The Power Brokers

While US President George W Bush gives the appearance of being an 
ignorant, uneducated and semi-literate idiot, the forces behind him are 
none of these things. They consist of an interlocking group of highly 
organised, well educated, extremely wealthy and sophisticated group of 
individuals and organisations. Bush is their public mouthpiece whose 
appointment to the presidency by the US Supreme Court also put them in 
office. Their policies, which were drafted over the past decade in 
readiness for the Republicans gaining control of the White House, are now 
being implemented by the Bush administration.

Ten years ago, they would have been considered on the fringe — too far to 
the Right to be taken seriously. Now they dictate military and foreign 
policy. Bush shares their highly dangerous and ultra-conservative politics 
and ideology.

This grouping brings together ultra-Right (neo-conservative) Christians, 
equally extremist (pro-Sharon/Likud) Zionists and certain corporate 
interests including weapons manufacturers, oil corporations and a section 
of the media including outlets owned by Murdoch.

In addition to being in government many are members of a group of "think 
tanks" with overlapping memberships.

A number of them are to be found on the Bush administration's Defense 
Policy Advisory Committee Board (DPB). The DPB gives allegedly 
"independent" policy advice to the Secretary of Defence and his deputies. 
Almost all of Board's 30 or so members are from the private business 
sector.

The Center for Pubic Integrity reports that the Board's members have ties 
to leading military corporations such as Boeing, TRW, Northrop Grumman, 
Lockheed Martin and Booz Allen Hamilton and "at least nine have ties to 
companies that have won more than $US76 billion in defense contracts in 
2001 and 2002". Some are registered lobbyists for defense contractors.

In many respects these powerful, privately sponsored institutes have become 
the most listened to advisers to the Government, a role more often 
associated with government departments whose staff are directly employed by 
the State. This is one form of the "privatisation of government" that is 
now taking place in Australia.

Policy-wise these organisations advocate:

* US global domination and control over and exploitation of the world's 
peoples and resources, imposed by military means if necessary;

* US leadership rather than UN leadership and the rejection of 
international treaties where they do not serve the interests of US 
imperialism;

* increased military expenditure, in particular the construction of a 
"national missile defence system" — Star Wars II;

* unilateral intervention by the US anywhere in the world, with or without 
UN support. Where it is not possible to form a coalition under US 
leadership, the US will act alone;

* pre-emptive wars, the first strike use of nuclear weapons and strong 
opposition to arms controls treaties;

* "regime change" in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian 
Authority;

* the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and support for Sharon's 
genocidal policies;

* the rolling back and privatisation of social services such as public 
health and public education;

* support for "free trade", "free markets", the World Bank and World Trade 
Organisation;

It goes without saying, that while preaching freedom and democracy, they 
are rabidly anti-trade union and anti-communist.

The notes below give a brief overview of some of the policy "think tanks", 
their leading figures and their links to government. It is by no means a 
complete picture.

Organisations

AEI — American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is an 
extremely powerful right-wing think tank and policy developer. More than 20 
of its people are working for the Bush administration. It has a budget of 
around US$20 million. It is "dedicated to preserving and strengthening the 
foundations of freedom — limited government, private enterprise, vital 
cultural and political institutions and strong foreign policy and national 
defense". It publishes the American Enterprise magazine and holds regular 
seminars with high ranking speakers from government and military.

Its members include Lynne Cheney (Dick's wife), Thomas Donnelly, Reuel Marc 
Gerecht, Newt Gingrich, Robert Helms, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Irving Kristol, 
Michael Ledeen, Richard Perle, Radek Sikorski.

JINSA — Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs is another powerful 
ultra right-wing "think tank" which publicly declares that "there is no 
Israeli occupation". It has succeeded in its campaign to make Israeli 
"security" a central feature of US foreign policy.

PNAC — Project for a New American Century is a leading neo-conservative 
think-tank advocated "regime change" in Iraq long before Bush came to 
office. Its white paper Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and 
Resources for the New Century was published in September 2000. It is almost 
identical to government policy — even the language used.

Its members include Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Perle, Paul 
Wolfowitz, Bill Kristol, John Bolton and Lewis Libby — all powerful 
operators in directing US foreign and military policy.

Other important institutions include: The Olin Institute for Strategic 
Studies, the Center for Security Policy (CSP), Enterprise America and the 
New Atlantic Initiative (NAI).

The People

Some of those named below may not be household names but they are extremely 
powerful in the Bush administration. Many are to be found in one or another 
or even several of the above "think tanks".

Bolton, John is the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control in the State 
Department. He is a PNAC member and was on the JINSA board of advisers 
prior to joining the Bush administration. He is believed to have been a 
prime architect of the Iraq policy of the US.

Cheney, Dick is the Vice-President to Bush and a leading war-hawk. He is a 
founding member of PNAC and was on JINSA's board of advisers until taking 
office. He was Defence Secretary under Bush Snr and Halliburton chairman, 
whose subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root has secured lucrative contracts 
from the US army. He is a trustee of AEI and has numerous oil links 
including Chevron. His wife Lynne sat on the board of Lockheed Martin which 
makes Cruise missiles.

Donnelly, Thomas is deputy executive director PNAC and principal author of 
Rebuilding America's Defences (PNAC) He is a columnist for The Washington 
Times and executive editor of The National Interest. His articles are also 
published in The Weekly Standard, The Washington Post, Jane's Defence Week 
and he appears on FoxNews. He is a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of 
Defence for Nuclear Forces and Arms Control Policy. He is the director of 
strategic communications and initiatives of the Lockheed Martin Corporation 
(2002).

Feith, Douglas was a JINSA board member before joining the Bush 
administration and is the third highest ranking executive in the Pentagon 
being the Under-Secretary for Policy. He has represented Northrop Grumman, 
a major arms manufacturer, as a lawyer and selects members for the 
government' s Defence Policy Board.

Gerecht, Reuel Marc is a resident fellow of AEI and the director of the 
Middle East Initiative at PNAC and writes for The Wall Street Journal, The 
Weekly Standard, The New Republic, The Washington Post, The New York Times 
and other publications. He was a CIA Middle East specialist and consultant 
on Afghanistan for CBS News

Gingrich, Newt is on the NAI advisory board and a senior fellow of AEI. He 
was Republican Speaker for the US House of Representatives (1995-1999) and 
an analyst for Fox News.

Kirkpatrick, Jeane is on the advisory boards of NAI, JINSA; and the CSP. 
She is a senior fellow of AEI. Her former positions include membership of 
the Defence Policy Review Board and the President's Foreign Intelligence 
Advisory Board, US representative to the United Nations and member of White 
House cabinet.

Kristol, Bill is chairman of PNAC and on the advisory board of NAI. He is 
editor of the Washington-based The Weekly Standard (a Rupert Murdoch 
paper). He appears regularly on television as a leading political analyst 
and helped shape the 1994 Republican Congressional victory. He served as 
chief of staff to Vice-President Dan Quayle.

Ledeen, Michael is a foreign policy expert and former consultant to the 
National Security Council, the State Department and the Defence Department. 
He is a resident scholar of AEI in the Freedom Chair and on the JINSA 
advisory board. His articles include "Syria and Iran Must Get Their Turn".

Libby, I Lewis is a founding member of PNAC and Cheney's Chief of Staff. He 
served in the Defence Department under Bush Snr and sits on the board of 
the Rand Corporation which has lucrative contracts with the Pentagon.

Perle, Richard is a member of PNAC and JINSA's board of advisers. Until 
recently he was chairman of the Pentagon's Defence Policy Advisory Board 
but stood down amidst controversy over his relations with the failed Global 
Crossing corporation. He is a resident fellow of AEI.

He writes for the Wall Street Journal, Daily Telegraph, Washington Post, 
and other papers, and was once a director of the Jerusalem Post. He is 
director of the software company Autonomy Corp and other corporations whose 
clients include the Pentagon and was Assistant Secretary for Defence for 
International Security Policy (1981-1987). He worked as an aid to former 
Israeli PM Benyamin Netanyahu and is a member of the Board of Advisors of 
Foundation for Defense of Democracy (FDD), a pro-Israeli organisation that 
"conducts research and education on international terrorism".

Rosen, Stephen Peter is director of the Olin Institute and a founding 
member of PNAC. He is professor of National Security and Military Affairs 
at Harvard University, an advisor to the CIA and US Department of Defence 
and previously worked in the Department of Defense and the National 
Security Council of the Naval War College.

Rumsfeld, Donald is a founding member of PNAC and a member of the advisory 
board of NAI. He is Bush's Defence Secretary and is credited with planning 
the invasion of Iraq. He also plays a key role in the allocation of 
reconstruction contracts in Iraq and has links with Bechtel (a major 
beneficiary of US wars).

Shultz, George is a patron of AEI and is on the board of directors of 
Bechtel. He is chairman of the International Council of JP Morgan Chase 
that has interests in post-war "investment opportunities" in Iraq. He is a 
member of the Defense Policy Board.

Sikorski, Radek is an executive director of NAI. He comes from Poland were 
he held positions of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (1998-2001), 
Deputy Minister of Defence (1992) and Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the 
Solidarity party (1999-2002). He was News Corp's representative (1989-
1992) and a roving correspondent for National Review (1988-98). He 
became a political refugee in the UK (1981-1989).

Wolfowitz, Paul is a PNAC member and Bush's Deputy Defence Secretary. He is 
an important ideologue in the Bush administration.

Woolsey, James is a member of PNAC and a former CIA director. He is also a 
member of the JINSA board of advisers. His business interests include 
DynCorp, Titan Corporation, British Aerospace, Paladin Capital Group and 
Booz Allen Hamilton — corporations that stand to benefit from US wars.

Notably missing from the list is Secretary for State Colin Powell, who is 
at odds with them over their methods, but not their long term goals.

The positions held by these individuals show that there is an unholy 
alliance between government, corporations, the media and bodies advising 
the government. They are often one and the same persons.