William Kristol
Project for the New American Century
Sun Sep 15 16:32:48 2002
208.152.73.165

Project for the New American Century
http://www.nationalreview.com/document/document092101b.shtml

Toward a Comprehensive Strategy
A letter to the president.

By William Kristol & others

Project for the New American Century
1150 17th St NW
Suite 510
Washington, DC 20037

September 20, 2001

The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States
Washington, DC

ear Mr. President,

We write to endorse your admirable commitment to "lead the
world to victory" in the war against terrorism. We fully
support your call for "a broad and sustained campaign"
against the "terrorist organizations and those who harbor and
support them." We agree with Secretary of State Powell that
the United States must find and punish the perpetrators of the
horrific attack of September 11, and we must, as he said, "go
after terrorism wherever we find it in the world" and "get it by
its branch and root." We agree with the Secretary of State
that U.S. policy must aim not only at finding the people
responsible for this incident, but must also target those "other
groups out there that mean us no good" and "that have
conducted attacks previously against U.S. personnel, U.S.
interests and our allies."

In order to carry out this "first war of the 21st century"
successfully, and in order, as you have said, to do future
"generations a favor by coming together and whipping
terrorism," we believe the following steps are necessary parts
of a comprehensive strategy.

Osama bin Laden
We agree that a key goal, but by no means the only goal, of
the current war on terrorism should be to capture or kill
Osama bin Laden, and to destroy his network of associates.
To this end, we support the necessary military action in
Afghanistan and the provision of substantial financial and
military assistance to the anti-Taliban forces in that country.

Iraq
We agree with Secretary of State Powell's recent statement
that Saddam Hussein "is one of the leading terrorists on the
face of the Earth…." It may be that the Iraqi government
provided assistance in some form to the recent attack on the
United States. But even if evidence does not link Iraq directly
to the attack, any strategy aiming at the eradication of
terrorism and its sponsors must include a determined effort to
remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq. Failure to
undertake such an effort will constitute an early and perhaps
decisive surrender in the war on international terrorism. The
United States must therefore provide full military and financial
support to the Iraqi opposition. American military force
should be used to provide a "safe zone" in Iraq from which
the opposition can operate. And American forces must be
prepared to back up our commitment to the Iraqi opposition
by all necessary means.

Hezbollah
Hezbollah is one of the leading terrorist organizations in the
world. It is suspected of having been involved in the 1998
bombings of the American embassies in Africa, and
implicated in the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in
Beirut in 1983. Hezbollah clearly falls in the category cited by
Secretary Powell of groups "that mean us no good" and "that
have conducted attacks previously against U.S. personnel,
U.S. interests and our allies." Therefore, any war against
terrorism must target Hezbollah. We believe the
administration should demand that Iran and Syria immediately
cease all military, financial, and political support for Hezbollah
and its operations. Should Iran and Syria refuse to comply,
the administration should consider appropriate measures of
retaliation against these known state sponsors of terrorism.

Israel and the Palestinian Authority
Israel has been and remains America's staunchest ally against
international terrorism, especially in the Middle East. The
United States should fully support our fellow democracy in its
fight against terrorism. We should insist that the Palestinian
Authority put a stop to terrorism emanating from territories
under its control and imprison those planning terrorist attacks
against Israel. Until the Palestinian Authority moves against
terror, the United States should provide it no further
assistance.

U.S. Defense Budget
A serious and victorious war on terrorism will require a large
increase in defense spending. Fighting this war may well
require the United States to engage a well-armed foe, and
will also require that we remain capable of defending our
interests elsewhere in the world. We urge that there be no
hesitation in requesting whatever funds for defense are
needed to allow us to win this war.

There is, of course, much more that will have to be done.
Diplomatic efforts will be required to enlist other nations' aid
in this war on terrorism. Economic and financial tools at our
disposal will have to be used. There are other actions of a
military nature that may well be needed. However, in our
judgement the steps outlined above constitute the minimum
necessary if this war is to be fought effectively and brought to
a successful conclusion. Our purpose in writing is to assure
you of our support as you do what must be done to lead the
nation to victory in this fight.

Sincerely,
William Kristol
Gary Bauer
Jeffrey Bell
William J. Bennett
Jeffrey Bergner
Eliot Cohen
Seth Cropsey
Midge Decter
Thomas Donnelly
Aaron Friedberg
Hillel Fradkin
Francis Fukuyama
Frank Gaffney
Jeffrey Gedmin
Reuel Marc Gerecht
Charles Hill
Bruce P. Jackson
Eli S. Jacobs
Michael Joyce
Donald Kagan
Robert Kagan
Jeane Kirkpatrick
Charles Krauthammer
John Lehman
Clifford May
Richard Perle
Martin Peretz
Norman Podhoretz
Randy Scheunemann
Gary Schmitt
William Schneider, Jr.
Richard H. Shultz
Henry Sokolski
Stephen J. Solarz
Vin Weber
Leon Wieseltier
Marshall Wittmann

Published national Review Online
http://www.nationalreview.com/

• what has changed?

  — tekton, Sun Sep 15 17:25
• you have to feel sorry for them and future low-IQ morons.. — Dick Eastman, Sun Sep 15 21:02