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The New American CenturyAfter the collapse of the Soviet Union - the only power capable of challenging American claims to supremacy - it is common to refer to the president of the United States as THE world leader. For the puposes of political agitation it may be convenient to have a single face to point the finger of blame at, but isn't it oversimplistic to assume that one man - the president of the United States - is pulling the strings in the global battle for power? Far from pulling the strings, the president often appears to be little more than a puppet or a mannequin in the shop window of American power. Recent presidents have not been the source of major policy shifts. Those who really determine political policy remain largely out of the public eye behind the scenes. Their identity, their political and religious beliefs, their affiliations with big business never become the focus of prime-time TV news broadcasts or current affairs programmes, most of which are shown on channels that would lose lucrative advertising contracts if their prgrammes implied that the channel had some contentious political agenda. Take the decision to invade Iraq. This was taken ostensibly by president George W. Bush junior, but the decision was part of a carefully devised mission which had been drawn up back in the 1990's, not by Bush but by others. The masterminds included Karl Rove - a fierce, conservative Christian with close ties to the biggest energy companies in America - and Paul Wolfovitz - a Jewish intellectual who is now the head of the World Bank. Both are devoted to achieving raw, unilateral power for the US. When George Bush was governor of Texas, Karl Rove was with him helping with all the major policy proposals and acting effectively as Bush's political manager. As Rove himself said, in 1997 "it dawned on me that he should run for president". It was Rove's idea, and he immediately began secretly planning the campaign. Later, during Bush's presidency, Rove was unquestionably the most powerful policy adviser in the White House. Rove didn't have much to do with foreign policy until the attack on the twin towers on 11 September 2001 when American foreign policy gained a new sense of urgency. The policy, though, had already been drafted back in 1992 by Wolfowitz. The text, entitled "Defence Planning Guidance", called for American forces to establish and protect a new world order in which American authority would remain unchallenged. The US, it said, must be sure of 'deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role' - including Germany and Japan. It contemplated the use of nuclear, biological and chemical weaponry 'even in conflicts that do not directly engage US interests'. Nuclear, biological and chemical weapons were not to be limited to defensive counter-attacks but could also be used without hostile provocation by another country. This later became known as the project for the New American Century. At the time, it was accepted that the American public would not then support an aggressive foreign policy which would involve sweeping aside the claims of institutions like the United Nations. Towards the end of the 1990's members of the group around Wolfowitz came to the conclusion that what was needed to get the ball rolling was 'some catastrophic and catalysing event, like a new Pearl Harbor'. Unwittingly Osama Bin Landen played right into the hands of these people by sparking a huge change in American public opinion and providing a perfect justification for launching the new foreign policy. The first in the firing line was the Islamic world with all its anti-American sentiment and its disturbing hold on so much of the world's oil supplies. It would have to feel the might of American military supremacy and learn its lesson. At a graduation speech to the Military Academy at West Point, Bush affirmed the Wolfowitz doctrine as official policy. 'America has, and intends to keep,' he said, 'military strengths beyond challenge.'
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