Wolfowitz heckled over Iraq war

Iraq war protesters have heckled a speech by World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz by calling him a war criminal and saying he …

Iraq war protesters have heckled a speech by World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz by calling him a war criminal and saying he lied during the run-up to the conflict.

Mr Wolfowitz, who was a deputy US defence chief to Donald Rumsfeld and a key advocate of the Iraq war, was in an Atlanta synagogue to speak about the relevance of Africa for Americans.

At one point a man stood up silently at the front of the audience wearing an orange jumpsuit, seen by protesters as symbolic of clothes worn by prisoners at the US jail at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"You lied about the Iraq war! You are a war criminal!" shouted another woman as she was escorted from the synagogue. Some in the audience booed, while a few said silent protests should be allowed.

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Outside around 20 protesters held up signs condemning Mr Wolfowitz, who was appointed president of the World Bank last year, and the war.

Mr Wolfowitz said his current job prevented him from speaking about Iraq, but he discussed the World Bank's policy on Iraq and defended Washington's decision to go to war.

"When it comes to Iraq I think it is fair and accurate to say that we did not go to war for oil," he said.

"The essential concern is to make difficult decisions about the security of the United States and that's what they did," he said in apparent reference to to the false claim that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.