PNAC tag team on Lehrer News Hour (PBS)

[rog]

Did anyone catch the Lehrer News Hour last night on PBS? I tuned in to catch the discussion on Condi Rice, expecting to see a more or less balanced panel discussion ... pro and con. The guest panelists were Ivo Daalder, who served on the National Security Council staff in the first Clinton term, and is now running a study of the NSC for the Brookings Institution and the University of Maryland; and Richard Clarke, the top-ranking counterterrorism official on the NSC staff until earlier this year.

I didn't know either of these guys, but they seemed to be working together to put a heavy spin on the fact that Rice is now "in charge" of the "Iraq Stabilization Group," and to counter the claim that the operation of the NSC is "dysfunctional" under Rice.

You can read the transcript of the discussion here:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/white_house/july-dec03/rice_10-13.html

The language of BOTH of these guys seemed extremely close to the PNAC talking points, so I did a quick search.

Ivo Daalder
http://www.fpif.org/commentary/2003/0303pnacletter_body.html
http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqstatement-031903.htm
http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqstatement-032803.htm

I think these two PNAC letters on Iraq are important, in that they seem to signal a change in the PNAC approach.

"In apparent anticipation of Rumsfeld and other Republican right-wingers wanting to get out of Iraq relatively early, the neoconservatives are recruiting Clinton veterans to press for a longer and more comprehensive U.S. commitment to transforming Iraq and the greater Middle East.

Thus, among the signers who have never before been associated with PNAC, are Robert Asmus, a former deputy secretary of state for Europe; IVO DAALDER, a prominent member of Clinton's National Security Council staff; Robert Gelbard, a former U.S. ambassador to Chile and Indonesia; Martin Indyk, Clinton's ambassador to Israel; Dennis Ross, his chief adviser on Palestinian-Israeli negotiations; Walter Slocombe, Clinton's top policy official at the Pentagon; and, most important, James Steinberg, Clinton's deputy national security adviser who now heads foreign policy studies at the influential Brookings Institution."

You can see all of the PNAC documents pertaining to Daalder here:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?M1E222436 (forwards you to the page)

Richard Clarke
http://www.pnac.info/blog/archives/000012.html
http://www.icon.co.za/~whyle/archive1.htm

"The adherents of the so-called "Wolfowitz cabal," pushing the "Clash of Civilizations" theory, are nothing less than "an enemy within" the United States, a network that cuts across the Defense Department, the State Department, the White House, and the National Security Council. This report is not a "good guys" versus "bad guys" description of the Bush Administration; rather it is a warning that this cabal is a close-knit rogue network that is trying to hijack U.S. policy, and turn the current Afghanistan mess into a global war. The cabal bears a dangerous resemblance to the "secret parallel government" of North and Gen. Richard Secord's "Project Democracy" operation that ran Iran-Contra. In fact, some of the cabal members now in the Bush Administration are convicted criminals as a result of their activity in North's "Enterprise"!"

-----snip-----

"Richard Clarke, Adviser to the President for Cyberspace Warfare. Clarke, who was originally with the State Department during the elder Bush's Administration, was demoted for covering up Israeli violations of the Arms Exporting laws. In August 1998, Clarke was one of the key figures who planted false information about Sudan's involvement in the East Africa U.S. Embassy bombings, which led to U.S. cruise missile attacks on a Sudanese pharmaceutical company in Khartoum. Clarke shopped in disinformation from British-Israeli covert operations stringer Yosef Bodansky that targetted Sudan."

-----

They're tag teaming us, and they sound so calm and reasonable.

And if you missed this, this article ... LONG ... must be read by everyone.

The Integration of Theory and Practice: A Program for the New Traditionalist Movement
http://www.freecongress.org/centers/cc/new_tradiitionalist.asp

The article was posted yesterday, in this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=529492

.rog.

[WilliamPitt]

1. Not surprised one bit

These guys have not been hiding at all, ever. THEY HAVE A WEBSITE. They've had one for three years. It has everything on it. We yell and scream about them, but they're not some secret society. Of course they're gonna hit the TV wires. They have to. A bunch of their plan has gotten all fucked up. They ran out of army. Brilliant people we have in this administration.

[WilliamPitt]

2. dupe delete

[Flying_Pig]

3. The PNAC'ers are spread throughout our government, and other

think-tanks. Despite recent setbacks in Iraq, they are not going to stop their plan for world domination, subjugation of the ME, and control of world oil resources.

They are being aided and abbetted by the media, where Bush/PNAC/Sharon/Likud/AIPAC have many friends and supporters. These friends and supporters feel that it's good for Israel, then no matter how fascist or morally corrupt it might be, they're on-board. Their support of Bush, Israeli aggression, and PNAC, shows just that. Similarly, there are a number of Dems who have been supporting Bush/PNAC/Sharon/Likud for the same reasons, that, and they know they will get the media behind them, which will help their own re-election efforts.

[legin]

4. Nice post rog

A PNAC change of strategy bump.

Must read link supplied by rog:
http://www.fpif.org/commentary/2003/0303pnacletter_body.html

[legin]

5. Neoconservatives Enlist Democrats for Post-War Goals

Basically.

[KoKo]

6. Excellent Post and Links. Thanks for the work on this.

So much is going on as Shrub & Co. unravel that it's hard to keep it all straight. What sounds good to us may have ulterior motives.

[legin]

7. One other thing

This is just a personel intuition.

A while ago Wolfowitz giving a speech to fairly hostile audiance in Grenwich Village, Richard Perle turning up on PBS to go up against Medea Benjamin, these guys turning up on PBS.

Just guessing but would it be possible that the Neo-cons seeing how much money has been collected by Dean and others from the internet, have got the impression that control of the mainstream media is no longer enough, they now have to compete in the alternative media as well.

[Guaranteed]

8. Clarke is in Moore's book.

He's the one who was constantly warning the Bushees that Al Qaeda was trouble in the making, but ignored. He's the main justification that 9/11 wasn't Clinton's fault.

[Guaranteed]

11. Pardon me, I meant Franken's book. n/t

[Clete]

9. Interesting stuff. A word about Condaleeza Rice.

In an editorial in the Los Angeles Times yesterday, the writer brought up the speculation that Rice has been given new duties overseeing Iraq because she can't be called up by Congress to explain her actions. Rumsfeld and Powell as members of the Presidential cabinet can be called to testify and can be be questioned by Congress, but Rice is only an advisor and can't be called on the carpet.

[Julien Sorel]

10. Dennis Ross and Martin Indyk used to serve together on a pro-Israeli

think tank called Washington Institute for Near East Policy; Ross got his start with the Reagan administration, and kept on working with the elder Bush. He was picked up by Clinton because Clinton had no one who knew anything about Israel and the Middle East; I also wouldn't be surprised if adding a shill like Ross to a key position on his foreign policy team was part of the payback for all the AIPAC-friendly donations Clinton received. Ross facilitated Benjamin Netanyahu's weaseling out of the Oslo Accords, iirc. These guys are whack-a-moles.