Recognizing Wolfowitz

David Brooks in the NYTs takes a moment to give Paul Wolfowitz a pat on the back. Here are a few of the money graphs:

Let us look again at the man who's been vilified by Michael Moore and the rest of the infantile left, who's been condescended to by the people who consider themselves foreign policy grown-ups, and who has become the focus of much anti-Semitism in the world today - the center of a zillion Zionist conspiracy theories, and a hundred zillion clever-Jew-behind-the-scenes calumnies.

It's not necessary to absolve Wolfowitz of all sin or to neglect the postwar screw-ups in Iraq. Historians will figure out who was responsible for what, and Wolfowitz will probably come in for his share of the blame. But with political earthquakes now shaking the Arab world, it's time to step back and observe that over the course of his long career - in the Philippines, in Indonesia, in Central and Eastern Europe, and now in the Middle East - Wolfowitz has always been an ardent champion of freedom. And he has usually played a useful supporting role in making sure that pragmatic, democracy-promoting policies were put in place.

And I loved this part too:

To praise Wolfowitz is not triumphalism. The difficulties ahead are obvious. It's simple justice. It's a recognition that amid all the legitimate criticism, this guy has been the subject of a vicious piling-on campaign by people who know less than nothing about what is actually going on in the government, while he, in the core belief that has energized his work, may turn out to be right.

It's really not a hard stretch of the imagination to think that all people want the opportunity to grow and express themselves in an open and free society. That their children will have a better life and greater opportunities. To think otherwise is one of the worse forms of condescending bigotry I can think of.

I am proud to be able to say that I believed in the cause from day one and kudos to Wolfowitz for his perseverance, lord knows, there were/are a lot of people in the world who fought like mad to enable Saddam to maintain his power. Shame on them.