News Release

November 8, 2004

Media Contact: (202) 789-5200

Cato experts available to discuss Fallujah offensive

WASHINGTON--The following Cato experts in defense and foreign policy studies are available to talk about Fallujah and other issues involving Iraq:

Charles V. Peņa, director of defense policy studies:

"Even if Zarqawi is eventually killed or captured, the problem of violent insurgency in Iraq will continue, as it did after Saddam was captured. The propensity to periodically explain Iraqi violence as the result of single causes--an insurgency orchestrated by Saddam Hussein, by Baathist dead-enders loyal to the former regime, by militia followers loyal to the young Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, and now by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi--has been misleading from the beginning." From "Overstating the Zarqawi Threat"

Christopher Preble, director of foreign policy studies and director of Exiting Iraq Task Force which produced the report Exiting Iraq: Why the US Must End the Military Occupation and Renew the War against Al Qaeda:

"Iraqis are demanding a swift end to the military occupation of their country. Americans should welcome such expressions of independence and self-reliance. Saddam's murderous rule might have broken their collective will. It might have left behind a legacy of powerlessness and despair. Instead, we see a proud people determined to take immediate control of their destiny. We should embrace this sentiment, and empower the Iraqis to defend their country." From "Exiting Iraq and Renewing the War on al Qaeda"

Ted Galen Carpenter, vice president for foreign policy and defense studies:

"President Bush missed an important opportunity to articulate a new and more sustainable Iraq strategy. He needed to emphasize that the United States intended to transfer the substance, not just the form, of sovereignty to the Iraqi people on June 30." From "U.S. Planning Long Stay in Iraq"

Doug Bandow, senior fellow:

"We should all hope that Iraq eventually makes its way towards liberal democracy. But we should have no illusions about imposing that model upon a people who are growing increasingly restive under a foreign occupation." From "Few Friends in Iraq"

Jonathan Clarke, research fellow, foreign policy studies and co-author of America Alone: The Neo-Conservatives and the Global Order (Cambridge University Press, 2004):

"A policy for attacking Iraq incubated for over a decade and, when the opportunity of 9/11 presented itself, was foisted on the nation by a group of neo-conservative intellectuals who had made their way into positions at the top of the Bush administration: Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, Elliott Abrams, I. Lewis Libby, and Richard Perle." From America Alone

Jonathan M. Block, media relations manager, 202-789-5263, jblock@cato.org
Evans Pierre, director of broadcasting, 202-789-5204, epierre@cato.org