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America's war on the world
Posted: Saturday, September 21, 2002

By Matthew Riemer, YellowTimes.org

Attention residents of planet Earth: A white-collar criminal from the state of Texas is about to endanger the general well-being and lives of you and all your progeny. The citizens of the United States are to blame.

We've let a two-bit, linguistically challenged thug hijack our country, our values, and our needs. This isn't a kamikaze mission either; when it's all over, he'll be sitting high on the hog with all his minions wherever they can find a bit of unscorched ground.

If the events of the past year weren't enough to convince even the most skeptical observers of this, this past week the Sunday Herald of Glasgow, Scotland published an article that considered a report written by a U.S. right-wing think tank - Project for the New American Century - entitled "Rebuilding America's forces: Strategy, forces and resources for a new century."

The report, a 76 page document, authored by Thomas Donnelly and co-chaired by Donald Kagan and Gary Schmitt, ostensibly calls for increased U.S. global domination via unprecedented military action in every corner of the planet. Possible objectives could include "regime change" in China, the report states.

Donnelly previously wrote a piece called "The past as prologue: an imperial manual" for Foreign Affairs in which he concludes: "the United States may find itself with little alternative to waging 'the savage wars of peace.'"

This report basically reaches that same pompous and delusional conclusion: The U.S. is the world's sole superpower; under the yoke of this supreme superpower, the world (according to the authors) enjoys unprecedented freedom, prosperity, and opportunity; no one, not even a surging European Union (let alone China or Russia), can even be allowed to approach challenging U.S. dominance; said dominance can only be maintained through increased military spending and presence throughout the globe; and "presence" essentially means regime change and imperialism.

The report announces that it is simply building on the tenets laid down by Dick Cheney during his tenure as Defense Secretary during the Gulf War. Contributors to the project also include I. Lewis Libby, Cheney's current vice-presidential Chief of Staff, Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Defense Secretary, and Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) Dov Zakheim.

While there is proof of an actual connection to the Bush admistration, there is no real evidence to confirm the Sunday Herald's assertions that "Bush planned Iraq 'regime change' before becoming President." It must be remembered that heady, self-referential, megalomaniac reports are common within the think-tank world of insider Washington.

This said, the report is noteworthy for the remarkable exuberance displayed towards unchecked militarism and the concept of Pax Americana; moreover, it highlights the desire and the will of a broad and politically significant cross-section of the Washington elite to truly carry out what many might dismissingly label as think-tank pipe dreams. Furthermore, because of the presence of important Bush administration figures, there's no reason to doubt that such ideology as espoused by this document is not the sine qua non of current foreign policy.

Here are some of the report's highlights (some also mentioned by the Sunday Herald): the "unification" of the Korean peninsula; continued nuclear proliferation, accompanied by a first-strike mentality; continued development of chemical and biological weapons; increases of up to $20 billion on defense annually; the ability to wage war in two major theatres at once and be victorious; increased troop proliferation in Southeast Asia; the establishment of permanent military facilities in Southeast Asia and Southeast Europe; obtaining complete control of both space and "cyberspace"; regardless of Saddam Hussein or Iran, the permanent and increased presence of American military in the Persian Gulf.

If such ideology, even in part, is what fuels those who play puppeteer with the lives of millions, then the world is indeed a frightful place. Perhaps, even more frightening than we once may have imagined, especially considering that Pax Americana still has a long way to go to catch Pax Mongolia.

The report can be read in its entirety at: http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf


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