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Every U.S. voter should know about this, but especially this year's voters in Connecticut.

Senators Joe Lieberman (a Connecticut "Democrat") and John McCain (an Arizona "Republican") aren't merely hawkish; they're leading salesmen for war--war that was planned years in advance by neocons and their corporatist allies.

In the fall of 2002, when the administration began its "marketing" campaign to sell the skeptical U.S. public--and skeptical world leaders--on the "need" to attack Iraq, a group of mostly-neoconservative D.C. heavyweights created The Committee for the Liberation of Iraq (CLI) to shape the sales pitch.

The Committee's Chairman was Bruce Jackson. Mr. Jackson, who was Vice President of Lockheed Martin Corporation from 1999-2202, is also a Director of the neocon Project for the New American Century (PNAC). (Signers of PNAC's 1997 founding Statement of Principles include Jeb Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Dan Quayle, and Steve Forbes. Learn more at www.opednews.com/new%20american%20century.htm and at www.newamericancentury.org)

The Committee's Advisory Board was chaired by former Secretary of State George Shultz, of San Francisco-based war contractor Bechtel fame.

The Advisory Board's "Honorary Co-Chairmen" were Joe Lieberman and John McCain.

And what an Advisory Board it was!

Members included Newt Gingrich (who's now busy marketing the Iraq war's pre-planned next phase, affectionately referred to as "World War 3"), James P. Hoffa (the Teamsters' top guy), former Senator Robert Kerrey, Robert Kagan (a founder/Director of the neocon Project for the New American Century, or PNAC--and the former principal speechwriter to Secretary of State George Shultz), William Kristol (Chairman of PNAC, frequent commentator on Fox News, and Editor of the Rupert Murdoch-backed neocon "Weekly Standard" magazine), R. James Woolsey (former CIA head), Danielle Pletka (of the American Enterprise Institute, who's busy, busy, busy these days as an on-air cheerleader for Israel's activities in Lebanon), and Richard Perle (a prominent, PNAC-affiliated neocon, and the lead author of the 1996 "Clean Break" foreign policy paper which urged ISRAEL'S Prime Minister to take military action against Iraq--see below for more on Mr. Perle).

[You can't study the Committee's website, because once the long-sought Iraq war was underway, the website, www.liberationiraq.org, was removed from the Internet.

But the Internet Archive--"the wayback machine"--did preserve some of the Committee's web pages, including the Mission Statement page ( web.archive.org/web/20030211230634/http://www.liberationiraq.org/) and the Advisory Board page ( web.archive.org/web/20030211230634/http://www.liberationiraq.org/) and the Advisory Board page ( link to web.archive.org)]

The CLI's Mission Statement says the Committee will "engage in educational and advocacy efforts to mobilize US and international support for policies aimed at ending the aggression of Saddam Hussein and freeing the Iraqi people from tyranny."

The Washington Post's Peter Slevin offered a different take. In his article "New Group Aims to Drum Up Backing for Ouster," Slevin wrote "At a time when POLLS SUGGEST DECLINING ENTHUSIASM for a U.S.-led military assault on Hussein, top officials will be urging opinion makers to focus on Hussein's actions in response to the United Nations resolution on weapons inspections--and on his past and present failings. THEY AIM TO REGAIN MOMENTUM AND PREPARE THE POLITICAL GROUND FOR HIS FORCIBLE OUSTER, IF NECESSARY." (Washington Post, November 4, 2002)

The Washington Post quote appears in the outstanding 2003 book "Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq" by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber of The Center for Media & Democracy, www.prwatch.org.

The quote is in a chapter titled "War is Sell," in a section titled "The Committee for the Invasion of Iraq."

Rampton and Stauber write: "...CLI was actually a PNAC spin-off, sharing many of the same members...with the American Enterprise Institute...from which PNAC rented its office space. ...The New York Times reported that the 'hawkish' group, 'formed with the White House's tacit approval,' was looking for additional funding for activities that would include 'making contacts with journalists, holding dinner sessions with administration officials and meeting with editorial boards' across the country." (Note that Dick Cheney's wife, Lynne, is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. From 1994 to 2001, she was also a member of the Board of Directors of Lockheed Martin Corporation.)

Rampton and Stauber's book is proof that word travels fast in the Internet age. It was in bookstores in mid-summer, 2003; it references news stories as recent as June or July, 2003; and it documents just how many lies were told--and how carefully orchestrated was the propaganda--in the months before "Shock and Awe" began.

It's essential reading right now, as the same marketing tactics are being used right now to drag the world into ever greater destruction and chaos--whether in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, or even Africa. For example, read about "The Coalition for Democracy in Iran" at rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1457 (a coalition which operated from 2002 to 2005). Then advance your education at www.prwatch.org, www.sourcewatch.org, www.rightweb.irc-online.org, and www.globalresearch.ca

BUT WAIT; THERE'S MORE...

Both Lieberman and McCain were high-profile war cheerleaders long before 2002 and the CLI.

According to Lieberman's current re-election campaign website, "Senator Lieberman served as lead Democratic cosponsor of the 1991 Gulf War Resolution. In 1998, he teamed up with Senator John McCain (R-AZ) to enact the Iraq Liberation Act, which stated that regime change in Iraq was U.S. policy. And in the fall of 2002, Senator Lieberman was a lead sponsor of a resolution authorizing the President to use force, if necessary, to disarm Saddam." (lieberman.senate.gov/issues/security.cfm)

SALESMEN OF THE CENTURY...

Lieberman and McCain and their neocon and corporatist pals got the war they dreamed of.

For more on the master plans for premeditated war--including what "Democrat" General Wesley Clark knows about the plans, and when he knew it, and how other leading Democrats are little more than "stealth neocons"--read "Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Sudan: coldly premeditated neocon wars" at colorado.indymedia.org/newswire/display/14130/index.php

Also read "Neocons Commence World War Three" (written in March, 2006) at kurtnimmo.com/

The "New American Century" may prove to be more than the bloodiest century. It may prove to be the shortest century on record.

And if "war is sell," history may show that Lieberman and McCain were truly "Salesmen of the Century."

WHAT TO DO RIGHT NOW...

If you've had enough of the war and enough of the salesmen, consider volunteering for or donating to Lieberman's challengers in Connecticut--and spreading the word to Connecticut voters and those who may know them! The Connecticut Democratic primary is just DAYS away, and Lieberman's Democratic challenger is Ned Lamont. Lamont is running on a "U.S. out-of-Iraq" platform, along the lines of Congressman Murtha's proposal. Lamont's website is www.nedlamont.com/

(Want even more info on Lieberman? Read up on him at: rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/3357)

As for McCain...it seems like it's time for Arizonans to recall and retire the Senator.

In your own state, please donate to, volunteer for, and VOTE this November for progressive, anti-war Congressional candidates (Democratic, Green, or otherwise) who dare to openly oppose the neocon/corporatist war agenda.

And if you haven't already, get a copy of Rampton and Stauber's book, "Weapons of Mass Deception." It's a quick read. It will wake you up. And it will help you awaken others.

The clock is ticking.
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MORE ON RICHARD PERLE...

Given the current activities in Israel and Lebanon, Mr. Perle deserves special attention.

Perle was the lead author of a 1996 policy paper for the Israeli Prime Minister recommending that ISRAEL preemptively remove Saddam Hussein from power, among other international objectives. This paper, "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm," calls for "reestablishing the principle of preemption, rather than retaliation alone." It calls for "engaging Hizballah, Syria, and Iran, as the principal agents of aggression in Lebanon." It also recommends sweeping pro-privatization, corporatist, and militarist changes in Israel's economy, to help solve the Israeli economy's "large problem" it says was created by 70 years of "Labor Zionism." It recommends ways Israel can market its new policies to the US public and Congress "by tapping into themes of American administrations during the Cold War which apply well to Israel." And it even makes special mention of Newt Gingrich.

You can read the whole paper at www.iasps.org/strat1.htm; following are a few more quotes:

"Syria challenges Israel on Lebanese soil. An effective approach, and one with which American can sympathize, would be if Israel seized the strategic initiative along its northern borders by engaging Hizballah, Syria, and Iran, as the principal agents of aggression in Lebanon..."

"Israel can become self-reliant only by, in a bold stroke rather than in increments, liberalizing its economy, cutting taxes, relegislating a free-processing zone, and selling-off public lands and enterprises — moves which will electrify and find support from a broad bipartisan spectrum of key pro-Israeli Congressional leaders, including Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich."

"To anticipate U.S. reactions and plan ways to manage and constrain those reactions, Prime Minister Netanyahu can formulate the policies and stress themes he favors in language familiar to the Americans by tapping into themes of American administrations during the Cold War which apply well to Israel."