Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: La follia va avanti

July 17, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
March of Folly
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/07/17/opinion/17krugman.html?pagewanted=print
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Since those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it -
and since the cast of characters making pronouncements on the crisis in
the Middle East is very much the same as it was three or four years ago
- it seems like a good idea to travel down memory lane. Here's what
they said and when they said it:
"The greatest thing to come out of [invading Iraq] for the world
economy ... would be $20 a barrel for oil." Rupert Murdoch, chairman
of News Corporation (which owns Fox News), February 2003
"Oil Touches Record $78 on Mideast Conflict." Headline on
www.foxnews.com
, July 14, 2006
"The administration's top budget official estimated today that the
cost of a war with Iraq could be in the range of $50 billion to $60
billion," saying that "earlier estimates of $100 billion to $200
billion in Iraq war costs by Lawrence B. Lindsey, Mr. Bush's former
chief economic adviser, were too high." The New York Times, Dec. 31,
2002
"According to C.B.O.'s estimates, from the time U.S. forces invaded
Iraq in March 2003, $290 billion has been allocated for activities in
Iraq. ... Additional costs over the 2007-2016 period would total an
estimated $202 billion under the first [optimistic] scenario, and $406
billion under the second one." Congressional Budget Office, July 13,
2006
"Peacekeeping requirements in Iraq might be much lower than
historical experience in the Balkans suggests. There's been none of
the record in Iraq of ethnic militias fighting one another that
produced so much bloodshed and permanent scars in Bosnia." Paul
Wolfowitz, deputy secretary of defense and now president of the World
Bank, Feb. 27, 2003
"West Baghdad is no stranger to bombings and killings, but in the
past few days all restraint has vanished in an orgy of 'ethnic
cleansing.' Shia gunmen are seeking to drive out the once-dominant
Sunni minority and the Sunnis are forming neighborhood posses to
retaliate. Mosques are being attacked. Scores of innocent civilians
have been killed, their bodies left lying in the streets." The Times
of London, July 14, 2006
"Earlier this week, I traveled to Baghdad to visit the capital of a
free and democratic Iraq." President Bush, June 17, 2006
"People are doing the same as [in] Saddam's time and worse. ...
These were the precise reasons that we fought Saddam and now we are
seeing the same things." Ayad Allawi, Mr. Bush's choice as Iraq's
first post-Saddam prime minister, November 2005
"Iraq's new government has another able leader in Speaker
Mashhadani. ... He rejects the use of violence for political ends. And
by agreeing to serve in a prominent role in this new unity government,
he's demonstrating leadership and courage." President Bush, May 22,
2006
"Some people say 'we saw you beheading, kidnappings and killing. In
the end we even started kidnapping women who are our honor.' These
acts are not the work of Iraqis. I am sure that he who does this is a
Jew and the son of a Jew." Mahmoud Mashhadani, speaker of the Iraqi
Parliament, July 13, 2006
"My fellow citizens, not only can we win the war in Iraq, we are
winning the war in Iraq." President Bush, Dec. 18, 2005
"I think I would answer that by telling you I don't think we're
losing." Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff, when asked
whether we're winning in Iraq, July 14, 2006
"Regime change in Iraq would bring about a number of benefits for the
region. ...Extremists in the region would have to rethink their
strategy of jihad. Moderates throughout the region would take heart,
and our ability to advance the Israeli-Palestinian peace process would
be enhanced." Vice President Dick Cheney, Aug. 26, 2002
"Bush - The world is coming unglued before his eyes. His naïve
dreams are a Wilsonian disaster." Newsweek Conventional Wisdom Watch,
July 24, 2006 edition
"It's time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge
that he will be the commander in chief for three more critical years,
and that in matters of war, we undermine presidential credibility at
our nation's peril." Senator Joseph Lieberman, Democrat of
Connecticut, Dec. 6, 2005
"I cannot support a failed foreign policy. History teaches us that it
is often easier to make war than peace. This administration is just
learning that lesson right now." Representative Tom DeLay, Republican
of Texas, on the campaign against Slobodan Milosevic, April 28, 1999

 By PAUL KRUGMAN
Cioe' Krugman continua la sua marcia :)
-Stefano