Secret Iraq Meeting
Included Journalists
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Fareed Zakaria of Newsweek said he attended a meeting
convened by Paul D. Wolfowitz, but did not know that a report would
be produced. |
Julie Bosman, Media
Talk from the NYTimes on the Web, October 9, 2006
It was the kind of shadowy, secret
Washington meeting that Bob Woodward is fond of describing in detail. In
his new book, “State of Denial,” he writes that on Nov. 29, 2001, a dozen policy
makers, Middle East experts and members of influential policy research
organizations gathered in Virginia at the request of Paul D. Wolfowitz, then the
deputy secretary of defense. Their objective was to produce a report for
President Bush and his cabinet outlining a strategy for dealing with Afghanistan
and the Middle East in the aftermath of 9/11.
What was more unusual, Mr. Woodward reveals, was the presence of journalists at
the meeting. Fareed Zakaria, the editor of Newsweek International and a
Newsweek columnist, and Robert D. Kaplan, now a national correspondent for The
Atlantic Monthly, attended the meeting and, according to Mr. Kaplan, signed
confidentiality agreements not to discuss what happened.
While members of policy research groups often dispense advice to administration
officials, journalists do not typically attend secret meetings or help compile
government reports. Indeed, many Washington journalists complain that the
current administration keeps them at an unhealthy distance.
Mr. Zakaria takes issue with Mr. Woodward’s account, saying that while he
attended the meeting for several hours, he does not recall being told that a
report would be produced.
“I thought it was a brainstorming session,” he said. “I was never told
that there was going to be a document summarizing our views and I have never
seen such a document.” (Mr. Woodward wrote that the report, which
supported the invasion of Iraq, caused Mr. Bush to focus on the “malignancy” of
the Middle East situation.)
Mr. Kaplan said much of the meeting was spent drafting and reworking the
document, which in the end carried the names of all 12 participants and was “a
forceful summary of some of the best pro-war arguments at the time.” Could
any of the participants have been unaware there was a document in the making?
“No, that’s not possible,” he said.
Mr. Kaplan, who was then a freelancer at The Atlantic Monthly, said he spoke to
his editor before attending, and was given approval to attend because “everybody
was in a patriotic fervor.”
Mr. Zakaria said he felt participating was appropriate because his views, as a
columnist for Newsweek, were public, although he has never divulged his
involvement to his readers.
“My column is an analytical column,” he said, adding that he gives advice to
policy makers and elected officials: “If a senator calls me up and asks me
what should we do in Iraq, I’m happy to talk to him.”
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