Hegemania!

I know what you've been wondering. What exactly is the Project for the New American Century and why do I need to care? You may be surprised to discover that this is a foundation founded in 1997 by the likes of Jeb Bush, Dick Cheney, Bill Bennet, Dan Quayle, I. Lewis Libby, Steve Forbes, Paul Wolfowitz, and Donald Rumsfeld, etc. who also penned there Statement of Principles. Curiously missing from this list is one George "Dubya" Bush.

Here is how they define themselves in a nutshell:

"The Project for the New American Century is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to a few fundamental propositions: that American leadership is good both for America and for the world; and that such leadership requires military strength, diplomatic energy and commitment to moral principle."

According to their Statement of Principles these are their goals:

"• 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 a letter to Bill Clinton in 1998 they all but spell out their intentions for the Middle East:

"We urge you to seize that opportunity, and to enunciate a new strategy that would secure the interests of the U.S. and our friends and allies around the world."

"The only acceptable strategy is one that eliminates the possibility that Iraq will be able to use or threaten to use weapons of mass destruction. In the near term, this means a willingness to undertake military action as diplomacy is clearly failing. In the long term, it means removing Saddam Hussein and his regime from power. That now needs to become the aim of American foreign policy."

"We believe the U.S. has the authority under existing UN resolutions to take the necessary steps, including military steps, to protect our vital interests in the Gulf."

This letter is signed by Donald Rumsfeld, Bill Bennett and Paul Wolfowitz, among others. This sentiment is repeated in a letter to Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott after Clinton fails to act accordingly.

Curiously, Jeb Bush and Dick Cheney are founding members. Cheney is now the Vice President, Jeb Bush is governor of the state where the election controversy occured. George Bush is now President of the United States, and his name is nowhere to be found accept within letters of commendation from the foundation praising him on his war in Iraq and his war on terror where they state:

"It may be that the Iraqi government provided assistance in some form to the recent attack on the United States. But even if evidence does not link Iraq directly to the attack, any strategy aiming at the eradication of terrorism and its sponsors must include a determined effort to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq. Failure to undertake such an effort will constitute an early and perhaps decisive surrender in the war on international terrorism. The United States must therefore provide full military and financial support to the Iraqi opposition. American military force should be used to provide a "safe zone" in Iraq from which the opposition can operate."

"A serious and victorious war on terrorism will require a large increase in defense spending...We urge that there be no hesitation in requesting whatever funds for defense are needed to allow us to win this war."

Wow. Does our President do any thinking of his own?

As much as I respect the fact that they are completely open and unapologetic about this idea, I have to express alarm at the swiftness in which all of this has come to pass. What they seem to have underestimated is the resolve of the insurgency in Iraq and the Middle East. Unfortunately, this realization, obvious to most, may escape their convoluted thought patterns, and it has not helped the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians that have died in the cause of securing oil and U.S. interests in the Middle East.

It is frightening to think that many of the members of this foundation have been handed some of the most powerful positions in our government and for over 5 years have been able to make some of their wildest fantasies come true.