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Randy Ludacer

Published: June 5, 2008

It should not go unnoticed that the attacks of the president and his staff on Scott McClellan have been largely restricted to laments about his lack of loyalty, rather than challenging the truth of his charges that Bush and company had planned the invasion of Iraq long before 9-11.

The reason is quite simple. McClellan's charge is correct, right on the money. Long before the attack on the twin towers, Bush and company had been working on what they called "regime change" in Iraq, forming an organization called "The Project for the New American Century" (PNAC) in 1997.

Among the organizers were Dick Cheney, Lewis Libby, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, John Bolton and Richard Perle. All were given high offices with the election of George W. Bush in 2000.

They produced an interesting document, a manifesto outlining their plan for neocon world dominance called "Rebuilding America's Defenses," an 80-page document, which was available on a Web site on the Internet until canceled when McClellan's book was released.

The essence of PNAC is to call for imposing an American suzerainty over the entire Middle East to be imposed by American military prominence and to extend American global interests, Characterizing potential military incursions as "constabulary missions". Thus, a Pax Americana will establish world security, according to the plan. These missions will not be neutral as U.N. peacekeeping missions are conducted and should be configured for combat. Ending Saddam's regime is seen as a necessary first step. The document is a must read.

Nothing short of a plan for world dominance, it was morphed into Bush's National Security Strategy of 2002 and was declarative of the administration's new definition of "preemptive engagement" –– aggression to expand democracy. Other supporters of PNAC included Republican party leader Bruce Jackson, William Kristol of the Weekly Standard and Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida.

Even before the identity of the 9-11 attackers was known, Cheney and Wolfowitz were calling for naming Iraq as the culprit while Bush grounded all U.S. civilian aircraft except for a special charter to enable his Saudi friends to "get out of Dodge."

From there the drumbeat intensified, resulting in the "the Joint Resolution to Authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq" drafted in the White House and released through the office of the press secretary on Oct. 2, 2002.

Small wonder then that even this gang lacks the chutzpah to challenge the truth of McClellan's charges, limiting their criticism to his "ratting out the gang" as if the ethic in the White House is the same as a street gang.

Randy Ludacer
Lake Placid

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