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.  

(snip snip snip)

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 
now control the fate and future of America are more than willing 
to pay it. For them, the benefits far outweigh the liabilities.  

(snip snip snip)

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.

                          -==-

Full story at - Information Clearinghouse ...
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1665.htm

( Project for the New American Century - http://www.newamericancentury.org/ )

Cheers, Steve..

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