Cold War hawks are resurrecting a decades-old group to lobby for a harder line against terrorist organizations and rogue states.
The Committee on the Present Danger (CPD), a coalition of foreign- and defense-policy experts originally organized in 1950 and re-formed in 1976, will soon undergo its third incarnation under the leadership of Peter Hannaford, a communications consultant and adviser to President Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaigns.
Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) will serve as one of the committee’s honorary co-chairmen, and addressed a conference on Iraq that the committee co-sponsored two weeks ago. Former Director of Central Intelligence James Woolsey will also be a member.
...
Jeane Kirkpatrick, who was Reagan’s ambassador to the United Nations and who was also a member of the 1976 committee, said that the CPD’s mission would become clearer “as events develop over the next months. Unfortunately, I think a significant number of those events are likely to concern terrorism. But they will also concern democracy-building.”
Kampelman added, “I think the country is in present danger today...We’ve got to come up with a bipartisan program to do something about influencing public opinion in the rest of the world. It’s an unfortunate reality today that America does not look good in the eyes of many people…a total inadequacy on the part of
administration.”
...
Gary Schmitt, executive director of the Project for the New American Century, a neoconservative think-tank whose stated mission is to “promote American global leadership,” was unaware of the CPD’s reincarnation but said, “Certainly it would help put pressure on any administration to make sure they are thoughtful about carrying out what they say they are going to do and maintain public support in times of difficulty.”
http://thehill.com/news/063004/coldwar.aspx
No good will come of this.