interview with Wolfowitz and CNN Turk. As you read this, keep in mind (1) the U.S. had just invaded Iraq, but the Turkish parliament had voted not to allow the U.S. to use its territory; (2) Wolfowitz's longtime friendship with Turkish military figures; and (3) the Turkish military has overthrown the civilian government four times since 1960, most recently in 1997:

WOLFOWITZ: From a U.S.-Turkish point of view there is good news and bad news. The good news is that a majority of the parliament did vote to support us in the things that we asked for. The bad news is that because of the procedural issues that wasn't a big enough majority to get it done and that many of the institutions in Turkey that we think of as the traditional strong support is the alliance were not as forceful in leading in that direction. CNN TURK: Which traditional alliance are you talking about? WOLFOWITZ: Well I think you know which ones I mean but I think particularly the military. I think for whatever reason they did not play the strong leadership role on that issue that we would have expected... I think it's perfectly appropriate, especially in your system, for the military to say it was in Turkey's interest to support the United States in that effort. CNN TURK: Didn't they say that? WOLFOWITZ: I don't know. My impression is they didn't say it with the kind of strength that would have made a difference.

Coincidentally enough, a few weeks later the head of the Turkish military was threatening to overthrow the government again.

None of this made it into the New Yorker article. But I suppose that's for the best, since that space was needed for this kind of passage about Wolfowitz's deep commitment to democracy:

Wolfowitz refused to talk about Iraq specifically, but he told me that he still believes in the vision of a moderate, democratic Middle East. "I think, in the longer view of things, there is a very powerful pull in the direction of participatory government," he said. "People discover that it's the path to prosperity. And, yes, there are some violent forces that don't want to see it happen..."