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== History ==
Formed in 1997, [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/iraq/etc/cron.html with roots in the 1992 Pentagon], PNAC's original 25 signitaries were an eclectic mix of academics and [[conservative]] politicians, several of whom have subsequently found positions in the presidential administration of [[George Walker Bush]]. PNAC is noteworthy for its focus on [[Iraq]], a preoccupation that began before Bush became president and predates the [[terrorist]] attacks of [[September 11, 2001]]. In 1998, the group wrote a ([http://www.theindyvoice.com/index.blog?entry_id=417960 letter]) to President [[Bill Clinton]], Mississippi Senator [[Trent Lott]] (then Senate Majority Leader) and [[Newt Gingrich]] (then Speaker of the House of Representatives), demanding a harder line against Iraq. By then, the group had grown in numbers, adding individuals such as former Reagan-era [[U.N.]] Ambassador [[Jeane J. Kirkpatrick]], and long-time Washington cold warrior/pro-Likud [[Richard N. Perle]].
According to [[William Rivers Pitt]], "Two events brought PNAC into the mainstream of American government: the disputed election of George W. Bush and the attacks of September 11th. When Bush assumed the Presidency, the men who created and nurtured the imperial dreams of PNAC became the men who run the Pentagon, the [[Defense Department]] and the White House. When the Towers came down, these men saw, at long last, their chance to turn their White Papers into substantive policy."[http://truthout.org/docs_02/022203A.htm]
