the Players background PRIMER MAIN

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-- PNAC --

PRIMER

Publications

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Since its inception in 1997, the Project for the New American century has released hundreds of publications, ranging from brief articles and letter to extensive tomes. With the exception of a few book-length items, all of these publications are catalogues and available for reading for free on PNAC’s website. This section focuses on just a few of their letters and policy proposals.

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Rebuilding America’s Defenses

Published in 2000, this enormous document serves as a sort of neoconservative manifesto, giving the reader a detailed big-picture view of what this now powerful group of ideologues identify as their key goals. Simply put, the hawkish agenda shared by these men is laid out in plain view.

This single document – inspired by and derived from the 1992 Defense Planning Guidance, which is execrpted here – demonstrates clearly that institutions and policy actions that have been presented in terms of or under the guise of the War on Terrorism were planned long before the events of 9/11/2001 – and are part of a larger plan to accelerate American global dominance.

Indeed, Rebuilding America’s Defenses is largely an expansion of ideas presented in the above-mentioned piece from the early 1990’s, a quadrennial defense review project begun at the behest of then-Secretary of Defense Cheney - Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz headed the project - until Clinton’s cabinet scrapped the Defense Planning Guiding projects. At that time, the project moved into the world of D.C. think tanks – ultimately coming to fruition in an extensive declaration which

· urges the increase of military spending by billions of dollars.

· introduces the term (and broader notion of) “Homeland Security,” as well as many of the provisions later drafted into the USA PATRIOT Act over one year before 9/11/2001.

· suggests using military force to enact regime change as a matter of course and policy with emphasis on Iraq, North Korea, and the Middle East.

· makes the case for decreased cooperation with the international community.

In order to “preserve Pax Americana,” they state, the US must “exploit the transformation of war” by “control[ling] the new ‘international commons’ of space and cyberspace, and pav[ing] the way for creation of a new military service – the US Space Forces – with the mission of space control.”

Signatories: Roger Barnett; Alvin Bernstein; Steven Cambone; Eliot Cohen; Devon Gaffney Cross; Thomas Donnelly; David Epstein; David Fautua; Dan Goure; Donald Kagan; Fread Kagan; Robert Kagan; Robert Killebrew; William Kristol; Marg Laon; James Lasswell; I. Lewis Libby; Robert Martinage; Phil Meilinger; Mackubin Owens; Steve Rosen; Gary Schmitt; Abram Shulsky; Michael Vickers; Barry Watts; Paul Wolfowitz; Dov Zakheim.

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Letter to President Clinton on Iraq

This concise and pointed “letter” erases any doubt as to whether the Bush administration conceived of a war with Iraq well before they began claiming that Iraq was in material breach of UN Resolution 1441. Indeed, they did so before they even were the Bush administration. The letter urged then-President Clinton to abandon UN inspections in favor of a strategy “that should aim, above all, at the removal of Saddam Hussein’s removal from power.” Most tellingly, PNAC goes on to declare that

“In any case, American policy cannot continue to be crippled by a misguided insistence on unanimity in the UN Security Council.”

Signatories: Elliott Abrams; Richard L. Armitage; William J. Bennett; Jeffrey Bergner; John Bolton; Paula Dobriansky; Francis Fukuyama; Robert Kagan; Zalmay Khalilzad; William Kristol; Richard Perle; Peter W. Rodman; Donald Rumsfeld; William Schneider, Jr.; Vin Weber; Paul Wolfowitz; R. James Woolsey; Robert B. Zoellick

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statement of principles

This letter served as PNAC’s charter. They identified the status quo as not being properly committed to America’s security needs—as framed by the interests of a powerful and well-known group of signatories, laying out their bold new framework and concluding that

“Such a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity may not be fashionable today. But it is necessary if the United States is to build on the successes of this past century and to ensure our security and our greatness in the next.”

Signatories: 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; Paul Wolfowitz

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Letter to President Bush on the War on Terrorism

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Letter to President Bush on the Defense Budget

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The UN Trap?

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pNAC’s entire library is available on their website. Theirs is not a movement that wishes to operate in the dark. It is easy to become familiar with the rubric through will pass decisions that forge the institutions and relationships meant to ensure the security of the world.