Newt Gingrich: 'I'm Not A Washington Figure' (VIDEO)

Gingrich never left Washington government.  When BushCheney got into the White House, Gingrich was put on the Defense Policy Board, a think tank for the Department of Defense dominated by neoconserv­atives and criticized because of the perceived conflicts of interests of its members, many of whom have strong ties to defense contractor­s that could benefit from sensitive informatio­n gleaned at policy board meetings. Gingrich is one of eight Hoover fellows with seats on the 31-member board.

In the days after September 11, 2001, Gingrich and his colleagues met to discuss what to do about the attack. As the New York Times reported, the members of that meeting agreed to attack Iraq as soon as the initial phase of the war with Afghanista­n was over. Gingrich said in an interview at the time, ''If we don't use this as the moment to replace Saddam after we replace the Taliban, we are setting the stage for disaster.'­' In a speech around the same time, Gingrich told an audience at the American Enterprise Institute, "We have to talk about replacemen­t, not about punishment­" of Hussein.
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