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Neo-Con Ideologues Launch New Foreign Policy Group
WASHINGTON - A newly-formed and still obscure neo-conservative foreign policy organization is giving some observers flashbacks to the 1990s, when its predecessor staked out the aggressively unilateralist foreign policy that came to fruition under the George W. Bush administration.
The blandly-named Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI) - the brainchild of Weekly Standard editor William Kristol, neo-conservative foreign policy guru Robert Kagan, and former Bush administration official Dan Senor - has thus far kept a low profile; its only activity to this point has been to sponsor a conference pushing for a U.S. "surge" in Afghanistan.
But some see FPI as a likely successor to Kristol's and Kagan's previous organization, the now-defunct Project for the New American Century (PNAC), which they launched in 1997 and which became best known for leading the public campaign to oust former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein both before and after the Sept. 11 attacks.
PNAC's charter members included many figures who later held top positions under Bush, including Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and his top deputy, Paul Wolfowitz.
FPI was founded earlier this year, but few details are available about the group, which has so far attracted no media attention. The organization's website lists Kagan, Kristol, and Senor, who came to prominence as a spokesman for the occupation authorities in Iraq, as the three members of its board of directors.
Two of FPI's three staffers, policy director Jamie Fly and Christian Whiton, have come directly from foreign policy posts in the Bush administration, while the third, Rachel Hoff, last worked for the National Republican Congressional Committee. Contacted by IPS at the group's office, Fly referred all questions to Senor, who did not return the call.
The organization's mission statement argues that the "United States remains the world's indispensable nation," and warns that "strategic overreach is not the problem and retrenchment is not the solution" to Washington's current financial and strategic woes. It calls for "continued engagement - diplomatic, economic, and military - in the world and rejection of policies that would lead us down the path to isolationism."
The mission statement opens by listing a familiar litany of threats to the U.S., including "rogue states," "failed states," "autocracies" and "terrorism", but gives pride of place to the "challenges" posed by "rising and resurgent powers," of which only China and Russia are named.
Their prominence may reflect the influence of Kagan, who has argued in recent years that the 21st century will be dominated by a struggle between the forces of democracy (led by the U.S.) and autocracy (led by China and Russia). He has called for a League of Democracies as a mechanism for combating Chinese and Russian power, and the FPI statement stresses the need for "robust support for America's democratic allies".
This emphasis may also indicate that FPI intends to make confrontation with China and Russia the centrepiece of its foreign policy stance. If this is the case, it would mark a return to the early days of the Bush administration, before 9/11, when Kristol's Weekly Standard took the lead in attacking Washington for its alleged "appeasement" of Beijing.
For its formal coming out, however, FPI has chosen to push for escalating the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan. The organization's first event, to be held here Mar. 31, will be a conference entitled "Afghanistan: Planning for Success".
The lead speaker will be Senator John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential candidate and long a favorite of both Kagan and Kristol. In February, McCain gave a well-publicized speech at the neo-conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI) arguing that the U.S. could not afford to scale back its military commitment in Afghanistan and calling for a redoubled effort to win the war.
Other speakers will include AEI fellow Frederick Kagan, Robert's brother and one of the key proponents of the "surge" strategy in Iraq, counterinsurgency expert Lt. Col. John Nagl, the new director Center for a New American Security, and hawkish Democratic Representative Jane Harman.
FPI has inevitably drawn comparisons to PNAC, a "letterhead organization" founded by Kristol and Kagan shortly after their publication in 'Foreign Affairs' of an article entitled "Toward a Neo-Reaganite Foreign Policy" which called for Washington to exercise "benevolent global hegemony" and warned against what they saw as the post-Cold War drift of the Republican Party toward "neoisolationism" after it lost the White House to Bill Clinton.
"This reminds me of the Project for the New American Century," said Steven Clemons, director of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation. "Like PNAC, it will become a watering hole for those who want to see an ever-larger U.S. military machine and who divide the world between those who side with right and might and those who are evil or who would appease evil."
PNAC's membership was a veritable who's-who of neoconservatives and other future Bush administration hawks. In addition to Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, charter members included then-Florida governor Jeb Bush, who was at the time considered a more likely presidential candidate than his elder brother; Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who left the administration after being indicted for perjury in October 2005; and Elliott Abrams, who became Bush's top Middle East aide at the National Security Council; among several others who later served in senior Bush administration posts.
The group's June 1997 statement of principles called for "a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity" that entailed "increas[ing] defense spending significantly" and "challeng[ing] regimes hostile to our interests and values".
In January 1998, PNAC published an open letter to President Clinton calling for "the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime from power", by military force if necessary. The letter was signed by many who would become architects and backers of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, including Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Abrams, future deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage, and future U.N. ambassador John Bolton.
In September 2001, only days after the 9/11 attacks, another PNAC letter called on President Bush to broaden the scope of the "war on terror" beyond those immediately responsible for the attacks to include Iraq and Lebanon's Hezbollah.
And in April 2002, the group labeled Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority (PA) "a cog in the machine of Middle East terrorism," compared Arafat to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and called on the U.S. to end support for both the PA and the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations as a whole.
"Israel's fight against terrorism is our fight," it said, urging Bush to "accelerate plans for removing Saddam Hussein from power."
That FPI's debut public event should focus on why Washington should escalate its involvement in Afghanistan is ironic given the role played by PNAC and other hawks in and outside the administration in pushing for the invasion of Iraq so soon after the U.S. campaign to oust the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan in late 2001. Many experts believe the diversion of military and intelligence resources to Iraq made it possible for both the Taliban and al Qaeda's leadership to survive and rebuild.
The top priority given by the Bush administration - again, with the strong encouragement of PNAC and its supporters - to Iraq as the "central front in the war on terror" also meant that aid needed to bolster the western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai was unavailable.
PNAC effectively ceased its activities at the beginning of Bush's second term. This may partly have been due to the large amount of bad publicity the group attracted for its seminal role in bringing about the Iraq war.
But the formation of FPI may be a sign that its founders hope once again to incubate a more aggressive foreign policy during their exile from the White House, in preparation for the next time they return to political power.
Jim Lobe's blog on U.S. foreign policy can be read at http://www.ips.org/blog/jimlobe/.
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53 Comments so far
Show AllWASHINGTON - A newly-formed and still obscure neo-conservative foreign policy organisation is giving some observers flashbacks to the 1990s, when its predecessor staked out the aggressively unilateralist foreign policy that came to fruition under the George W. Bush administration. It is called the Democratic party.
Drat, you beat me to it, Mordechai!
If our new and very well spoken President was indeed the knight in shining armor so many think him to be he might see a time in the very near future to stand up and be counted as opposing the continual call for war ( profit motive) from the far right.
Of course, were he an actual progressive he would not have slavishly mortgaged my grandchildren's future on behalf of a few wealthy old white men.
Red Rick
OK my friend, its official. Mea Culpa. You and any others here were right about Obama. My hopes for something, anything are dashed. Arrogance, over reaching and no leadership have done me in.
He is trying to mortgage your Grandchildrens future. Success is still in doubt.
Pelosi and Reid are throwing us under the train and Obama cares only for his "agenda" apparently.
To make a good job of it, let me say his "team" is the sorriest excuse for a staff I've ever seen. Axlerod is a brilliant campaigner, but he is hopeless at advising on governance. Rahm....Cerberus may welcome him soon.
To all who warned....you were right, though I reluctantly joined at the last week, was never a beliver, worried.....makes no difference. My vote counted just as much as one cast by the enthralled.
My apologies to you all.
I have already referred to myself as a "dumb f@#* for having voted for him. I'll tell you this; I don't care if the Democrats run Dennis Kucinich. I'll never vote for a Democrat again.
I'll still vote for the one I think best, but Pelosi and Reid are convincing me that Democrats are among God's dumbest creatures.
They are within a whisker of handing Congress back to the Republicans. Damn fools.
Put me down as "dumb f@#* #2
Can we now move onto the next step in the process?
Let us proceed with haste my friend.
Let me add that though you mistake my attitude towards illegal immigration for other than it is, let me say that if Obama proceeds with his plan to decrease border enforcement, Holder continues harassing those that are enforcing our laws and pushes an Amnesty this year, he will be finished as an effective President. And if Congress joins in 2010 will be a slaughter for the Democrats in Congress.
Just my opinion, but watch Europe for hints.
Holder and Geitner are enough to bring anyones judgement into question.
Obama is INCREASING border security,Thomas, what do you read I wonder? Of course, with a 2000 mile border it seems an impossible task to me. Better we assist our southern neighbors economies so that folks can earn a living at home.
I wonder how far your "conversion" extends, sir. Will you reregister independent? Will you explore third party alternatives? Or will your disgust lead you to inaction and ennui?
How far are you willing to go with your Mea Culpa's? Since Obama has now opened the FOIA, do you see any reason they should not release the 82 videos of the supposed plane that hit the Pentagon? Are you for a re-investigation of 9/11?
while the popularity contest between Hillory and Obama decided who America loves more, the real government is working behind the scenes.
The surge in Afghanistan...currently underway under the neocon, I mean the Democratic administration.
Why do you guys bother voting, anyway? When we do it, it decides which direction the country goes. When Americans do it, it decides what gets planted on the white house lawn.
the neocons and ziocons have been replaced with neolibs, and ziolibs. same agenda.
re Mordechai Shiblikov March 26th, 2009 11:59 am
Nicely put.
Why do these clowns get a platform, given they've been disastrously wrong about everything they've said since their founding?
And why the respectful tone toward their world-class doublethink (China must be feared, but traded with, while Cuba must be isolated?)
They need to be laughed out of town, but I fear O'Bummer will find himself unable to resist appointing some of them to obscure yet vital positions a few levels down in his administraion.
At what point does the media stop providing a forum for a spectaculary debunked pundit to continue to foist his discredited opinions on the public?
A piece today about experts' predictions by Kristof provides an answer:
"The marketplace of ideas for now doesn’t clear out bad pundits and bad ideas partly because there’s no accountability."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/opinion/26Kristof.html
Josh
"Power coceded nothing without demand. It never has and never will." Frederick Douglass
The times they are not a-changing!
The New York Times is...how long will we be able to hold it in our hands?
Lurking in the shadows?? We have a blatant neocon sitting on the Oval Office, who's openly and clearly making sure each stage of the Bush/PNAC agenda is quickly advanced in his first 100 days, why the need for these people to stay in the shadows? These FPI freaks should be warmly welcomed by Obusha in the Rose Garden in the light of day.
cape fear, Maybe over-stated, but only by a tad. I agree that Obama's actions are all in the direction of promoting a neo-con/neo-lib agenda, but "openly" doing it, I don't know. He talks out of one side of his mouth and issues orders from the other side. For folks like Adrian Hamilton, whose article from Independent/UK was posted on CD today, he talks the talk of a "new" approach to Afganistan, while all his actions so far are to promote the same-old same-old of the Bush and Clinton administrations before him. As long as he keeps talking, and anyone believes him, there will always be that Hope that Obama will Change and become the President that people thought they were getting when they elected him.
I have to admit feeling a real "ouch" when I read the argument that Obama is continuing in line with the PFNAC, but I think it's really all a sincere effort to address what he has inherited. They dug a pit for him. I'm also comfortable in that notion when I observe the obstructionists hoping he fails while offering no comprehensive alternative plan. I also think he hasn't even been able to get to the agenda he envisioned on the campaign, except as regards the budget. That in turn colors my evaluation of democrats opposing his budget on the grounds there isn't money. That's just the opening salvo of the PFNAC fascists which will blossom into fulmination when health care and education come on the table. Having a sick uneducated populace is just what they want for dominated subjects. The Blue Dog Dems, and I'd almost include Pelosi and Reid among their number but I think they're just lily-livered, are the ones who piss me off, not Obama. They're promoting minority tyranny by not supporting these first steps into a return to "of, by, and for", and failing to go to the mat until they have a filibuster-proof majority. Lets get these obstructionist on tape with their filibuster and show tthe people what thet value most.
Afghanistan has me very concerned, but I'll address those concerns in the current blog. It's basically to the effect that limiting the objective to the taliban, not just for 9/11 but because it seeks to impose ideological extremism, and if it recogizes that Afghanistan is a tribal society and accepts that as the basis for a representative government, maybe peace can be obtained. A worthy goal.
Obama is not a Neocon.
Care to expand.....Joseph,is that you?
Let me do it for him.
Of course Obama isn't a Neocon. Silly idea. What he may be is stupid. No leadership on anything and allowing Nancy Pelosi to rule. The Iron Corset is spanking these boys.
I would hesitate to call a Harvard grad stupid, Thomas. But I would be more ready to call an electorate who voted overwhelmingly for a man whose national presence was limited to a partial term in the Senate.
What Barack Obama is to me is a man who understands the system very,very well, and uses that system to advantage. Unfortunately he uses it to his own advantage when the nation badly needs one who would work to change the system to the advantage of everyone.
If that Harvard Grad is Nancy Pelosi I'd not hesitate to use stupid as almost a compliment. Arrogant, supercilious, the worst kind of elitist thinking. She is a walking recruitment poster for the Republican party. Nothing like calling over 80% of the American people un-American to endear yourself to them. Dictatorial nuances that would make Newt look like Mother Teresa.
Can you tell she is not invited to our next BBQ?
"Unfortunately he uses it to his own advantage when the nation badly needs one who would work to change the system to the advantage of everyone."
Got it in one. He won't last long. He mistakes repudiation of Bush as a mandate for his policies.
Another brilliant one-liner from a Lesser Evilist, their brains can't come up with much else. Obama's our Neocon in Residence: he's completely aligned with the neocon position as were McCain, Bush and Cheney. His close advisers, such as David Axelrod, Rahm Emanuel, Dennis Ross, Joe Biden, and Hillary Clinton are pro-Israel which means pro-genocide, land theft, expansion of the empire and disregard for the UN.
Obama's also doing everything in his power to stop any type of investigation and or prosecution of Bush and Cheney for their blatant crimes against humanity and the US Constitution, that alone should be grounds for impeachment.
Supporters should be ashamed of themselves for embracing Barrack Obama, who became a war criminal the second he took office and did not order the withdrawal of American troops from foreign lands.
Even the Garlic, Crucifix, Wooden Stake in the Heart and Silver Bullet have failed on this GM variety.
These people have no shame. Why ANY would listen to ANYTHING these sociopaths have to say is beyond me.
Why can't the FBI do something useful for a change like infiltrate this sleeper cell and disappear them to Gitmo? The only enemy America has is these guys.
Another group of would-be power brokers who'll destroy us all. Afghanistan is nothing but a trap. We don't belong there, and we can't win there. I liked the country better when we used it to bankrupt the Soviet Union.
If you walk a lot, or jog a lot, be sure to jump firmly on any rocks you see. Maybe you'll be able to squash at least some of them before they crawl out from under, to take positions of power and influence.
Ahhh, the glory that was Rome! Yecch!!
It is all so damn depressing.
This old Indian wonder's why you aren't happy? Don't you have your share of the stolen Indian land pie? Isn't your share of the stolen Indian land pie big enough for you?
You have your modern day Rome with your Babylonian Banking system of Usuary as well as all of your Corporate/Kingdoms of greed. These men aren't any different than the ones who were involved in the great big land swiping of the Tribes that profited you.
You should put them in your history books & proclaim what swell wonderful great fellows they are upon the earth. They aren't any different than the Herod's of Israel, the Caesar's of Rome, any Nation State Empires before them or after them.
Myself, I am just on my journey through your world. Creator gave the Herod's of Israel, the Caesar's of Rome, all your past Leaders, and these men their Freewill choices, too.
I just forgive them. Regardless of anything I have to live under your Roman Govt system while I am in this world. When I came into this world there wasn't anything actually imprinted on my umbilical cord that I actually have to Worship Caesar or Worship his World.
I live a life of love & peace as I make my journey through your world. I never concern myself with who is or who isn't your Nation's leader. Don't even care what they do or don't do with their freewill choices. My life the past 8 years didn't change at all under your previous Head Honcho. My life didn't change at all under all your previous Head Honcho's rule that rule in the name of the Corporations.
I just ignored them & enjoyed every day the way Creator originally intended just as if I were almost living in this land 1000 years ago before Columbus ever sailed.
Life is good. What an experience! It's always best to forgive.
May I suggest that they hie themselves off to Israel, where their warmongering and "enemy-identification" will be welcome. They and the Israeli government can design MAD nuclear plans to end all life on earth.
These people act as though nothing is actually real to them. It is only extreme stress, greater than their defense against reality, that can usher in the truth, experienced as terrifying.
Their willful blindness is decades old and is certainly a powerful indicator of mental instability for those with this affliction who want to rule the world.
Stop with the "neo-conservative". That's their term. The accurate term is "neo-fascist". Call it what it is. Allowing these people to hid behind a gentle academic word is a fine example of Orwell's doublespeak.
Thank you, I agree completely..
John
I'm not even sure "neo" needs to be included. It looks like old-time fascism to me, nothing new about it!
I've never seen such an unsuccessful political group (at least in 2006 & 2008) seem so damned DETERMINED and convinced they'll rise to the top again.
That's yet another reason Obama should give a go-ahead on the prosecution of the Bush administration economic fascists and war criminals. They ALL need to be crushed by example.
Goldiegate, WA, USA
I will not be satisfied until these men are tried for war crimes. If Obama refuses to follow the law then I pray to my God of choice that some other country(s) will have the balls to do so!
Barack Obama is not a neocon, but he is running scared and I don’t blame him. The Republicans are waiting to pounce on his every mistake, to block everything good he tries and to steer him in the direction of failure. They are very good and very cunning at what they do. When out of office, their only objective is to stop the democrats from creating or enhancing any social program. They don’t care if the economy fails as it will hurt the working class the hardest and bring them to their knees crying for jobs at any wage. They are building a strong case that Democrats cannot govern, will take back the White House and Congress, put in a new lackey to keep up the pretense of a democracy and then go about their business supporting Wall Street and the Military-Industrial complex.
Barack is afraid of the al Qaeda and another attack on the US on his watch. It will be the job of the neocons to keep him that way and to see that he makes no peace progress with Iraq or Iran.
"Running scared" is not the kind of wimpy president I want. He's the best-guarded national leader in the world and can stay that way.
No more apologies for Obama's refusal to deal with a political problem that may indeed bring him down if he DOESN'T deal with it. The chances of Obama's being brought down by these crooks through Obama's inaction are much greater than what will happen if he squashes them.
Phrrhon
It looks so far as if the Democrats cannot govern. I'd suggest that of course the Republicans care if the economy fails. So far it looks as if Mr. Geitner, Obama and the Democrats are supporting Wall Street to me. It wasn't Republicans that passed the Stimuls bill last time or the Omnibus bill or assured Bonus babies of their money by putting in the Feb date.
Phrrhon "The don't care if the economy fails," and b4 that "their only objective is to stop the Democrats from creating or enhancing any social program."
Further though, the GOP destroys the economy just so the Dem's cannot build social programs and thus a broader base. No coincidence at one minute to midnight on bush's watch the foreclosure avalanche transpired and wall street imploded. Here Barack, here is a looted vault as people are going homeless, the Left attacks you, neocons surround you, and Zionist warmongers spin the media for war in Afghanistan.
FPI? Off the top of my head? Effing Program of Israel.
There's three unspoken things that come into play in the economic fiasco: 1. USans listen to Warring Buffett. Nine years ago he said the markets would fly high for the next decade. The implication is crash after that. 2. USans are conditioned like Pavlov's dog to salivate at the change of throne-warmers, implying market crash at the end of each lame duck term. 3. In spring 2001, Darth Viper held a secret energy meeting informing all that it was going to be an unregulated lawless bonanza, and all sectors got the word, and they ran rampant, knowing it couldn't last forever, just in time for the scapegoats to take the blame.
"PNAC effectively ceased its activities at the beginning of Bush's second term. This may partly have been due to the large amount of bad publicity the group attracted for its seminal role in bringing about the Iraq war."
Any relation to enabling the destruction of WTC buildings 1, 2, and 7, after they were hit by commercial airliners? For that, see the following citation from "Rebuilding America's Defenses. Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century," A Report from The Project for the New American Century, September 2000, p. 51:
"... the process of transformation [of the military and thus of U.S. society], even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event -- like a New Pearl Harbor."
Exactly a year after that report was published, 9/11 happened.
Exactly a year after 9/11/01, "The National Security Strategy of the United States of America" was published. In Section 8 therein, we may read the following assessment of 9/11 by the White House:
"The events of September 11, 2001, fundamentally changed the context for relations between the United States and other main centers of global power, and opened vast, new opportunities."
Yes, according to BushCo, 9/11 was not so much a tragedy as an opportunity.
Who wrote that document? Well, it was Philip Zelikow. BushCo later appointed him to be executive director of the 9/11 Commission. Under his editorship, the Report omitted to mention that WTC 7 had also been destroyed on 9/11, even though no airliner was slammed into it.
These things should never be forgotten.
Note to self:
1) Gather feathers. LOTS of them.
2) Boil Tar. Enough for a whole group of people
3) March Kristol and gang into the streets and use items one and two. Then run them out of the country and down to Gitmo.
4) Lose key.
WJM
Proceed please. oops, I thought Gitmo was closed........... it's not? Hhuummmmm....
Here we have the enemy of all of the world. Identified and not unknown these are the "INSURGENT" enemy we need to hunt down and try in a war crimes tribunal for their treason. Why are we killing people trying to defend themselves in the middle east when the enemy is right here at home, go Figure!!
Smoke them Neo-cons out of their think tanks and sleeper cells!
The organization's mission statement argues that the "United States remains the world's indispensable nation,"
These guys need to be locked up.
Huh. That's funny. I could have sworn they were talking about the neo-cons currently in the White House. My mistake.
So long as Poor William Kristol continues to personally evade the imperial blowback, he's going to advocate the sacrifice of US sons and daughters, wedding parties and childrens' schools and hospitals in the imperial target areas, and the general well-being of the planet, so that he and his peers may bask in the glory of empire. Small wonder we progressives on the far left voted for Nader, thinking if Kamikaze McKane made it into the imperial cockpit, Poor William might finally have to "duck and cover". But as it turns out, Poor William gains a windfall of political security from the rise of the "neocon's blessing", O'Bama, and will "move on" to "greater things" still: Conquest of Iran.