Ritual Reality

Radical Visions

October 04, 2004

Between now and the November 2nd election Ritual Reality will publish a four-part series examining what we believe is the true crisis facing this country and the world.

Part One: Pax Americana

Day by day a tragedy of epic proportions unfolds in Iraq. However, as tragic as it may be, the invasion and ongoing pacification of that nation is symptomatic of an even greater crisis. Beyond the hourly accounts of desperate violence and casualty tallies, beyond the process of defining for a credulous american public what constitutes success, the situation in Iraq represents a triumph of sorts for a select group.

Simply put, this group has hijacked foreign policy and, through close ties to influential think tanks and the defense industry, seeks to impose a radical vision of American empire. In their view, America's destiny is to project a global military presence and assimilate, intimidate, or simply replace regimes that appear hostile to American interests.

We exaimine this development as well as explore the historical context of American foreign policy and the root causes of particular terrorist groups. But we also aim to present alternatives. By discussing the opinions and proposals of others and presenting ideas of our own for long term solutions, we hope to catalyse discussion of possible new directions for our nation's vast diplomatic, economic and technological resources.

The media tosses around the term 'neocon' with such regularity that it seems unnecessary to explain it here. In the comments section below we provide links to source materials. These materials comprise an adequate primer on the goals of the neocon cabal within the Bush administration.

In an article entitled "Is Iran Next?" (In These Times, September 28, 2004) Tom Barry writes:

In the months after 9/11, rather than relying on the CIA, State Department on the Pentagon's own Defense Intelligence Agency for intelligence about Iraq?s ties to international terrorists and its development of weapons of mass destruction, neoconservatives in the Pentagon set up a special intelligence shop called the Office of Special Plans (OSP). The founders, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Feith, are fervent advocates of a regional restructuring in the Middle East that includes regime change in Iran, Syria and, ultimately, Saudi Arabia.

Source

The Office of Special Plans represents nothing less than a radical cell within the military establishment dedicated to promoting and excecuting an overtly beligerent U.S. foreign policy. This cell sutured the 9-11 attacks by Al Qaeda-sponsored terrorists with deliberatly exaggerated and misleading claims about Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in order to catalyse their pre-existing geostrategic goals.

Feith and the OSP crew bolstered their case with largely unproven intelligence, while simultaneously undermining traditional intelligence channels. According to a report in the British paper The Telegraph:

In August 2002, Mr Feith's cell gave a briefing to Mr Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, which included a stinging condemnation of the CIA's intelligence assessment techniques.

In sharp contrast to the Senate intelligence committee's criticisms of "over-reaching" and "exaggeration" by CIA agents, the Pentagon briefing criticised the agency for requiring "juridical evidence" for its findings and for the "consistent underestimation" of the possibility that Iraq and al-Qa'eda were attempting to conceal their collaboration.

Source

Mr. Barry further outlines the connections between this cabal and well-connected thinktanks and lobbying interests:

Feith is joined in reshaping a U.S. foreign Middle East policy one that mirrors or complements the policies of the hardliners in Israel by a web of neoconservative policy institutes, pressure groups and think tanks. These include the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies (IASPS), Center for Security Policy (CSP) and the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), all groups with which Feith has been or still is closely associated...

It now appears that Feith's Office of Policy, which was creating dubious intelligence rationales for the Iraq war, was also establishing a covert national security strategy for regime change in Iran most likely through a combination of preemptive military strikes (either by the United States or Israel) and support for a coalition of Iranian dissidents...

Not having its own intelligence-gathering infrastructure, Feith's office relied on fabricated information supplied by Ahmed Chalabi, an Iraqi expatriate who led the Iraqi National Congress (INC). In 1998, Chalabi's group was funded by the Iraq Liberation Act, a congressional initiative that was backed by neoconservative institutions such as AIPAC, CSP, Project for the New American Century (PNAC) and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI)...

Without notifying the State Department or the CIA, Feith's office has been involved in back channel operations that have included a series of secret meetings in Washington, Rome and Paris over the last three years. These meetings have brought together Office of Policy officials and consultants (Franklin, Harold Rhode and Michael Ledeen), an expatriate Iranian arms dealer (Manichur Ghorbanifar), AIPAC lobbyists, Ahmed Chalabi, and Italian and Israeli intelligence officers, among others.

The implications are clear; the policy of regime change was not limited to Iraq, but part of a broad-based strategy for the Middle East.

In early 2002, Leeden, along with Morris Amitay, a former AIPAC executive director as well as a CSP adviser, founded the Coalition for Democracy in Iran (CDI) to build congressional and administration support for Iran regime change. AIPAC and CDI helped ensure passage of recent House and Senate resolutions that condemn Iran, call for tighter sanctions and express support for Iranian dissidents.

The CDI includes members of key neoconservative policy institutes and think tanks, including Raymond Tanter of the Washington Institute for Near East Affairs (WINEA), an off-shoot of AIPAC and Frank Gaffney, president of CSP. In the '90s, Feith served as the board chairman of CSP, whose slogan is "peace through strength," and where Woolsey currently serves as co-chairman of the advisory committee. Other neoconservative organizations represented in the coalition by more than one member include AEI and Freedom House.

Beginning in 1953 the USA has pursued policies that have both helped and contributed to instability in the Middle East. But the political philsophies and geostrategic aims currently ascendent in the Bush administration and the GOP establishment are perhaps the most damaging yet. They are heavily slanted towards U.S. energy policy and economic interests as well as the promotion of overt U.S.-Israeli military dominance in the region. Our next article examines the historical context of U.S. foreign policy and the rise of various terrorist ideologies.