Tom Barry is policy director of International Relations Center. Barry is the author of a June 2006 report on the Project for the New American Century.
The Project for the New American Century—a largely neoconservative coalition that included social conservatives, militarists and Zionists—has shut down, boasting, “Goal accomplished.”
A large part of that goal was to put Israel’s counterterrorism agenda at the center of U.S. foreign policy.
Although it remains far from clear that the 21st century will be a “new American century,” PNAC’s organizers can rightly claim that the Bush administration largely adopted its neoconservative agenda for foreign policy. PNAC, organized in 1997 by Weekly Standard editor William Kristol, set forth a list of priorities immediately after 9/11 for the “war on terrorism”—including a close antiterrorism alliance with Israel, taking out Hezbollah, wiping out the Palestinian intifada and regime change in Iraq, Iran and Syria.
Nine days after the al-Qaida attacks on New York and Washington, PNAC published a public letter to President Bush that concisely described what was to become the Bush administration’s own policy agenda in the Middle East.
At a time when most Americans thought the war on terror would focus on hunting down Osama bin Laden and destroying al-Qaida, PNAC made the case that the U.S. government should embrace Israel’s radical national security strategy. The neocon group argued essentially that Israel’s enemies were America’s enemies.
According to PNAC, “Israel has been and remains America’s staunchest ally against international terrorism, especially in the Middle East….the United States should fully support our fellow democracy in its fight against terrorism.”
In addition to eliminating al-Qaida, PNAC recommended that the U.S. military “remove Saddam Hussein from power,” even if “evidence does not link Iraq directly to the attack.” Three years earlier, PNAC in a January 1998 letter, demanded that the Clinton administration pursue a regime change strategy against Iraq—described by PNAC in subsequent statements as a threat to both the United States and Israel.
PNAC’s Sept. 20, 2001 letter to President Bush foreshadowed the U.S. government’s unyielding support for Israel’s current military campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon. “Any war against terrorism must target Hezbollah,” asserted PNAC, which called Hezbollah “one of the leading terrorist organizations in the world.”
Because of their support for the Lebanon-based anti-Israel Hezbollah, Iran and Syria should also be prime targets of the U.S.-led global war on terrorism, said PNAC. “We believe the administration should demand that Iran and Syria immediately cease all military, financial and political support for Hezbollah and its operations,” stated the PNAC letter. “Should Iran and Syria refuse to comply, the administration should consider appropriate measures of retaliation against these known state sponsors of terrorism.”
PNAC also included the Palestinian Authority on list of counterterrorism priorities: “The United States should fully support our fellow democracy in its fight against terrorism. We should insist that the Palestinian Authority put a stop to terrorism emanating from territories under its control and imprison those planning terrorist attacks against Israel.”
With the Bush administration having largely integrated PNAC’s Middle East views into its foreign policy, PNAC issued another letter on April 3, 2002 that called for the administration to put Israel at the center of its counterterrorism strategy in the Middle East.
“You have declared war on international terrorism, Mr. President,” said PNAC. “Israel is fighting the same war.”
According to PNAC, “No one should doubt that the United States and Israel share a common enemy”—specifically naming Iraq, Iran, and Syria. “Israel’s fight against terrorism is our fight. Israel’s victory is an important part of our victory. For reasons both moral and strategic, we need to stand with Israel in its fight against terrorism.”
The neocon foreign policy group recommended that the U.S. “should lend its full support to Israel as it seeks to root out the terrorist network that daily threatens the lives of Israeli citizens,” warning that Israel’s counterterrorism war “task will not be easy” and “will not be accomplished quickly or painlessly.”
After nearly 10 years of seeking to call the shots for U.S. foreign policy, the Project for the New American century has quietly shut down operations. As its legacy, its organizers and members can rightly claim they played a central role in charting the Bush’s administration’s radical foreign policy agenda, particularly its Israel-centric counterterrorism policies.
Over the past few years PNAC became a victim of its achievements—especially of its role in leading the United States into Iraq. As the occupation faltered, PNAC found it increasingly difficult to hold together a conservative foreign policy coalition.
In 2004 William Kristol and other neocons outside government began criticizing the Bush foreign policy team, including such former PNAC associates as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, for their failure to commit adequate troops and their half-hearted commitment to nation-building.
Other radical conservatives who had originally joined the PNAC coalition, such as End of History author Francis Fukuyama, began distancing themselves from the American supremacy project as the Iraq occupation became a quagmire.
New splits among conservatives on immigration, Israel policy and Iran have also undermined PNAC’s ability to project a conservative foreign policy consensus.
The limits of U.S. power and the follies of the Bush administration’s arrogance cut short PNAC’s glory days. Although forced into retreat, the Israel-focused neoconservative camp remains strong. The neocon-led Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which was created immediately after the 9/11 attacks to advance right-wing Zionist positions in Washington, includes many former PNAC associates and has become one of the most influential policy institutes on the war on terrorism and U.S.-Israel relations.
PNAC is dead, but its delusions about U.S. power and the fundamental importance of Israel to U.S. national interests live on.
