By Tom Barry and Jim Lobe
...In 1997 an influential grouping of neoconservatives, social conservatives, and military/industrial complex proponents came together to form the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), (online at www.newamericancentury.org). In its statement of principles, the group lamented that conservatives had not "confidently advanced a strategic vision for America's role in the world" but had instead "allowed differences over tactics to obscure potential agreement on strategic objectives" and had failed to "set forth guiding principles for American foreign policy." This small group (see accompanying box <http://www.fpif.org/papers/02right/box1.html>) declared: "We aim to change this. We aim to make the case and rally support for American global leadership."
It is worth recalling that the PNAC visionaries believed that the first step forward was to remember "the essential elements of the Reagan administration's success," namely "a strong military" ready to meet "present and future challenges," "a foreign policy that boldly and purposefully promotes American principles abroad," and "national leadership that accepts the U.S.' global responsibilities." Essentially, the PNAC aimed for a reprise of the Reagan agenda but this time, in the absence of a Soviet counterweight, on a truly global scale.
Concluding their 1997 statement of principles, Elliott Abrams, Dick Cheney, Jeb Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and the other right-wing luminaries noted: "A Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity may not be fashionable today. But it is necessary if the U.S. is to build on the successes of this past century and ensure our security and greatness in the next." Though not fashionable in 1997, the aggressive Reaganite policy of right-wing internationalism--encompassing large military budget increases, Star Wars defense, Manichean formulation of U.S. foreign policy imperatives, and a rash of direct and covert military interventions--has been brought back into style by the Bush administration.
Before the September 11 terrorism, the Bush administration was having difficulty moving its Reaganite agenda forward. It wasn't for lack of trying or because the right team wasn't in place. The new administration drew heavily from the staff and boards of the PNAC, Center for Security Policy, and American Enterprise Institute. Also signaling the administration's intention to reprise the Reagan era was Bush's decision to draft a half-dozen of the stars of the "Iran-contra" scandals/crimes onto his foreign policy team.
The revival of an ambitious missile defense program and the dumping of the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty, along with many other pending treaties and conventions, clearly marked a rightward shift in U.S. foreign policy toward militarism and unilateralism. But the Bush administration was having trouble selling its agenda. Rumsfeld was getting resistance from Congress and within the military, and missile defense was a dud with the public and the media. The underlying problem was one that had stalled conservatives since the end of the cold war: Americans couldn't get all fired up over a rightist foreign policy agenda without an enemy. That all changed on September 11.
It's likely that neither the targeting of Al Qaeda and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan nor Washington's increased attention to homeland defense would have been much different under any other administration. More time will be needed to measure the tactical, strategic, and moral success of this military response. But as President Bush has repeatedly stated, the post-9/11 U.S. response is now extending far beyond targeting the perpetrators of the atrocities in Washington and New York City. A new Reaganite agenda that was stalling in the first months of the George W. Bush administration has now kicked in with alarming intensity....
<http://www.fpif.org/papers/02right/index.html> -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/>