Karl Rove gave a predictably unapologetic presentation at the Aspen Ideas Festival at the Aspen Institute over the weekend, but given that Rove is rarely confronted with these questions, his responses were nevertheless noteworthy.
For example, Aspen Institute CEO Walter Isaacson, who interviewed Rove, asked about Iraq, “Who is the enemy?”
[Rove] said that 80 to 90 percent of the bombs that are killing U.S. soldiers are from al-Qaida of Iraq. That differed from the opinion of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who said in Aspen on Thursday that al-Qaida was only 10 percent of the problem in Iraq.
Either Rove hoped that his audience was filled with morons who wouldn’t know better, or he’s starting to believe his own spin (which in Rove’s case, is a dangerous concept).
Indeed, by all indications, Powell was rounding up when he suggested al Qaeda was responsible for 10% of the violence in Iraq. For Rove to bump that number up by a factor of eight shows that Rove believes the old maxim: if you’re going to lie, lie big.
The reality, as Anthony Cordesman of the bipartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies told the NYT, is, “Even when you talk about Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the idea of somehow it is the center of the insurgency is almost absurd.”
Indeed, McClatchy explained last week, “U.S. military and intelligence officials, however, say that Iraqis with ties to al Qaida are only a small fraction of the threat to American troops. The group known as al Qaida in Iraq didn’t exist before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, didn’t pledge its loyalty to al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden until October 2004 and isn’t controlled by bin Laden or his top aides.”
At the Aspen event, Rove also addressed the Plame scandal.
Rove was also asked about his role in the CIA leak case involving Valerie Plame Wilson.
He replied, “My contribution to this was to say to a reporter, which is a lesson about talking to reporters, the words ‘I heard that, too.'”
Ol’ Karl is selling himself short here. The truth is, he was one of Matthew Cooper’s original sources on Plame’s identity, he was one of Bob Novak’s two sources, he came this close to getting indicted, and he lied to reporters during the investigation when he said he wasn’t involved with the leak. His “contribution,” in other words, was quite a bit more than he let on.
Finally, Rove also touched on the future of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.
Rove also said the prisoners at Gitmo were being treated very well compared to prisoners at detention camps during other wars.
“Our principle health problem down there is gain of weight, we feed ’em so well,” he said of the prisoners.
Oh, that Karl, he’s such a kidder, isn’t he?
I’d guess the torture is probably a bigger health risk than obesity for the detainees.