Neoconservatives anticipated needing a catastrophic event to justify Gulf war plans

Evidence

In September 2000, the neoconservative think tank Project for the New American Century released a document outlining its foreign policy vision. It called for the United States to use overwhelming military force to take control of the Persian Gulf region, for “maintaining global US preeminence … and [for] shaping the international security order in line with American principles and interests.” This goal, the report went on to add, was going to take some time to be realized “absent some catastrophic event—like a new Pearl Harbor.” On September 11, 2001, such an event did occur—at a time when the neoconservative wing of the foreign policy establishment held powerful positions in the administration of George W. Bush. The crisis of 9/11 positioned the neocons to realize their vision and to project US power on a global scale. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 476

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the well-known 2000 PNAC letter anticipating a ‘new Pearl Harbor’; also echoes the ‘shock doctrine’ argument that crises are seized to realize pre-existing agendas. — connects to: Only overwhelming US military preponderance prevents great power war, neocons held; Post-Vietnam neoconservatives advocated intervention and heavy military spending against liberal restraint.; Neoconservatives had deliberately awaited a catastrophic event to realize their imperial vision — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 375

Broader Connections

• Neoconservatives had deliberately awaited a catastrophic event to realize their imperial vision #corroborates (0.95) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 375