Now if *that* couldn’t become a conspiracy theory of truly Faustian dimensions… instaed of simply forging evidence and continue lying about the real reasons for the war in Iraq, Paul Wolfowitz, one of the brains of Washington’s neo-conservative foreign policy gang, has taken the high road of telling the truth for once – what else should one expect in a “Vanity Fair” interview. Here’s how Deutsche Welle reports it (my highlights):

“US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz has admitted that the decision to wage war on Iraq was not based on the regime’s alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction. Wolfowitz, an outspoken hawk in the Bush administration and a key architect of the Iraq campaign, said in a magazine interview that the weapons issue was agreed on simply for “bureaucratic reasons”. He told “Vanity Fair” that it was something everyone in the administration could agree upon. Wolfowitz indicated that the real reason was that a toppled Iraqi regime would allow the withdrawal of US troops from Saudi Arabia thus removing them as terrorist targets.”

Well, the “real reason” of the day is probably as questionable as the “real reason” chosen for “bureaucratic reasons”… But that’s not important. What’s important right now is to understand why Wolfowitz chose to tell the world about this now.

“Vanity Fair” makes one think of, well, vanity – possibly not just Al Pacino’s favorite sin. And hubris, pure and simple – “look people, if you all had my brains I would have told you – but haven’t – that’s why you have me.” Plus the added joy of explaining once more that the US can do whatever it wants even when it is lying straight to the world’s face.

All this is certainly possible. But I am not convinced. Why now? Why play in the hands of the former opponents and weaken Bush’s position on the eve of the St. Petersburg/Evian G8 reconciliation meeting?

More research is clearly necessary…