Who is Really Running America?
When GWBush announced he was running for the presidency in 1998 it took only a few more days before the media reported that he had $57 million available for his campaign. My immediate questions were “who is financing this campaign?” and “if he wins, for whom will GWBush be serving as the Front Man?” I’ve been following the answer for eight years. Have you? If not, here’s some help:The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) is an American political think tank, based in Washington, DC. The controversial group was established in early 1997 as a non-profit organization with the goal of promoting American global leadership. The chairman is William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard and a regular contributor to the Fox News Channel. The Executive Director and COO has been Gary J. Schmitt.
The PNAC advocates "a policy of military strength and moral clarity" which includes: a significant increase of US military spending, strengthening ties with US allies and challenging regimes hostile to US interests and values, promoting the cause of political and economic freedom outside the US, preserving and extending an international order friendly to US security, prosperity and principles. The PNAC and its members had long called for the United States to abandon the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty between the US and the Soviet Union, from which the US withdrew in 2002.
In September 2000, the PNAC issued a 90-page report entitled “Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces, And Resources For A New Century,” proceeding "from the belief that America should seek to preserve and extend its position of global leadership by maintaining the preeminence of U.S. military forces." The report has been the subject of much criticism. A line frequently quoted by critics from “Rebuilding America's Defenses” famously refers to the possibility of a "catastrophic and catalyzing event like a new Pearl Harbor." This quote appears in Chapter 5, entitled "Creating Tomorrow's Dominant Force," which discusses the perceived need for the Department of Defense to "move more aggressively to experiment with new technologies and operational concepts.” The full quote is as follows: "Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event like a new Pearl Harbor." Some have used this quote as evidence for their belief that the US government was complicit in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Many critics also claim the PNAC believed this "new Pearl Harbor" would justify war on Iraq.
Many critics of the American-led invasion of Iraq claim the American government’s "bullying" of the international community into supporting the 2003 Iraq Invasion, and the fact that the war went ahead despite much international criticism, stem from the positions of prominent PNAC conservatives in the Bush administration. Some critics of the Bush administration see a 1998 letter to President Clinton as a "smoking gun," showing that the invasion of Iraq was a foregone conclusion. These critics see the letter as evidence of Rumsfeld's, Wolfowitz's and Perle's opinions, five years prior to the Iraq invasion. Other signatories of the letter include John Bolton and Zalmay Khalilzad (as of this writing the United States' ambassadors to the United Nations and Iraq, respectively) Rory Bremner, citing the letter, said "that's what they want: regime change, and nothing, not Blair, not the UN, not Hans Blix, not France, Germany, Russia, China, not the threat of terrorism, or Arab reservations, or lack of evidence or the Peace March, not even the brave Jack Straw is going to stand in their way." George Monbiot, citing the letter, said "to pretend that this battle begins and ends in Iraq requires a willful denial of the context in which it occurs. That context is a blunt attempt by the Bush Administration to reshape the world to suit itself."
After the 2000 election of GWBush, many of the PNAC's members were appointed to key positions within the new administration: Eliot Abrams of the National Security Council, Richard Armitage of the State Dept., John Bolton UN Ambassador, Dick Cheney the VP, Seth Cropsey of Voice of America, Paula Dobriansky of the State Dept., Francis Fukuyama of Bioethics Council, Bruce Jackson of NATO, Zalmay Khalilzad Iraqi Ambassador, Lewis Libby ex-chief of Cheney staff, Peter Rodman of Defense Dept., Donald Rumsfeld the Defense Sec’y., Randy Scheunemann if Int’l Republican Institute, Paul Wolfowitz of World Bank, Don Zakheim of Defense Dept., and Robert Zoellick of the State Dept.
One of the biggest reasons why GWBush remains so isolated from the media is that he must be informed, coached, and rehearsed by the PNAC in order to say what the PNAC wants said to the public. Part of the reason GWBush is so famous for garbled, incoherent, nonsensical quotes is because he is not thinking for himself, he is laboring to keep their speeches straight in his mind. He’s just their actor on the world stage. These PNAC guys are the ones calling the shots. So much for Representative Government and Participatory Democracy! And how did this demonic, nefarious, little group get GWBush into office in 2000? Waved the flag, promised tax cuts, spent $57 million, and bought off the Supreme Court. How did they do it again in 2004? Massive fearmongering from 9/12/01 until Election Day. Sure makes one proud to be an American, don’t it?
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posted by TheOldMan @ 8:49 PM
