The Ming Report

THE SEEDS OF EMPIRE

July 20, 2003 - “No army, however sophisticated, well trained, materially rich, numerically overwhelming and ruthless, can succeed on the battlefield if it is not psychologically fit and motivated for the fight. The force, however destitute in material advantages and numbers, which can rely on the moral qualities of a strong faith, stubborn determination, individualism and unending patience will always be the winner. These may not be the optimum qualities always found in the armies of western democracies.”. That is the lesson of the Afghan-Soviet War according to a study written for the United States Army, Foreign Military Studies Office by General Nawroz of the Army of Afghanistan and Lt. Colonel Lester W. Grau of the US Army. It is a lesson ignored by the United States political and military leadership as it repeats its former enemy’s experience in the Second Iraqi War and its forgotten war of occupation in Afghanistan. http://www.bdg.minsk.by/cegi/N2/Afg/Waraf.htm

On June 7, 1997 the Project For A New American Century issued its Statement of Principles signed by its founders, including Jeb Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz along with such lesser lights as Elliott Abrams, Gary Bauer, William J. Bennett and Dan Quayle. In it they write, “The history of the 20th century should have taught us that it is important to shape circumstances before crises emerge, and to meet threats before they become dire. The history of this century should have taught us to embrace the cause of American leadership.” That statement is the foundation of the Bush Doctrine committing the United States to a policy of aggressive war to pre-empt perceived challenges to American Hegemony. http://www.newamericancentury.org/statementofprinciples.htm

As early as January 1998, while the Republican leadership was decrying President Clinton’s missile strike on suspected Iraqi weapons facilities as “Wag The Dog”, William Kristol and Robert Kagan were writing in an OP-ED piece for the New York Times calling for a pre-emptive land invasion of Iraq, Kristol and Kagan were also part of the PNAC founding group. http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraq-013098.htm. In January 1999 a “Memorandum to Opinion Leaders” from PNAC staffer Mark Kagan cited the Kristol-Kagan piece and suggests that “opinion leaders press the pre-emptive invasion policy. In January 2002 in another “Memorandum to Opinion Makers” PNAC staffer hailed the newly announced “Bush Doctrine” writing, that the doctrine “made clear his determination to include rogue regimes as targets in the war on terrorism. “We can’t stop short,” he said. And in “naming names” -- North Korea, Iran and Iraq -- he clearly defined a meaning of victory.” http://www.newamericancentury.org/bushdoctrine-013002.htm

The decision to go to war was made long before the charade of UN Inspections, the 2003 State of the Union Address or the Powell presentation to the Security Council. It was fashioned with the founding of the PNAC and only confirmed by the Supreme Court’s installation of the President in December 2002. The result is written in the headlines as America re-learns the lesson that brought down the Soviet Empire.