PNAC's plans.

John F. McManus' article "Debunking Bush's Reason for War" in the October 16 issue was right on, except for a very important part that he left out about PNAC (The Project for The New American Century) and their September 2000 document Rebuilding America's Defense. That document provides another very key piece of evidence as to what the neo-conservatives future plans were with regard to our nation as well as the war in Iraq.

On pages 50-51 of that document, on a page entitled "Creating Tomorrow's Dominant Force," Cheney, Rumsfeld, Kristol, Jeb Bush, et al., speak about their desire to "preserve America's military pre-eminence in the coming decades." They also say "the Department of Defense must move more aggressively to experiment with new technologies and operation concepts." Then in a very telling statement they give an ominous warning: "the process of transformation [to modernize the military and to become more dominant in the world], even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event like a new Pearl Harbor. Domestic politics [hint: the need to "protect" Americans] and industrial policy [hint: give more corporate welfare, i.e., Halliburton] will shape the pace and content of the transformation as much as the requirements of current missions."

Conveniently, one year later, they got their "new Pearl Harbor" on 9/11. Imagine that! This group of powerful policy directors, which happened to make up the new presidential administration, got exactly what they needed to put their plan into play. The plan of taking control of society and the world, having an excuse to start a perpetual "War on Terror," starting the doctrine of pre-emptive war which would include Iraq and eventually Iran, and dismantling the Constitution and Bill of Rights through the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act--not to mention focusing on modernizing our military--just a coincidence? I think not!

MARK HUDSON

Syracuse, Utah