On June 13th 2006, CommonDreams.org ran an article entitled, “New American Century Project Ends With A Whimper”.[1]
The thrust was that the neo-con policy group responsible for the Project for the New American Century, was dead in the water. The Iraq war had gone horribly wrong, Rumsfeld (one of its ‘members’) was out of favor, and the whole concept of American empire-building was teetering before adverse public opinion.
CommonDreams was probably accurate, so far as concerted action by the group was concerned, but a large number of individuals were involved with the PNAC, and when one delves beneath the surface, to those areas the US media fails to visit, a picture emerges suggestive of a more vaporous, but still highly active and subversive force for world dominance.
Let’s exam for a moment the positions today of certain high-ranking officials of the PNAC:
BILL KRISTOL – one of the co-founders of the PNAC, has been editor of the neo-con rag, “The Weekly Standard” since 1994. Funded by Rupert Murdoch, the paper is a mouthpiece of neo-conservative policy. Kristol is looking to the future. He’s found himself a nice position as foreign policy adviser to presidential nominee, John McCain.
ROBERT KAGAN – the other co-founder of the PNAC, has also secured a position as foreign policy advisor to presidential hopeful, John McCain.
BRUCE JACKSON – was (or is) a Project Director of the PNAC. Would you be surprised to learn his present position is as foreign policy adviser to presidential expectant, John McCain?
RANDY SCHEUNEMANN – also a ‘Project Director’ of the PNAC. Where is he now? Working as a foreign policy adviser to presidential presumptive, John McCain.
DANIEL MCKIVERGAN – a former Deputy Director of the PNAC. Guess who he’s working for now? You’ve got it in one: presidential prospect, John McCain.
It would appear that the PNAC is well placed to groom the next president of the United States in their own brand of foreign policy; assuming, of course, he is elected to the office. At least five of its top officials are ensuring the next Republican president is well versed in PNAC policy.
Meanwhile, other members are beavering away elsewhere. We’re all familiar with the parts played by Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Cheney, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Richard Pearle, and Paul Wolfowitz in the present administration’s affairs over the last five years. Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz both suffered the effects of their own super-egos and are, for now, out the game, but many others are still active. In all there were twenty-five signatories to the original PNAC document, but a host of other far right-wing Republicans have signed their names to significant PNAC letters or reports:
KENNETH ADELMAN – called “a lifelong neo-con activist”, is still an active member of the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board.
JEFFERY BERGNER – is an Adjunct Professor of the National Security Studies Program. He is presently Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs. It’s handy to have a PNAC neo-con in the law office.
JOHN BOLTON – while not presently active in government, is involved with a whole range of right-wing “think-tanks”, including the AEI. He is now counsel to the law firm Kirkland and Ellis, in their Washington D.C. office. Another lawyer biding his time?
ZALMAY KHALILZAD – after serving as US Ambassador to Afghanistan, then Iraq (2005-2007), George W Bush installed Khalilzad as Ambassador to the United nations following the ousting of John Bolton; the replacement of a coarse tongued neo-con with a smooth-tongued neo-con. This was also the case when Paul Wolfowitz fell from grace at the World Bank. The PNAC held the position nicely after persuading Bush to replace Wolfowitz with:
ROBERT ZOELLICK – during George Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign, Zoellick was a member of that faithful little band, The Vulcans, who made up Bush’s foreign policy team, led by Condoleeza Rice.[2] He was a signatory to the PNAC letter sent to then President Bill Clinton advocating removal of Saddam Hussein. When Wolfowitz was dethroned from the World Bank, Zoellick was appointed as his replacement.
This then is a small selection of the many PNAC activists politically involved, or waiting in the wings for the next Republican president. They all, I believe without exception, have one common interest: the furtherance of the State of Israel and the dominance of that nation in the Middle East. Many PNAC members are Jews; probably all are Jewish sympathizers. Of all the names mentioned above, one is not Jewish. They were certainly not picked for that reason and this article is in no way anti-semitic, but the PNAC is a largely Jewish organization with Israeli ambitions.
Finally, let’s consider one other PNAC member:
ELLIOT ABRAMS: in 2005 he was appointed Deputy National Security Adviser for Global Democracy Strategy. He is a Jew with special interest in the Middle East and a near obsession with Israel. In 2006 he accompanied Condoleeza Rice as her primary adviser, during the Israeli-Lebanese war. According to an article written just over a year ago in the Asia Times:[3]
“……it appears that Rice’s own chief Middle East aide when she served as Bush’s national security adviser, Elliott Abrams, has become the principal foil in frustrating her efforts to resume a [Palestinian-Israeli] peace process…….Abrams’ personal influence over Bush could not possibly match Rice’s, but his bureaucratic skills and political connections – notably to the so-called “Israel lobby” of pro-Likud Jewish organizations and the Christian Right – give him considerable clout. According to various sources, Abrams has been working systematically to undermine any prospect for serious negotiations designed to give substance to Rice’s hopes – and increasingly impatient demands by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia – of offering the Palestinians a “political horizon” for a final settlement.
“The Bush administration has done nothing to press Israel to deliver on its commitments, beyond Washington’s empty rhetoric about a two-state ‘political horizon’,” Henry Siegman, the longtime director of the US/Middle East Project at the influential Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in the International Herald Tribune just last week.
“Every time there emerged the slightest hint that the United States may finally engage seriously in a political process, Elliott Abrams would meet secretly with Olmert’s envoys in Europe or elsewhere to reassure them that there exists no such danger,” Siegman complained.”
The PNAC may have retreated after their heady days prior to the Iraq invasion, but it seems unlikely they are “dead in the water”. In fact, the organization is very much alive and active, if somewhat less publicly than before.
Many have questioned a possible link between the PNAC and the 9/11 attacks. The suggestion of “another Pearl Harbor” as a catalyst for their plans led many to wonder whether 9/11 was mere coincidence. Perhaps, then, an apparent disbanding was not such a bad idea.
After all, as we’ve seen, it’s not so difficult to continue working from behind the scenes.
[1] ” “New American Century Project Ends With A Whimper”, Commondreams.org, June 13th, 2006
[2] The Vulcans: Wikipedia.
[3] “Rice faces formidable White House foe”, Asia Times, February 23rd, 2007.
Filed under: PNAC: alive and kicking
