|
printable version
- js reader version
- view hidden posts
- tags and related articles
View article without comments
by Cloak and Dagger
Thursday, Feb. 27, 2003 at 12:51 AM
he People versus the Powerful is the oldest story in human history. At no point in history have the Powerful wielded so much control. At no point in history has the active and informed involvement of the People, all of them, been more absolutely required.
The Project for the New American Century.
The People versus the Powerful is the oldest story in human history. At no point in history have the Powerful wielded so much control. At no point in history has the active and informed involvement of the People, all of them, been more absolutely required.
William Rivers Pitt: 02/25/03
The Project for the New American Century, or PNAC, is a Washington-based think tank created in 1997. Above all else, PNAC desires and demands one thing: The establishment of a global American empire to bend the will of all nations. They chafe at the idea that the United States, the last remaining superpower, does not do more by way of economic and military force to bring the rest of the world under the umbrella of a new socio-economic Pax Americana.
The fundamental essence of PNAC's ideology can be found in a White Paper produced in September of 2000 entitled "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century." In it, PNAC outlines what is required of America to create the global empire they envision. According to PNAC, America must: * Reposition permanently based forces to Southern Europe, Southeast Asia and the Middle East; * Modernize U.S. forces, including enhancing our fighter aircraft, submarine and surface fleet capabilities; * Develop and deploy a global missile defense system, and develop a strategic dominance of space; * Control the "International Commons" of cyberspace; * Increase defense spending to a minimum of 3.8 percent of gross domestic product, up from the 3 percent currently spent.
Most ominously, this PNAC document described four "Core Missions" for the American military. The two central requirements are for American forces to "fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theater wars," and to "perform the 'constabulary' duties associated with shaping the security environment in critical regions." Note well that PNAC does not want America to be prepared to fight simultaneous major wars. That is old school. In order to bring this plan to fruition, the military must fight these wars one way or the other to establish American dominance for all to see.
Why is this important? After all, wacky think tanks are a cottage industry in Washington, DC. They are a dime a dozen. In what way does PNAC stand above the other groups that would set American foreign policy if they could? Two events brought PNAC into the mainstream of American government: the disputed election of George W. Bush, and the attacks of September 11th. When Bush assumed the Presidency, the men who created and nurtured the imperial dreams of PNAC became the men who run the Pentagon, the Defense Department and the White House. When the Towers came down, these men saw, at long last, their chance to turn their White Papers into substantive policy.
Vice President Dick Cheney is a founding member of PNAC, along with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Defense Policy Board chairman Richard Perle. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz is the ideological father of the group. Bruce Jackson, a PNAC director, served as a Pentagon official for Ronald Reagan before leaving government service to take a leading position with the weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin.
PNAC is staffed by men who previously served with groups like Friends of the Democratic Center in Central America, which supported America's bloody gamesmanship in Nicaragua and El Salvador, and with groups like The Committee for the Present Danger, which spent years advocating that a nuclear war with the Soviet Union was "winnable."
PNAC has recently given birth to a new group, The Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, which met with National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice in order to formulate a plan to "educate" the American populace about the need for war in Iraq. CLI has funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to support the Iraqi National Congress and the Iraqi heir presumptive, Ahmed Chalabi. Chalabi was sentenced in absentia by a Jordanian court in 1992 to 22 years in prison for bank fraud after the collapse of Petra Bank, which he founded in 1977. Chalabi has not set foot in Iraq since 1956, but his Enron-like business credentials apparently make him a good match for the Bush administration's plans.
PNAC's "Rebuilding America's Defenses" report is the institutionalization of plans and ideologies that have been formulated for decades by the men currently running American government. The PNAC Statement of Principles is signed by Cheney, Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld, as well as by Eliot Abrams, Jeb Bush, Bush's special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, and many others. William Kristol, famed conservative writer for the Weekly Standard, is also a co-founder of the group. The Weekly Standard is owned by Ruppert Murdoch, who also owns international media giant Fox News.
The desire for these freshly empowered PNAC men to extend American hegemony by force of arms across the globe has been there since day one of the Bush administration, and is in no small part a central reason for the Florida electoral battle in 2000. Note that while many have said that Gore and Bush are ideologically identical, Mr. Gore had no ties whatsoever to the fellows at PNAC. George W. Bush had to win that election by any means necessary, and PNAC signatory Jeb Bush was in the perfect position to ensure the rise to prominence of his fellow imperialists. Desire for such action, however, is by no means translatable into workable policy. Americans enjoy their comforts, but don't cotton to the idea of being some sort of Neo-Rome.
On September 11th, the fellows from PNAC saw a door of opportunity open wide before them, and stormed right through it.
Bush released on September 20th 2001 the "National Security Strategy of the United States of America." It is an ideological match to PNAC's "Rebuilding America's Defenses" report issued a year earlier. In many places, it uses exactly the same language to describe America's new place in the world.
Recall that PNAC demanded an increase in defense spending to at least 3.8% of GDP. Bush's proposed budget for next year asks for $379 billion in defense spending, almost exactly 3.8% of GDP.
In August of 2002, Defense Policy Board chairman and PNAC member Richard Perle heard a policy briefing from a think tank associated with the Rand Corporation. According to the Washington Post and The Nation, the final slide of this presentation described "Iraq as the tactical pivot, Saudi Arabia as the strategic pivot, and Egypt as the prize" in a war that would purportedly be about ridding the world of Saddam Hussein's weapons. Bush has deployed massive forces into the Mideast region, while simultaneously engaging American forces in the Philippines and playing nuclear chicken with North Korea. Somewhere in all this lurks at least one of the "major theater wars" desired by the September 2000 PNAC report.
Iraq is but the beginning, a pretense for a wider conflict. Donald Kagan, a central member of PNAC, sees America establishing permanent military bases in Iraq after the war. This is purportedly a measure to defend the peace in the Middle East, and to make sure the oil flows. The nations in that region, however, will see this for what it is: a jump-off point for American forces to invade any nation in that region they choose to. The American people, anxiously awaiting some sort of exit plan after America defeats Iraq, will see too late that no exit is planned.
All of the horses are traveling together at speed here. The defense contractors who sup on American tax revenue will be handsomely paid for arming this new American empire. The corporations that own the news media will sell this eternal war at a profit, as viewership goes through the stratosphere when there is combat to be shown. Those within the administration who believe that the defense of Israel is contingent upon laying waste to every possible aggressor in the region will have their dreams fulfilled. The PNAC men who wish for a global Pax Americana at gunpoint will see their plans unfold. Through it all, the bankrollers from the WTO and the IMF will be able to dictate financial terms to the entire planet. This last aspect of the plan is pivotal, and is best described in the newly revised version of Greg Palast's masterpiece, "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy."
There will be adverse side effects. The siege mentality average Americans are suffering as they smother behind yards of plastic sheeting and duct tape will increase by orders of magnitude as our aggressions bring forth new terrorist attacks against the homeland. These attacks will require the implementation of the newly drafted Patriot Act II, an augmentation of the previous Act that has profoundly sharper teeth. The sun will set on the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
The American economy will be ravaged by the need for increased defense spending, and by the aforementioned "constabulary" duties in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Former allies will turn on us. Germany, France and the other nations resisting this Iraq war are fully aware of this game plan. They are not acting out of cowardice or because they love Saddam Hussein, but because they mean to resist this rising American empire, lest they face economic and military serfdom at the hands of George W. Bush. Richard Perle has already stated that France is no longer an American ally.
As the eagle spreads its wings, our rhetoric and their resistance will become more agitated and dangerous.
Many people, of course, will die. They will die from war and from want, from famine and disease. At home, the social fabric will be torn in ways that make the Reagan nightmares of crack addiction, homelessness and AIDS seem tame by comparison.
This is the price to be paid for empire, and the men of PNAC who nowcontrol the fate and future of America are more than willing to pay it. For them, the benefits far outweigh the liabilities.
The plan was running smoothly until those two icebergs collided. Millions and millions of ordinary people are making it very difficult for Bush's international allies to keep to the script. PNAC may have designs for the control of the "International Commons" of the Internet, but for now it is the staging ground for a movement that would see empire take a back seat to a wise peace, human rights, equal protection under the law, and the preponderance of a justice that will, if properly applied, do away forever with the anger and hatred that gives birth to terrorism in the first place. Tommaso Palladini of Milan perhaps said it best as he marched with his countrymen in Rome. "You fight terrorism," he said, "by creating more justice in the world."
The People versus the Powerful is the oldest story in human history. At nopoint in history have the Powerful wielded so much control. At no point in history has the active and informed involvement of the People, all of them, been more absolutely required. The tide can be stopped, and the men who desire empire by the sword can be thwarted. It has already begun, but it must not cease. These are men of will, and they do not intend to fail.
William Rivers Pitt is a New York Times bestselling author of two books - "War On Iraq" (with Scott Ritter) available now from Context Books, and "The Greatest Sedition is Silence," available in May 2003 from Pluto Press. He teaches high school in Boston, MA. Scott Lowery contributed research to this report.
Report this post as:
by Spartacus
Thursday, Feb. 27, 2003 at 12:53 AM
Either you can resist the onslaught of the tyrants or you can get fitted for a new collar. You decide.
Report this post as:
by Bush Admirer
Thursday, Feb. 27, 2003 at 4:15 AM
I think the US generally tries to do 'what's right' without considering popularity, economic advantage, or political advantage.
A great example is our support of Israel. It's the right thing to do. But it's not popular, not economically to our advantage, and not politically advantageous, especially in the region.
Chile was another great example. Supporting Allende would have been the wrong thing to do (considering the long term interests of the Chilean citizens).
Taking out the Taliban is another example.
We go for the moral high ground every time, even though not always in our best interests.
Report this post as:
by Point
Thursday, Feb. 27, 2003 at 8:09 AM
I think I get it now. . .You are a screenwriter for sitcoms, and you are honing your skills at ludicrousness. You can't fool me! With such talent you will no doubt be hired for "The Nightly Business Report," to give it that needed "edge."
Report this post as:
by lancer
Thursday, Feb. 27, 2003 at 8:41 AM
More like ants at a picnic. In a regular swarm today and don't these jerks have a life? It seems to me that they are obsessed with their numb and absurd comments. Repeating the same idiotic mantra without any basis in reality. Surely they don't actually believe this garbage without substantiation. This Bush Admirer character seems to be cosmically retarded. Comic relief? Theater of the moronic?
Report this post as:
by krankyman
Friday, Feb. 28, 2003 at 5:12 PM
How you come up with this myopic drivel is unbelievable, Bush Ass-mirer. The US helped ASSASSINATE Allende you moron. And why isn't Pinochet(the right wingers boy) considered a great democratic figure? For every country we help liberate why don't you go there to live if you think they are going to have it so good. Yea we gave the Taliban the boot and are helping to support those"democratic"warlords and drug lords in Afghanistan now. And with the "democratic" liberation of Kuwait that happened in Desert Storm. How many democratic elections were there?? Zero. Do you have a pair of special Rash Low-brow glasses that only allow you to see the right-wingo side of the world?
Report this post as:
by Carl Rising-Moore
Saturday, Mar. 01, 2003 at 4:29 PM
crrisingmoore@aol.com 317 748-6661 Indianapolis, Indiana
As a part of the effort to stop the war in Iraq, I have received and sent thousands or E-mail letters in the last six months.
The information concerning PNAC connects the dots.
Since the end of WWII, American Administrations have been attempting to create a Pax Americana to replace Pax Briticana.
Russia lost 20,000,000 or more people to defeat Germany and would have been open to creating a more pluristic soiciety, except for one thing. After war it is traditional for soldiers to go back to the plow and the factories and put the conflict behind them.
The differance in our political philosophy was the leverage necessary to convice the American people that we were about to be invaded by the Red hoards.
This fear mongering worked well, as people like me believed the propaganda of the American Government.
Viet Nam changed that for me along with most of the American public, but here we are back to the 60's with the largest socio-economic power grab about to unfold.
For myself, I am willing to spend every drop of energy and blood to defend the innocent people of Iraq. It is easy for us to find bad people to hate. Many of those people we put in power in the first place.
The Emperor is naked for all the world to see.
Report this post as:
by UranusOnFire
Saturday, Mar. 01, 2003 at 9:36 PM
This woman, Carol "Rising" Moore, is really a racist man in disguise. If you hate the black race so much, just say so and stop hiding behind the cloak of incense, folk music and nazi propaganda. How do you like this - I'm Queer, I'm here and I have nor fear, you bigot, Carol....
Report this post as:
by AdolphPastrami
Saturday, Mar. 01, 2003 at 9:40 PM
You think millions of Aids deaths are funny, Mister drug addict football Hitler fan? Just because we don't subscribe to your whitebread society, doesn't mean we shouldn't be able to buttfuck one another and drink our own warm frothing urine. Bigot!
Report this post as:
by Diogenes
Saturday, Mar. 01, 2003 at 10:35 PM
Notice the last two posts - shills. This is the tactic of diverting the thread by creating a false controversy where none exists. Purpose: To distract you from reading the main article.
So, get even; read the main article that they don't want you to read.
Report this post as:
by Diogenes
Saturday, Mar. 01, 2003 at 10:36 PM
The above should have been "instructional moment". Blush.
Report this post as:
by Sheepdog
Saturday, Mar. 01, 2003 at 11:51 PM
As Bush and his warped weasels ( that's MY phrase as it applies to the barrage of right wing lunatics sycophants and morons ) declare war on the world we find ourselves now as a people, the subject of premeditated and calculated hostility to any country now in the gunsights of of our leader and its pupetmasters. Feel safe now? These roach droppings are salivating at the now engineered prospect of a REAL event as we threaten any and all countries occupying resources the current (as well as past) administration feels entitled to plunder as they wait behind or under their own private gates or fortresses.
Report this post as:
by K
Monday, Mar. 03, 2003 at 12:59 PM
I am getting so sick of all these right wing assholes coming on this board and venting their personal shit. We are supposed to be part of the solution here, not bickering with some redneck faggots. Get a life assholes!
Report this post as:
by Diogenes
Tuesday, Mar. 04, 2003 at 9:11 AM
Since I feel the data in this article is important to understanding the Bush Junta's operations I am just making sure it does not pass too quickly into history.
Report this post as:
by Sheepdog
Tuesday, Mar. 04, 2003 at 9:41 AM
Desperation .... fear? Perhaps even these roach droppings realize they’ve gone too damn far. You can feel it in the desperate attempts to coheres collations In the New And Improved Spam. In the increased ‘low intensity’ Iraqi bombing and other provocative behavior. Is there something they forgot? Some little detail left undone? The media is working well in its task of information control. But there are careful leaks when somehow the information does get out. The well financed and awesome might of our military police arm is ready. But there are in fact big problems of logistics involved when hosting countries are in fury over their governments for supporting the less than popular idea of killing their Muslim brothers. Got a match? The herd is still quiet, distracted, and too busy trying to make ends meet or watching their illusion box. But there Is a beginning grumble as services dry up and wages become diluted under cost of survival increases , job flight and union shredding. Record debt bankruptcies are universal among the losers of this silent and sometimes hard war. ? We are the real target my friends. We are the real enemy because we are the real threat. It;s called the truth.
Report this post as:
by Diogenes
Tuesday, Mar. 04, 2003 at 10:16 AM
Certainly we are the target. In more ways than one. As the tradition of being a free people is hard to kill in order to establish the complete hegemony which would seem to be these bastards aim you also have to crush the American Spirit.
One way to do it is to stay embroiled in pointless wars which keep the cream of the young generation busy trying to stay alive - and not asking awkward questions - or trying to do anything about the encroachments on our freedoms.
Another way is economic duress by raising taxes so high that the average person now works 5 months out of the year just to pay taxes. In Feudal England a Serf on a Feudal Manor was only required to pay a third of their labor to their Liege Lord. And that was the extreme - most were less. And don’t let clowns like BA confuse the issue because although people at the bottom end of the economic spectrum pay less in Income Tax they pay a higher percentage of their income in hidden taxes - variously labeled as “Excise Taxes”, “Fees (for the service you already paid for once in taxes), Property Taxes which make the average homeowner a Tax Serf to the local and State Governments. Meaning that you never really own your home - try to live on subsistence farming and not pay taxes. They’ll take your Farm. To say that the poor in this country do not pay high taxes is simply dishonest.
A third way is erosion of the Spirit with degenerate and mind numbing “entertainment” which includes: Almost all Television, Muzak (think Clear Channel Broadcasting), Talk Radio (which once showed promise but has now degenerated into nonstop Propaganda), Gladiatorial Games (Football Particularly, and various forms of “Bread and Circuses”. [For those of you not familiar with Roman History in the later stages of the Roman Empire as it approached collapse one way to keep the public at bay was “Bread” (food) and “Circuses” (Diversions to keep people from thinking).]
A fourth is the gradual destruction of the Constitution and The Bill of Rights: Think Drug Forfeiture Laws, un-Patriot, Homeland Sekurity, and the next assault Patriot II which some real Patriot leaked to the Press. A true Hero/Heroine.
“The Price of Liberty is Eternal Vigilance.” - Thomas Paine
Report this post as:
|