In 1997, with Bill Clinton in the White House and Tony Blair only a month into his appointment as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, a fledgling group called
The Project for a New American Century wrote a "statement of principles" which outlined their determination to maintain the United States as "the world's preeminent power." The statement asks to significantly increase defense spending, challenge regimes hostile to our interests and values, promote political and economic freedom abroad, and extend an international order friendly to our principles. It is primarily a call to drastically change American foreign and military strategy and is signed by 25 individuals including
Jeb Bush,
Dick Cheney,
I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, and
Donald Rumsfeld.
Six months after that petition was signed, one of the group's members,
John R. Bolton, challenged Congress to reverse what he called its "flaccid Iraq policy" and either "bring Saddam's regime back under control or make it pay the full price of its transgressions." He wrote that Congress should spell out "what a 'real president'... would do with Saddam Hussein." The group wrote a letter to President Clinton, urging his administration to implement "a strategy for removing Saddam's regime from power."
In late 1998, another member of the group, Paul Wofowitz, then a dean at Johns Hopkins University, helped outline a plan to attack and occupy Iraq. "The Wolfowitz Plan," as it was called, would require an immediate build-up of U.S. air and ground forces in the Middle East and would create a "liberated zone" in southern Iraq where opponents to Saddam's regime could rally and organize.
Of course, not all of The Project's focus was on Saddam's regime in Iraq. They set out to change policy on U.S. relations with all countries and groups hostile towards American security, prosperity, and principles. American military success in Iraq was but one of the many goals of The Project for a New American Century.
When George W. Bush ran for and then was inaugurated President of the United States, he formed his administration with some of the most influential members of The Project. Former Secretary of Defense and CEO of Halliburton Energy Services, Dick Cheney, was tapped as his running mate and eventual Vice President. Cheney, in turn, appointed I. Lewis Libby as his Chief of Staff. Donald Rumsfeld was appointed Secretary of Defense, with Paul Wofowitz as his Deputy. Later, Wolfowitz would be appointed to be President of the World Bank. John R. Bolton served as Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security before being appointed U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. by President Bush. Former Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, his successor Robert B. Zoellick and the United States Ambassador to Iraq, Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad are also founding members of The Project.
President Bush and his administration have insisted and continue to insist that it was not their desire nor their immediate intention to go to war in Iraq. In fact, members of this administration have had a specific plan in place to rid Iraq of Saddam Hussein's regime since Clinton was in office. Nearly four years before the terrorist attacks of 9/11, The Project for a New American Century described Iraq as a possible threat "more serious than any we have known since the end of the Cold War."
However, the reasons that the American people have been given for our military deployment in Iraq have proved false again and again. According to the CIA's own findings, Iraq "did not.. pose an immediate threat to the United States," Iraq had no nuclear program and their chemical weapons were "effectively destroyed" by the international community, there were absolutely no ties between Saddam Hussein and the 9/11 terrorists and, in fact, there is direct evidence that Saddam Hussein never intended to give weapons support to al Qaeda.
Why would the president rely on such rhetoric when he had at his disposal the concise arguments presented by The Project for a New American Century? The answer is simple. The American people wouldn't buy it. The United States has had too many failed attempts at nation building. George W. Bush acknowledged this in October 2000 when he prophetically stated, "if we don't stop extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions, then we're going to have a serious problem coming down the road." America had grown tired of over-extending our military. No matter how well intentioned The Project might have been, the American people simply didn't agree with them.
The Administration eventually did find their reasons, though. Now, three years into the war, we have dug ourselves so deeply into Iraq that our eventual exit will be neither soon nor simple. The ideological view presented by The Project of a quick and seamless end to Saddam's regime have proved both irresponsible and dangerously unrealistic. In their dream to rally support for "American global leadership," we are now viewed by our neighbors around the world as a domineering force with little or no regard for the views of other nations.
Stuck in the middle of this ideological war are our sons and daughters in the Armed Forces. It won't be the members of The Project for a New American Century who will pay the price for this administration's choices. It will be paid by the young men and women who serve so faithfully in the fight to maintain the freedoms we have to make those choices. *
Cross-posted at Newsvine
It is ridiculous that President Bush claims he never wanted to go to war. Who does he think he's kidding? 32% of the American public, I guess.