Thursday, March 20, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Local View: Welcome to the 'New American Century'

By Chuck Gardner

The "Great War" was not so great after all and was soon downgraded to "World War I" in the wake of World War II. It wasn't nearly the "world" war that the second was, but both were primarily among competing imperialist nations. By contrast, the major skirmishes lately have been not among, but against, the colonizers. Czechs, Hungarians, Koreans, Cubans, Vietnamese, Chechens, Afghans and dozens more have pulled on their colonial chains. History may see the war upon which the United States is embarking as the last gasp of Western colonialism, or even as heralding its ultimate victory, but to its designers this war is not intended to change anything, but to preserve, not old-fashioned colonialism, but a new American world order.

The designers are listed on the last page of a research paper published three years ago by a group called "Project for a New American Century." Familiar names are Paul Wolfowitz, Lewis Libby and William Kristol, close advisers to President George W. Bush. Vice President Richard Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld belong to a barely wider circle. Bush the Second has filled the White House and Pentagon with PNAC participants and friends.

The 75-page PNAC agenda, called a "defense review," is not to create a "Pax Americana," but to preserve it. The term appears four times in Latin, but 14 more times in its English translation. "The American peace," it begins, "has proven itself peaceful, stable and durable" and has "over the past decade, provided the geopolitical framework for widespread economic growth and the spread of American principles of liberty and democracy." Arguing heavily for increased military spending, the introduction says we have failed "to match military means to geopolitical ends." "[A]s the American peace reaches across the globe, the force that preserves that peace is increasingly overwhelmed by its tasks." The threat comes from those who might wish "to expand their own influence and challenge the American-led security order." Whereas America's strategic goal in the "bipolar" Cold War world was to "contain [the] Soviet Union," its goal in the "unipolar" American 21st century is to "preserve pax Americana," "secure and expand the zones of democratic peace," deter "the rise of a new great-power competitor," "defend key regions," and "preserve American preeminence through the coming transformation of war made possible by new technologies."

The term "American preeminence" or, more frequently, "American military preeminence," occurs 47 times in the report. The next most frequent phrase, with 21 entries, is "revolution in military affairs" with 21 entries, or 29 in all its varieties, such as "American-led revolution." This is followed by the "American security perimeter," with 17 entries, frequently preceded by "expanding" or succeeded by "around the globe." The single word "Iraq" earns 25 stars, as in "Iran, Iraq and North Korea," "Iran and Iraq," "Iraq, Iran, Libya and Syria," "Iraq, Iran and North Korea," "potential adversaries from China to Iraq," and "we cannot allow North Korea, Iran, Iraq, or similar states to undermine American leadership." Following this is the word "enduring," with 13 entries, as in "enduring American interests," "enduring missions for U.S. forces," "enduring American military presence" and "enduring need for large-scale American forces."

Although not discussed much on Fox News, one instance of "Iraq" in the report has caught the attention of a number of observers around the world. Here's the context:

"In the Persian Gulf region, the presence of American forces, along with British and French units, has become a semi-permanent fact of life. Though the immediate mission of those forces is to enforce the no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq, they represent the long-term commitment of the United States and its major allies to a region of vital importance. Indeed, the United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein." (italics added)

The word "peace" appears 35 times, usually as in "American peace," already covered, or in phrases such as "America has a vital role in maintaining peace and security in Europe"; "for the exercise of American leadership around the globe and, ultimately, for the preservation of peace"; "America's global leadership and its role as the guarantor of the current great-power peace"; "the Pentagon must retain forces to preserve the present peace"; and "America's status as a superpower and as the guarantor of liberty, peace and stability."

That a "New American Century" is something to be preserved, rather than established or imposed, is the stroke of genius throughout the report. The word "preserve" occurs 22 times, as in "At present the United States faces no global rival. America's grand strategy should be to preserve and extend this advantageous position as far into the future as possible;" America should seek to preserve and extend its position of global leadership by maintaining the pre-eminence of its military forces;" "The challenge for the coming century is to preserve and enhance this American peace"; even a global Pax Americana will not preserve itself"; "today the task is to preserve an international security environment conducive to American interests and ideals"; the president (Bill Clinton at the time) "must increase military spending to preserve American geopolitical leadership"; "preserve American military preeminence in the coming decades"; and "preserve" America's "technological edge on future battlefields."

The word "freedom" occurs twice, as in "freedom of operations."

Also mentioned only twice in what is subtitled "Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century" is the "United Nations" or "U.N.," as in "the failure of the U.N. mission in the Balkans."

Perhaps it's a coincidence that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Libby and company have followed this script out to its nether reaches. Europe is bitterly divided and eliminated as a "new great-power competitor" that might "challenge the American-led security order." Likewise, the United Nations, meticulously rendered exactly as irrelevant to the New American Century as PNAC attention to it suggested. Meanwhile, Iraq is an "immediate justification" for "a substantial American force presence in the Gulf," for "a more permanent role" there that "transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein," and for expansion of the "American security perimeter."

Crusader Bush's contributions are his position as commander in chief, his "God on my side" simplicity and his appointment of PNAC principals and sympathizers to positions of power and influence on his other side.

Iraq and its neighborhood are "key regions," and a little Rumsfeld "dust-up" to hone America's "revolution in military affairs" will give us that "enduring American military presence" in the Persian Gulf and help "preserve American preeminence through the coming transformation of war made possible by new technologies." And, above all, by control of the oil fields.

The "revolution in military affairs" or "transformation of war made possible by new technologies" is Orwellian for "war by joystick" from a safe distance. Since we can't really see what we're aiming at, now and then we'll do "collateral damage" on newlyweds or a few Canadians, but as long as it's not American boys in the body bags, the president might not have to flee to the Azores again to preempt the protests.

One sticky problem is that the new "American security perimeter" appears to expand off the edge of the earth. Another is that our "new technologies" are no more useful than the old ones in this new world of international terrorism. A third is that the "New American Century" will need more oil even than the old one, and to try to get it with an "enduring American military presence" will recruit new terrorists.

Welcome to the New American Century.

Chuck Gardner is a lawyer in Las Vegas.