The Political Chase

Cheney and Kristol’s Neocon Organization

In my note about the State Dept.’s conflict with Vice President Cheney, I mentioned an organization that Cheney et al started circa 2001. The organization is Project for New American Century (PNAC) and was started in 1997.

You can read their statement of principles here.

I was probably confusing the initiation date with the date of a notable letter they wrote to President Bush on September 20, 2001. A mere nine days after 9/11 and this statement about Iraq was included in their letter, which I think you will find striking.

We agree with Secretary of State Powell’s recent statement that Saddam Hussein “is one of the leading terrorists on the face of the Earth…” 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. And American forces must be prepared to back up our commitment to the Iraqi opposition by all necessary means.