Neoconservatives had deliberately awaited a catastrophic event to realize their imperial vision

Evidence

In September 2000, the neoconservative think tank Project for a 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 and for “maintaining global US preeminence … and 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 George W. Bush presidency. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 375

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Grosfoguel’s framing of the ‘War on Terror’ as opportunistic — an imperial agenda awaiting a pretext that 9/11 supplied. — connects to: Neoconservatism is defined by unipolarism and military preponderance — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 379; Imperial power produces ignorance through acts of refusal to notice; Neoconservatives anticipated needing a catastrophic event to justify Gulf war plans — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 476 (+1 more)
• SEED: Angle: the PNAC ‘new Pearl Harbor’ line as evidence that 9/11 was treated as a gift, not a shock, by the imperial faction — a case study in manufactured pretext.

Broader Connections

• Neoconservatism is defined by unipolarism and military preponderance #expands (0.55) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 379
• Imperial power produces ignorance through acts of refusal to notice #complicates (0.30)