WAS 9-11 THE ‘NEW PEARL HARBOR’?
Writing in Britain’s New Statesman on December 12, 2002, journalist John Pilger described, in disturbing terms, how William Kristol’s Project for the New American Century had determined that America needed a “new Pearl Harbor” as the pretext for launching a bid for global dominance. The theme laid forth by Kristol and his associates was that should such a catastrophic event take place, it would give America the opportunity to once again build up its military forces.
On June 3, 1997—three years before George W. Bush assumed the presidency and installed the neo-conservatives in power—a host of neoconservatives including Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz signed their names to a “statement of principles” issued by Kristol’s organization.
The statement laid forth a goal of building up American military might to ensure that the United States could pursue global hegemony, unfettered by any nation or nations that might dare to resist the agenda of America’s ruling elite—unquestionably a declaration of imperial aims.
A subsequent design—dated September 2000—by Kristol’s Project for the New American Century, entitled “Rebuilding America’s Defenses: Strategies, Forces and Resources for a New Century,” laid forth a plan for the United States to take military control of the Gulf region whether Saddam Hussein was in power or not. It stated frankly that the American need for a presence in the Persian (i.e. Arabian) Gulf transcended the question of whether or not Saddam Hussein remained in power.
In order to fulfill that dream, Kristol and his associates said, the United States must be prepared to be able to do battle in multiple places, at one time, around the globe. To achieve that ability, they declared, America must engage in a major transformation of its military, accompanied by massive arms buildups. However, they concluded, “The process of transformation is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event—like a new Pearl Harbor.”
Given that the tragic events of September 11, 2001 provided precisely the “new Pearl Harbor” that sparked a massive build-up, accompanied by the “war on terrorism” that transformed—through neo-conservative influence—into an imperial war, first targeting Iraq and thence the rest of the Arab and Muslim world, there are many Americans and others who question whether the 9-11 attacks were either instigated and/or sponsored by the United States and/or the government of Israel, acting either together or alone. Such people are denounced as “conspiracy theorists” and/or as “hatemongers”—facts notwithstanding.
(The special report from American Free Press [AFP]—entitled “Fifty Unanswered Questions About 9-11”—contains a wealth of information in this regard that has otherwise, quite notably, gone unmentioned in the mainstream media in America. The work of AFP’s international correspondent, Christopher Bollyn, has been frequently cited as among the most forthright in challenging the official U.S. government scenario as to what happened on that tragic day.)
