Thursday 9 February 2006

Cheney, Rice Comments Signal PNAC Back On Track

"Hamas Was A Hiccup"; Steered Danish Cartoon Hubris To Capture February Sweeps For Max Exposure

Comments this week, by Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice indicated that The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) has regained its' footing and is back on track with influencing and directing the Bush Administrations foreign policy.

"The Hamas thing was a hiccup," says Harold "Ace" Larson, an analyst for the counterintelligence think tank, 'Book'em and Beat'em'. "It caused alittle dust-up in the White House but Bill (Kristol) and the boys there got things smoothed out."

Larson says that it is "very likely" the PNAC has had a hand in the Danish Cartoon explosion explosion that has rocked the Muslim world.

"It has their fingerprints all over it. Subtle, very subtle," according to Larson. "It's no accident this thing is mushrooming in February, during the network "Sweeps."

Other Washington sources point to the timing of the Danish Cartoons, citing television's excesses in going after bigger ratings.

By pushing the Danish Cartoon problem into February, the PNAC, working with the RNC, could manipulate the media into getting extra, and at times, extraordinary coverage and support for any pending actions. The cable news shows, in particular, could be counted on to provide hours of coverage, and allow the PNAC and RNC to get their talking points on-air.

Yesterday, the Bush Administration openly accused Iran and Syria of fanning the flames of the Danish Cartoon controversy and inciting the violence that has accompanied it.

"I have no doubt that Iran and Syria have gone out of their way to inflame sentiments and have used this for their own purposes," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters yesterday. "The world ought to call them on it."

Earlier this week, Vice President Dick Cheney, in an interview with Jim Leher on the PBS "Newshour" program, said "when you think about a government like Iran that has a history of sponsorship of terrorist organizations ... a nation that is now governed by a man who has talked repeatedly, for example, about the destruction of Israel, that everybody's concerned that if Iran were equipped with nuclear weapons, that would become a major source of instability in that part of the world."

Cheney reiterated that military option "are still on the table"

In regards to Iran's nuclear program, and the enrichment of uranium, Cheney said that "there doesn't seem to be any doubt of what their intentions are."

"This is classic PNAC work," says Larson. "Put it on the stove and let it simmer."

Larson, and other sources, believe the PNAC "will use much of the blueprints that were developed for the Iraqi invasion."

Acknowledging that revisions have been made, a source close to the PNAC said, the new plans for invading Iran and/or Syria do not contain the caveat that U.S.-led forces will be greeted as liberators.

A White House official, who requested to remain anonymous, indicated there is still much debate between the Administration and PNAC on using the Weapons of Mass Destruction card.

"It's worked pretty good for them so far," said the source. "There are questions if using it again will be going to the well once too often."

Likely, the source said, a new, more alarming threat will be manufactured.

"Nuclear weapons is the stand-by, … always a winner … Can't go wrong with that."

Larson also says that last evenings chemical alert and evacuation of the Senate Office Building may have been a "test run" of the new Iran-Syria program.

"They might have thrown a trial balloon out there. Stir things up alittle bit, lay down some cover."

The White House is working closely with the PNAC, and the Lincoln Group, to come up with a catch-phrase for the Iran-Syria program, similar to their use of "Terrorist Surveillance Program", to cover the possible illegal wiretapping conducted by President Bush.

Early contenders include "No Terrorist Country Left Behind" and a more generic "The Iran-Syria Surveillance Program".

It is also rumored that the White House is looking at, very closely, the gambling scandal of the NHL that broke this week. Sources say that the Administration may attempt to "leverage" it in some fashion in their build-up to invading Iran or Syria

"I not sure what they're up to with that, said Larson. 'It might be someone has some slogans about "putting the terrorists on ice" or some such copy they want to use."