Charles Nailen/The Hoya Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz reports on the progress and obstacles facing U.S. forces in Iraq yesterday in Gaston Hall.

Five days after escaping unharmed from a rocket attack on his Baghdad hotel, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz praised the resolve of the Iraqi people and reflected on his three-day Iraqi tour yesterday in Gaston Hall.

Wolfowitz, an architect of the invasion of Iraq, was forced to defend his policies during a heated question and answer session after the address.

Wolfowitz described the attack on the Rashid Hotel and said he felt “a sinking feeling and anger” when he learned that a U.S. Army Colonel had died in the attack.

The attack wounded 17 and marred Wolfowitz’s second post-war trip where he saw the difficulties facing Iraq’s nascent democracy and the accomplishments in the six months since President Bush declared major combat operations over.

“What we were there to do was important work,” Wolfowitz told the capacity crowd. “And I was going to be damned if this act was going to stop us.”

While the perpetrators of the attack have not been caught, Wolfowitz said that America cannot be scared away from its mission to rebuild Iraq.

Wolfowitz praised the dedication of Iraqis to rebuilding their country, noting that over 90,000 Iraqis had enlisted in various security forces.

He also commended Secretary of State Colin Powell for the financial commitment of over $9 billion from over 70 nations to help rebuild Iraq.

“The investment in Iraq’s success is not just an American one, but something shared by the rest of the international community,” he said.

Wolfowitz called for increased multilateralism. “We need to do a better job of explaining our policies,” he said.

The Pentagon’s No. 2 man also called for more vocal rejection of Islamic fundamentalism from Muslim moderates. “We face a struggle over modernity and secularization,” he added.

Achieving stability in Iraq and negotiating an Israeli-Palestinian peace was essential, he said, to giving increased support to moderates. “Moderates will stand much taller when they have these two achievements behind them.”

Wolfowitz lauded the petition drive by the former head of the Israeli secret service and a moderate Palestinian professor, which he said closely resembled the U.S. “road map” for a peaceful, two-state solution.

Wolfowitz said he saw Palestinian terrorism as the greatest barrier to Middle East peace.

“If the Palestinians would adopt the ways of Gandhi, I think they could, in fact, make enormous changes very, very quickly,” he said. “I believe in the power of individuals demonstrating peacefully.”

Many students strongly criticized Wolfowitz and his policies during a question-and-answer session after the speech.

“We hate your policies. We are tired of being feared and hated by the world,” Ruthie Coffman (SFS ’06) said, also calling Wolfowitz’s policies “deplorable.”The killing of innocents is not the solution but rather the problem,” she said.

“I would infer that you would be happier if Saddam Hussein were still in power,” Wolfowitz responded.”War is ugly,” he said, “but the alternative is far worse.”

Emil Totonchi (SFS ’06) also laid into Wolfowitz for “immorally” invading Iraq, asking Wolfowitz what he would do when President Bush lost reelection next fall.

“You and I should both calm down a little bit,” Wolfowitz said, adding that “there is not much question about the morality of having gotten rid of that regime.”

Iraqis remain worried, he said, that next year’s election could determine the future of Iraq.

“No matter what, Americans tend to stick to the center,” he said. As in the Cold War, major policies would not change from one administration to the other, he said, and troops would likely remain in Iraq until their job was done.

“We are fortunate to have a president who makes tough decisions,” he said. “The security of this country is legitimately first and foremost.”

Some students thought the political statements students delivered during the question and answer session yesterday embarrassed the university.

“It was the arrogance of the questions that was so revolting,” Nick Michiels (COL ’06) said.

Nearly 30 students gathered outside Healy Hall before the speech to protest Wolfowitz’s policies, carrying posters that read, “The world hates the U.S. because of your politics. Change them.”

DPS had set up a protest area to the north of Healy and in front of Copley, but protestors objected to being moved away from Healy Circle, where students rallied before Democratic hopeful Howard Dean’s speech two weeks earlier.

When DPS officers requested to see student identification, the protestors objected and were told to leave. Interim Director of DPS Darryl Harrison did not return phone calls placed yesterday.

Students in the balcony in Gaston also unfurled a banner that protested the war, violating Office of Conference and Activities Facilities rules that prohibit the hanging of banners and signs in Gaston Hall.

“There were too many examples of stifling of free speech today,” Coffman said. “Don’t shuffle us off to the side when our freedom of speech is at stake.”

Wolfowitz’s speech was the 24th annual Oscar Iden Lecture, a series that examines American foreign policy and international diplomacy. The Institute for the Study of Diplomacy and the School of Foreign Service sponsored the speech.