Barney Frank: “I was appalled 2 weeks ago to read that Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, one of the key policymakers in this…”

“I was appalled 2 weeks ago to read that Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, one of the key policymakers in this administration, had publicly criticized, for Turkish consumption, the Turkish military for abiding by democracy. In an interview, which I will put into the Record, with CNN Turk, Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz repeatedly criticized the Turkish military because it had allowed democracy to function in Turkey. And he ought to resign. We have much too much at stake in our effort to bring stable democracy to the world in general, and particularly the Middle East, to allow a man to stay in that high office who has allowed himself to say that the military did too little, was not strong enough in pressing a democratically elected government. Indeed, it is especially disturbing to have that said with regard to the government of Turkey. Trying to encourage Islamist movements that are genuinely democratic is one of our highest goals. The clash that some have argued exists between Islamic fundamentalism and democracy is a terrible threat to the world. We have in Turkey now a government that has Islamist groups, the political majority, and is also committed to democracy.”