Scary Forecast from 1998 at Project for New American Century

[dirtyduck]

After poking around the Project for the New American Century, I found this letter they wrote to Bill Clinton in January of 1998 outlining why we need to take out Saddam to protect our vital interests (read, oil) in the Gulf.

http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm

It is amazing to me that this was three and a half years before 9/11 and they are using the term "weapons of mass destruction" everywhere in it. It is also signed by all the regulars including Rummy and Wolfy. And BTW, look into the site further and you will see that supporters of this Project include Rummy, Wolfy, Jeb, and the big Dick.

Kristin

Mothers in the Middle
http://mitm.blogspot.com

[jakenjoe]

1. No surprise about the use of WMDs. All of Bush's talking points came

from and continue to come from the PNAC group including points on foreign and domestic economic issues as well as military issues.

[dirtyduck]

3. yeah, I knew it was strongly correlated

but I didn't realize how far back we were talking

[MatrixEscape]

5. I think it goes farther back ...

Wasn't the Wolfowitz Doctrine its precursor?

[bloom]

11. Yeah - he wrote something in '92 and had to tone it down

... becasue he was being too obvious. :eyes:

[Hell Hath No Fury]

16. Yes...

it was during Bush I's term and written by Wolfie and Dickie Cheney. It was so provactive at the time that Bush I had to denounce it publicly.

I'll try to dig it up -- it's on my site.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

17. Found it!

From my report on PNAC:


In March of 1992, during the last year of the first Bush presidency, a draft of a confidential internal Pentagon policy paper was leaked to the press and reported on in a New York Times article. The memorandum was a "Defense Planning Guide" for then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney (currently Vice President), and was to be the map for America's foreign policy and strategy. <1>

The report was written with the substantial input of Cheny, Undersecretary of Policy Paul Wolfowitz (currently deputy Secretary of Defense), and Lewis "Scooter" Libby (currently Vice-presidential Chief of Staff), and reflected the public statements of Colin Powell, serving then as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (currently Secretary of State).

Excerpts of six key objectives covered in the document:


• "Our first objective is to prevent the reemergence of a new rival..."

• "The U.S. must show the leadership necessary to establish and protect a new order that holds the promise of convincing potential competitors that they need not aspire to a greater role..."

• "...The sense that the world order is ultimately backed by the U.S. will be an important stabilizing factor."

• "...By assuming responsibility for righting every wrong, we will retain the preeminent responsibility for addressing selectively those wrongs which threaten not only our interests, but those of our allies or friends..."

• "In the Middle East and Southwest Asia, our overall objective is to remain the predominant outside power in the region and preserve U.S. and Western access to the region's oil."



When first covered by the press, many aspects of the report proved to be so controversial that members of the White House staff under President George H. Bush were forced to disavow it in the media. <2>

A final report, the "Defense Policy Guidelines", was released months later and had significantly toned down the draft's emphasis on the United States maintaining the status of sole world power and engaging in unilateralism. <3>

<1> & <3> Pentagon Drops Goal of Blocking New Superpowers; The New York Times, May 23, 1992
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/Wolfowitz92memo.htm

<2> Senior U.S. Officials Assail Lone-Superpower Policy; The New York Times, March 11, 1992
http://www.unansweredquestions.org/timeline/1990s/nyt031192.html

[NecessaryOnslaught]

13. You mean "clean break" ?

"Israel will not only contain its foes; it will transcend them"

Participants in the Study Group on "A New Israeli Strategy Toward 2000:"

Richard Perle, American Enterprise Institute, Study Group Leader
James Colbert, Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
Charles Fairbanks, Jr., Johns Hopkins University/SAIS
Douglas Feith, Feith and Zell Associates
Robert Loewenberg, President, Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies
Jonathan Torop, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
David Wurmser, Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies
Meyrav Wurmser, Johns Hopkins University


http://www.israeleconomy.org/strat1.htm

[AntiFascist]

19. Kick

You should also watch "Hijacking Catastrophe." It puts a lot of the PNAC stuff into damning context.

[rkc3]

2. Welcome to DU.

BTW, the letter posted has been here several times previously.

Each time I look at it though, the list of names at the bottom of the page appears to get shorter. If I recall, Jeb Bush was a name on the list and there are a few others (such as Mankiw), who are not on the list.

If anyone has an original list, it would be interesting to see who has been removed and what they're up to these days.

[dirtyduck]

4. sorry, didn't see it

[JHB]

6. You might be thinking of other PNAC documents...

For instance their "statment of principles" was signed by:

Elliott Abrams, Gary Bauer, William J. Bennett, Jeb Bush, Dick Cheney, Eliot A. Cohen, Midge Decter, Paula Dobriansky, Steve Forbes,
Aaron Friedberg, Francis Fukuyama, Frank Gaffney, Fred C. Ikle, Donald Kagan, Zalmay Khalilzad, I. Lewis Libby, Norman Podhoretz,
Dan Quayle, Peter W. Rodman, Stephen P. Rosen, Henry S. Rowen, Donald Rumsfeld, Vin Weber, George Weigel, and Paul Wolfowitz.

It would be interesting, though, to see if anyone has an old copy of their Clinton Letter and see if they've changed anything.

[MisterP]

7. I recall Will Marshall as a founding signatory

PPI founder, shares offices with DLC

[Zhade]

18. I don't think he's a founding signatory, just a fan who signed letters.

Which makes him just a little less of a traitor to this country than if he'd helped found it.

[rkc3]

10. kristinist - wasn't slamming you, just thinking about the other versions.

JHB - I think you may be right. My work/election-addled brain has had troubles putting these in order. Your observation is correct, but it makes me wonder why the same guys didn't sign both letters.

And how does any letter achieve credibility if Dan Quayle signs it?

[dirtyduck]

12. Didn't think you were...

I did just see a reference to the letter and it said 12 of the 18 signatories went on to get spots in the Bush admin... still 18 signatures on it, so I guess no one's been dropped.

[izzie]

8. Your talking to the people who believe you. Why can't Freepers see this?

Course they will not read anything that does not feed the beast.When they figure this all out they will say no one told them.Makes you wish to bang your head on the wall.

[Inland]

9. Clinton didn't take their advice. Bush did. Clinton, good. Bush, f*up.

Nobody took this stupid advice until we had a stupid president.

[Zorra]

14. Apparently, Clinton convinced Saddam Hussein to destroy his WMD.

Clinton's version of Teddy Roosevelt's "walk softly and carry a big stick policy" worked.

Bu$h either was fool enough to go to war over non-existent WMD, or he lied about the WMD as being the reason for going to war.

Either way, Bu$h is a consummate asshole.

Clinton good - Bu$h so bad he's off the charts.

[dirtyduck]

15. guess that's all it takes

[freeminder]

20. PNAC is essential reading indeed, kristinist

you may want to look into Stephanies PNAC links archive
- this is where the big picture started for me.

DU has some great researchers!

[FreakinDJ]

21. Funny how they made these forecast come true