Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2003 01:02:22 -0700 (MST) From: Jeff Hester <JHESTER@asu.edu> Subject: More on the Root Causes of the War Message-id: <Pine.OSF.4.05.10303292303470.20225-100000@eagle.la.asu.edu>
Dear All,
In my earlier message, I stopped quoting sources about half way through.
For purposes of completeness -- specifically, providing support for the
claim that the real administration objective is establishing U.S.
hegemony over the world -- it is appropriate to pass along the following.
The world press (but sadly not the U.S. domestic press) has been
abuzz with the discovery that Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul
Wolfowitz, Jeb Bush, Lewis Libby, William Bennett, and others with strong
ties to the current administration were part of a neo-conservative
think tank called the "Project for the New American Century." PNAC, in
September 2000, drew up a document entitled "Rebuilding America's
Defenses: Strategies, Forces And Resources For A New Century."
Quoting that document: "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 document provides a "blueprint for maintaining global US
preeminence, precluding the rise of a great power rival, and shaping
the international security order in line with American principles and
interests. This American grand strategy must be advanced as far into
the future as possible"
The plan describes the U.S. military as "the cavalry on the new
American frontier," going on to state that the "new American frontier
is wherever our government says it is."
It also states that a "core mission" of this program is for the U.S.
to "fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theatre wars."
The report goes on to state: "New methods of attack -- electronic,
biological -- will be more widely available ... combat likely will take
place in new dimensions, in space, cyberspace, and perhaps the world of
microbes ... advanced forms of biological warfare that can 'target'
specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of
terror to a politically useful tool."
Tam Dalyell, father of the House of Commons in the UK, and one of the
leading British voices against war with Iraq, said: "This is garbage
from right-wing think-tanks stuffed with chicken-hawks -- men who have
never seen the horror of war but are in love with the idea of war. Men
like Cheney, who were draft-dodgers in the Vietnam War. This is a
blueprint for US world domination -- a new world order of their
making. These are the thought processes of fantasist Americans who
want to control the world. I am appalled that a British Labour Prime
Minister should have got into bed with a crew which has this moral
standing."
The current actions of the Bush administration are following this
document to the letter, right down to a proposed military budget that
exactly matches that outlined in the document.
The evidence shows that this war is a war of empire rather than
liberation, and has been on the drawing boards for a very long time.
And quoting from the New York Times ("Pre-emption: Idea With a Lineage
Whose Time Has Come," March 23, 2003),
"This is just the beginning," an administration official said.
"I would not rule out the same sequence of events for Iran and
North Korea as for Iraq..."
In the 1990's, this direction to U.S. foreign policy was given the name,
"benevolent global hegemony" by William Kristol and Robert Kagan,
directors of the PNAC.
For more information, simply type "Project for the New American Century"
into your favorite internet search engine. Again, this is all a matter
of public record, even if it is roundly ignored by mass media news
outlets in the United States. A few links picked more or less at
random include:
http://www.khilafah.com/home/category.php?DocumentID=6553&TagID=2
http://www.counterpunch.org/golub03212003.html
http://www.nationnews.com/StoryView.cfm?Record=35774&Section=LO
http://www.nationaudio.com/News/DailyNation/Today/Comment/News_Analysis301.html
Or simply read the document itself:
http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf
Here is the blueprint for the United States' foreign policy. No
mention is made of "freeing oppressed peoples" or anything of the
like. It is all about establishing U.S. global domination -- excuse
me, U.S. "benevolent global hegemony" -- by "bold and purposeful" use
of U.S. military force.
Then go read George Orwell's "1984", replacing the term "Big Brother"
with the term "Department of Homeland Security."
While the fact of the PNAC and its ties to the Bush administration go
largely unreported in the U.S., the PNAC itself has almost unfettered
access to the airwaves. A great many of the "experts" that you hear on
the cable news are none other than representatives of the PNAC.
Quoting Charlie Reese:
"If you watch the silly cable-news shows, you will recognize many of
these [aforementioned PNAC] names as part of the parade of `experts' in
favor of war with Iraq. The American people are being played for
suckers."
All of this information is currently available... for now. The PNAC
document calls for "the total control of cyberspace to prevent enemies
using the Internet against the US." One has to wonder about the meaning
of the term "enemy" in this context, especially considering the dramatic
erosion in civil liberties that we have seen in the last two years.
If I may be allowed a simple emotional statement:
It really sucks to be German in the 1930's.
I truly wish that statement were an overreaction to current events, but
I fear in my heart and in my head that it is not.
I want to stress again that all of this is directly relevant to
AST 112. I do nothing to hide the fact that my true purpose in teaching
the course is to use the extraordinary story of our discovery of the
Universe to awaken your minds and provide you with a powerful way of
seeing and thinking about the world around you. Having such a tool at
your disposal is only meaningful if you apply that tool. I only hope
that you come to value and hone that tool, instead of checking your brain
at the door as you leave class each day. This is your world, and the
future is, ultimately, in your hands. It is your responsibility.
With great concern but great hope for that future, I remain:
Dr. Hester
-- --- ************************************** Those who desire to give up Freedom in order to gain Security, will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826) **************************************
Jeff Hester Professor Department of Physics & Astronomy Arizona State University Box 871504 Tempe, AZ 85287-1504 (480) 965-0741