The acronym PNAC is a key to the war in Iraq and to many other wars to come. In the spring of 1997 the neo-conservatives Robert Kagan and William Kristol of The Weekly Standard founded ‘The Project for the New American Century’ (PNAC). Website here.
The most distinguished signatories of the mission statement are Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Jeb Bush (George W. Bush's brother), Francis Fukuyama, and ‘last but not least’ Paul Wolfowitz, a former Professor of International Politics and former Dean of the Department of International Politics at Johns Hopkins University. Its current director is Gary Schmitt. It is important to note that many of its members have close ties with both the military and the oil industry. PNAC describes itself as “a non-profit, educational organization whose goal it is to promote American global leadership.”
Its ‘Statement of principles’ is unequivocal:
The history of the 20th century should have taught us that it is important to shape circumstances before crises emerge, and to meet threats before they become dire. The history of this century should have taught us to embrace the cause of American leadership.” (That is the doctrine of "Premptive Strike" and "Benevolent Hegemony")
PNAC drew up a four-point agenda to achieve its mission:
“we need to increase defense spending significantly if we are to carry out our global responsibilities today and modernize our armed forces for the future;”
“we need to strengthen our ties to democratic allies and to challenge regimes hostile to our interests and values;”
“we need to promote the cause of political and economic freedom abroad;”
“we need to accept responsibility for America's unique role in preserving and extending an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity, and our principles”.
In September 2000, before George W. Bush won the presidential election, PNAC published the crucial report ‘Rebuilding America's Defenses:Strategies, Forces And Resources For A New Century’, in which they clearly stated that to attack Saddam was but an alibi for American supremacy: “The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein.” .
The report argued for a large-scale upgrade of the army and estimated that a yearly budgetary increase of 15 to 20 billion dollars would be required to transform the army into something like an 'imperial super-force’ taking the lead in “the revolution in military affairs”. However, PNAC was well aware that this objective would not be easy to achieve: “The process of transformation is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event—like a new Pearl Harbor”. Thomas Donnelly, main author of the report is currently working for Lockheed Martin.
When Bush came to power, with Dick Cheney as Vice-President, Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense, and Paul Wolfowitz as Deputy Secretary of Defense, the PNAC theories became a blueprint for the American defense and international policy. This policy was officially accepted in a White House document personally signed by President Bush: ‘The National Security Strategy of the United States of America’ (September 2002). Events have confirmed in the meantime that the theory of ruthless military world dominance is currently being put into practice.
After 9/11, these people had in hand the necessary “catastrophic and catalyzing event” and the political credit to implement their program. They could carry out one of the four core tasks of the transformed American army: “to fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theatre wars”. This terrible sentence requires maybe some explanation. “Major theatre wars” is a military term for extended battlefields, but if you know that you will “decisively win” even before going to war, the effort becomes a ‘theatre war’ in the more general sense of a ‘theatrical war’. The rhetoric should be evident to the entire planet. In the words of George W. Bush himself: “Who is not with us, is against us”. Therefore these wars have to be “multiple and simultaneous”. As was the case in the Roman Empire, the Project for the New American Century wants to enforce a planet-wide so-called “Pax Americana”, but its means is "Full spectrum dominance". The PNAC report is a road map to a New Imperial Order, with a high-tech mega-army ruling “an increasingly chaotic world” with shock and awe interventions and slash and burn techniques.
For further information on PNAC, see www.newamericancentury.org ; an excellent file on PNAC was compiled by moveon.org, see also www.pnac.info.
This platform text and more links are available on also at website www.brusselstribunal.org
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