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<nettime> Iraq pre and post [rdom, wark] |
Table of Contents: 'Get Saddam'crowd Timeline pre-911 [email protected] Telocs eyeing post war Iraq "McKenzie Wark" <[email protected]> ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 22:47:49 +0100 From: [email protected] Subject: 'Get Saddam'crowd Timeline pre-911 Unbeknownst to most of the American public, the 'Get Saddam' crowd has been calling on Bush to topple the Ba'ath regime since the very beginning of his administration - well before the terrorist attacks of 9-11. http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/completetimeline/index.htm Table of Contents 1 Think tanks, geopolitical strategists, etc. 2 Republican Party 3 Media reports and opinion pieces suggesting that there were sentiments prior to 9-11 to invade Iraq. 1 Think tanks, geopolitical strategists, etc. a Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies. i A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm, July 8 1996. (A) Summary. (1) The report was authored by a study group commissioned by the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies with the purpose of providing policy recommendations to the incoming government of Likud Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Several individuals who now have key positions in the Bush administration contributed to the project, including Douglas Feith, now undersecretary of defense for policy; David Wurmser, now a special assistant to State Department arms-control chief John R. Bolton; and Richard Perle, the current chairman of the civilian Defense Policy Board [profile]. On July 10, two days after the Israeli Prime Minister received the report from Richard Perle, he gave a speech before a joint session of the U.S. Congress [US Congress 7/10/96], which reflected the policy recommendations outlined in the document. Also that day, the Wall Street Journal published excerpts of the report and then endorsed the recommendations in the following day�s editorial pages. (Larouche 9-8-2002; Sands 10-7-2002) (B) Text. [The Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies 6/8/2002] (C) Policy recommendations (1) Specific actions. (a) Abandon the Oslo Accords. (Larouche 9-8-2002) (b) Reserve the right to invade the West Bank and Gaza Strip when Israel believes it is appropriate to do so. (c) Remove Saddam Hussein from power. (Larouche 9-8-2002; Sands 10-7-2002) (d) Overthrow or destabilize the governments of Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. (Larouche 9-8-2002; Sands 10-7-2002) (2) General policy changes. (a) Reestablish a policy of preemptive strikes. (i) The Washington Times, quoting the report, stated, �Israel would �transcend its foes� by �re-establishing the principle of pre-emption, rather than retaliation alone, and by ceasing to absorb blows to the nation without response,� according to a summary of the panel's deliberations prepared by the think tank.� (Sands 10-7-2002) b 10 former government officials i 9-point strategy to remove Saddam Hussein. (A) Summary. (1) On February 1998, a 9-point strategy for �bringing down Saddam and his regime,� was endorsed by 10 former government officials and was published as an open letter. (cited in Everest 2001; Larouche 9-8-2002) Read Letter (B) Signatories. (1) Richard Perle, current chairman of the Defense Policy Board. [profile] (2) Stephen Solarz, former Congressman (3) Elliott Abrams, current senior director for democracy, human rights and international operations at the National Security Council. [more info] (4) Richard Armitage, current deputy secretary of state. (5) John Bolton, current undersecretary of arms control and international security. (6) Doug Feith, current undersecretary of Defense for Policy (7) Fred Ikle, former undersecretary of defense for policy (8) Zalmay Khalilzad, current special assistant to the President and senior director for Gulf, southwest Asia and other regional issues, National Security Council. (9) Peter Rodman, current assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs (10) Donald Rumsfeld, current secretary of defense (11) Paul Wolfowitz, current deputy secretary of defense. (12) David Wurmser, current director of Middle East studies at the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute (13) Dov Zakheim, current under secretary of defense (Comptroller) and chief financial officer for the Department of Defense c Project for the New American Century (PNAC). i Building America's Defences: Strategies, Forces And Resources For A New Century, September 2000 (A) Written For: (a) Dick Cheney, vice president. (b) Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of defense. (c) Paul Wolfowitz, deputy secretary of defense. (d) Jeb Bush, governor of Florida. (e) Lewis Libby, Cheney's chief of staff. (B) People who attended meetings or contributed papers in preparation of the report. (1) Roger Barnett (a) U.S. Naval War College (2) Alvin Bernstein (a) National Defense University (3) Stephen Cambone (a) National Defense University (b) Currently heads the Office of Program, Analysis and Evaluation at the Defense Department (4) Eliot Cohen (a) Nitze School of Advanced International (b) Studies, Johns Hopkins University. (c) Currently on the Defense Policy Board [profile] (5) Devon Gaffney Cross (a) Donors' Forum for International Affairs (6) Thomas Donnelly (a) Project for the New American Century (7) David Epstein (a) Office of Secretary of Defense, (b) Net Assessment (8) David Fautua (a) Lt. Col., U.S. Army (9) Dan Goure (a) Center for Strategic and International Studies (10) Donald Kagan (a) Yale University (11) Fred Kagan (a) U. S. Military Academy at West Point (12) Robert Kagan (a) Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (13) Robert Killebrew (a) Col., USA (Ret.) (14) William Kristol (a) The Weekly Standard (15) Mark Lagon (a) Senate Foreign Relations Committee (16) James Lasswell (a) GAMA Corporation (17) Lewis Libby (a) Dechert Price & Rhoads (b) Currently on the vice president's chief of staff. (18) Robert Martinage (a) Center for Strategic and Budgetary (b) Assessment (19) Phil Meilinger (a) U.S. Naval War College (20) Mackubin Owens (a) U.S. Naval War College (21) Steve Rosen (a) Harvard University (22) Gary Schmitt (a) Project for the New American Century (23) Abram Shulsky (a) The RAND Corporation (24) Michael Vickers (a) Center for Strategic and Budgetary (b) Assessment (25) Barry Watts (a) Northrop Grumman Corporation (26) Paul Wolfowitz (a) Nitze School of Advanced International (b) Studies, Johns Hopkins University (c) Current Deputy Secretary of Defense. (27) Dov Zakheim (a) System Planning Corporation (b) Current undersecretary of defense (comptroller) and chief financial officer for the Pentagon (C) The Text. [Rebuilding America's Defenses] (D) Excerpts. (a) The report�s plan for US global domination included �a premeditated attack on Iraq to secure �regime change� even before� George Bush �took power in January 2001.� (Mackay 9-15-2002) c James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy of Rice University and the Council on Foreign Relations i Strategic Energy Policy Challenges For The 21st Century, April 2001 (A) Summary. (1) The report summarized an impending U.S. energy crisis and concluded that Saddam Hussein was a threat to �American interests� because of his control of Iraq�s enormous and high quality oil reserves. The report recommended a policy of using military force in order ensure US control of Middle Eastern oil. (Mackay 10-4-2002a; 10-4-2002b) (B) People who were �behind� the document. (1) James Baker, who was advised by Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron; Luis Giusti, a Shell non-executive director; John Manzoni, regional president of BP David O'Reilly, chief executive of ChevronTexaco; and Sheikh Saud Al Nasser Al Sabah, the former Kuwaiti oil minister and a fellow of the Baker Institute. (Mackay 10-4-2002a) (C) Submitted to: (1) Vice-President Dick Cheney in April 2001. (D) The report. [Strategic Energy Policy Challenges For The 21st Century] (E) Excerpts. (1) �[T]he United States remains a prisoner of its energy dilemma, suffering on a recurring basis from the negative consequences of sporadic energy shortages. These consequences can include recession, social dislocation of the poorest Americans, and at the extremes, a need for military intervention.� (pg. 34) (2) �Iraq remains a destabilising influence to ... the flow of oil to international markets from the Middle East. Saddam Hussein has also demonstrated a willingness to threaten to use the oil weapon and to use his own export programme to manipulate oil markets. This would display his personal power, enhance his image as a pan-Arab leader and pressure others for a lifting of economic sanctions against his regime. The United States should conduct an immediate policy review toward Iraq including military, energy, economic and political/diplomatic assessments. The United States should then develop an integrated strategy with key allies in Europe and Asia, and with key countries in the Middle East, to restate goals with respect to Iraqi policy and to restore a cohesive coalition of key allies�� (Pg. 42) (3) �Iraqi [oil] reserves represent a major asset that can quickly add capacity to world oil markets and inject a more competitive tenor to oil trade.� (Pg. 43) 2 Republican Party a Platform i Summary. (A) During George W. Bush's campaign, the Republican Party called for �a comprehensive plan for the removal of Saddam Hussein.� (cited Everest 2001) 3 Media reports and opinion pieces suggesting that there were sentiments prior to 9-11 to invade Iraq. a January 22, 2001. New York Times. i The New York Times reported that according to unnamed U.S. officials, �Iraq has rebuilt a series of factories that the United States has long suspected of producing chemical and biological weapons.� The newspaper also quoted one soon-to-be member of the administration saying, �'The Iraq problem has changed a lot since the last Bush administration left office. It's become a lot more complex. That's beginning to dawn on them.� The Times noted, �Throughout the campaign and transition, Mr. Bush and his national security advisers pledged to confront Mr. Hussein more aggressively than Mr. Clinton had,� and �The new intelligence estimate could confront President Bush with an early test of his pledge to take a tougher stance against President Saddam Hussein than the Clinton administration did.� (Schmitt and Myers 1-22- 2001) b January 23, 2001. The Times. i The Times of London quoted an unnamed U.S. official saying that if Bush were to attack Iraq, �It will not be a pinprick, it will be strong and decisive�..Bush may have no option but to act if he wants to contain Saddam.� (cited in Mirak-Weissbach 2-16-2001) c January 23, 2001. Richard Butler, former head of the U.N. special commission. Daily Telegraph. i In an op-ed piece titled, �Bush should start where his father left off: With Saddam,� Butler expressed his concern about France and Russia�s increasingly friendly relations towards Iraq. He criticized these countries for skirting the UN sanctions and suggested that the two countries� actions were intended to diminish U.S. power. The implication was that if Russia and France continued this course, it would be harder for the U.S. to justify a war against Iraq, therefore according to Butler, Bush would have to act quickly. (cited in Mirak-Weissbach 2-16-2001) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 17:37:27 -0500 From: "McKenzie Wark" <[email protected]> Subject: Telocs eyeing post war Iraq New York Times / February 17, 2003 Looking Beyond a War in Iraq By SIMON ROMERO The telecommunications equipment industry is quietly pinning its hopes on a quick Iraqi war that would be followed by an American-led effort to rebuild the country after the ouster of Saddam Hussein. Iraq, whose communications networks were heavily damaged in the 1991 gulf war, is sorely in need of an entirely new and modern telecommunications system for its civilian population. And if a pro-American government were to emerge in Iraq, telecommunications equipment analysts say American companies like Lucent Technologies and Motorola could gain an edge over competitors from France and China that have won relatively modest contracts in recent years to help Iraq improve its communications network. An important precedent, these analysts say, came after the gulf war when Saudi Arabia awarded Lucent at least $4.5 billion of contracts to overhaul its telephone system. That deal, among the largest government awards to any equipment manufacturer in the last decade, was widely associated with an effort by allies in the region to favor American companies after the war. "A new government in Baghdad more favorably disposed to the United States could tilt the geopolitical favor of telecoms' future contracts in the direction of American companies," said Joseph Braude, a senior analyst at Pyramid Research, a company in Cambridge, Mass., that conducts international telecommunications research. Mr. Braude, who is also the author of "The New Iraq," a coming book about rebuilding that country's infrastructure, estimated that Iraq needed to invest at least $1 billion over the next several years to improve its basic fixed-line telephone system. Additional investments will be needed to introduce wireless communications and overhaul the nation's international communications links, Mr. Braude said. [�] Executives at American companies that are analyzing contract opportunities in Iraq are hesitant to discuss publicly their views of the Iraqi market. Mary Lou Ambrus, a spokeswoman for Lucent, which is based in Murray Hill, N.J., declined to comment. Jennifer Weyrauch, a Motorola spokeswoman, said, "If an opportunity exists under the right circumstances we would take a close look at it." The company, a leader in wireless communications, operates in 10 countries of the Middle East and North Africa. "To this end," Ms. Weyrauch continued, "we urge the U.S. Congress and administration to prepare to promptly remove existing sanctions that would impede U.S. businesses from participating in the reconstruction and recovery effort." It is premature and simplistic to discuss specific contract possibilities because of the many factors that would come into play after a war, the nation's outstanding foreign debt obligations and legal disputes that could emerge among companies with existing Iraqi contracts and firms seeking new business there. "There are so many uncertainties involved in commercial ambitions in Iraq," said Barbara Oegg, a trade expert at the Institute for International Economics, a research group in Washington. Still, the complexity related to Iraq has not stopped American communications companies from speculating about the future there. Joseph R. Wright, the chief executive of PanAmSat, the commercial international satellite operator based in Wilton, Conn., said in an interview that his company was evaluating the need for communications systems in Iraq that include the use of satellite links. "Nation rebuilding in Iraq or Afghanistan or wherever would have an advantage by adopting hybrid technology solutions," Mr. Wright said. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/17/technology/17NECO.html?pagewanted=print&position=top ___________________________________________________ http://subsol.c3.hu/subsol_2/contributors0/warktext.html ... we no longer have roots, we have aerials ... ___________________________________________________ # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: [email protected] and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [email protected]