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==G. William Domhoff (1967) Who rules America?, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. p.71.==
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The '''Council on Foreign Relations''' (CFR) is an American foreign policy [[think tank]] based in New York City. It describes itself as being "dedicated to increasing America's understanding of the world and contributing ideas to U.S. foreign policy," and accomplishes this mainly by promoting constructive, closed debates and discussions, clarifying world issues through research and analysis, and publishing the noted journal ''[[Foreign Affairs]]'' and related content online.
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The story begins with the oldest and perhaps most influential of the groups, the Council on Foreign Relations, which was founded in 1921 but was of little consequence until the late 1920’s, when it began to receive considerable financial support from various [[Rockefeller Foundation]] and [[Carnegie Corporation]]. Members of the council were deeply involved in State Department affairs during World War II, and such upper-class members of the CFR as Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius, [[John Foster Dulles]], [[John J. McCloy]], [[Nelson A. Rockefeller]], [[Adlai Stevenson]], and [[Thomas Finletter]] were members of the United States delegation to the organizational meeting of the United Nations. For our purposes, the important points concerning the CFR are its membership, its financing, and its activities. The membership is restricted to 700 resident members — citizens whose residences or places of business are within 50 miles of the New York city hall — and 700 nonresident members. As Smoot points out, most members occupy im¬portant positions in business, finance, communications, and education. Our study of a sample of 210 resident members of the CFR shows that 82 were listed in the Social Register, which is 39 per cent upper-class membership by this one criterion alone. However, even more significant is our study of the 51 men who have been directors since the council’s inception. Ten of the 51 are currently trustees of one of the foundations studied in the previous section. Of the 22 recently or currently directors, 14 are in the Social Register. Among the better-known upper-class directors, past and present, are [[Paul Cravath]], [[Norman Davis]], [[Arthur H. Dean]], [[Allen Dulles]], [[Lewis Douglas]], [[Averell Harriman]], Devereux Josephs, [[Walter Lippmann]], [[Adlai Stevenson]], [[Myron Taylor]], [[Paul Warburg]], and [[Owen D. Young]]. Perhaps it is enough to say that [[John J. McCloy]] and [[David Rockefeller]] have been high officers in the association in recent years.
 
  
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If the membership and leadership of the council do not belie its upper-class base, perhaps its financing does. Of its $925,000 income in a recent year, $231,700 came from foundation grants and $112,000 from its “corporation service,� which entails a minimum fee of $1000.(Smoot, 1962, pp. 14-16) The contributing corporations are among the biggest in the country, including several of those studied in Chapter 2. The CFR also receives a considerable sum, $210,300, from the publication of one of its major activities, the very influential magazine [[Foreign Affairs]]. Other important activities of the council include the presentation of speakers and seminars to subscribers to the corporation service and to the Committees on Foreign Relations which the council has created in 30 cities. The committees are composed of 40 to 80 men who are leaders in their city. The groups usually include professors, public relations executives, lawyers, and corporate vice-presidents as well as several of the leading members of the American business aristocracy in the given city:
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==History==
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The earliest origin of the Council stemmed from a working fellowship of about 150 scholars, called "[[The Inquiry]]", tasked to brief President [[Woodrow Wilson]] about options for the postwar world following Germany's defeat.<ref name="Inquiry">{{cite web |url=http://www.cfr.org/about/history/cfr/inquiry.html |title=The Inquiry |work=History of CFR |publisher=Council on Foreign Relations |accessdate=2007-02-24}}</ref> Through 1917–1918, this group, including Wilson's closest adviser and long-time friend "Colonel" [[Edward M. House]], as well as [[Walter Lippmann]], gathered at 155th Street and Broadway at the [[Harold Pratt House]] in New York City, to assemble a strategy for the postwar world. The team produced more than 2,000 documents detailing and analyzing the political, economic, and social facts globally that would be helpful for Wilson in the peace negotiations. Their reports formed the basis for the [[Fourteen Points]], which outlined Wilson's strategy for peace after war's end.<ref name="14_points">{{cite web |first=Woodrow |last=Wilson |url=http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=62 |title=President Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points (1918) |work=Our Documents}}</ref>
  
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:About once a month, from October through May, members come together for dinner and an evening of discussion with a guest speaker of special competence……. Since the beginning in 1938, the Carnegie Corporation of New York has continued to make annual grants in support of the committee program.(Smoot, 1962, p. 21; Smoot is quoting from a booklet entitled "Committees on Foreign Relations: Directory of Members" January 1961).
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Members of the group accompanied Wilson at the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919]].  The Council on Foreign Relations, as well as the [[Royal Institute of International Affairs]] in London, came about as a result of a meeting on May 30 1919, at the [[Hotel Majestic]] in Paris.  Some of the fifty participants were [[Edward M. House]], [[Harold Temperley]], [[Lionel Curtis]], [[Eustace Percy, 1st Baron Percy of Newcastle|Lord Eustace Percy]], [[Herbert Hoover]], [[Christian Herter]], [[Paul Warburg]], and American academic historians [[James T. Shotwell|James Thomson Shotwell]] of [[Columbia University]], [[Archibald Coolidge]] of [[Harvard University|Harvard]] and [[Charles Seymour]] of [[Yale University|Yale]].
  
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In the light of the upper-class status of 12 of the 14 trustees of the [[Carnegie Corporation]], there can be little doubt that these committees are a key link between the more liberal members of the Eastern branch of the upper class and people of high status and a similar viewpoint in other areas of the country.
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Formally established in 1921, it is one of the most powerful private organizations with influence on [[foreign relations of the United States|U.S. foreign policy]].  It has about 4,000 members, including former national security officers, professors, former [[CIA]] members, elected politicians, and media figures.  The CFR is not a formal institution within U.S. policy making.
  
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The relationship between the major foundations and the CFR has been documented by Smoot. For example, 10 of the 14 trustees of the Carnegie Corporation were members of the CFR in 1961. The overlap of the CFR with other major foundations is as follows: 10 of the [[Ford Foundation]]’s 15 trustees are also members of the CFR; 12 of the 20 from the [[Rockefeller Foundation]]; 18 of the 26 from the [[Carnegie Endowment]] for International Peace; 15 of the 26 from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; 12 of the 16 from the Sloan Foundation; 6 of the 10 from the Commonwealth Fund; 13 of the 20 from the [[Twentieth Century Fund]]; and 7 of the 18 from the Fund for the Republic.’(Smoot, 1962, pp.168-171)
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In 1944, [[Harold I. Pratt]]'s widow donated the family's four-storey mansion on the corner of 68th Street and Park Avenue and this became the CFR's new headquarters, Harold Pratt House, where it has remained to the present.
  
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==History and role==
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==Elite foreign policy think tank==
  
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===An Excerpt from William Domhoff, (1971) The Higher Circles: the governing class in America, New York: vintage, p112-23.===
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==Fostering elite consent for the invasion of Iraq==
  
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:To give empirical flesh to these generalizations, there is no better starting point than the '''Council on Foreign Relations''' (CFR). It is the key middle term, so to speak, between the large corporations on the one hand and the federal government on the other. By studying its connections in both directions, it is possible to establish the first link we are looking for in showing the specific mechanisms by which the power elite formulate and transfer their wishes into government policy. While it would be hard to under-estimate the importance of this organization in understanding the overall framework for American foreign policy, I do not want to overemphasize it, and we will see that there are other links between big business and big-government.
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Laurence Shoup identified connections between the Council on Foreign relations and arguments supporting the invasion of Iraq:
  
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:The Council on Foreign Relations is a nonpartisan research and discussion group dedicated to informing citizens about world affairs and creating an interest in international relations. Despite its reputed prominence and the fact that it was founded in 1921, most information on it comes from its own publications: a fifteen-year history, a twenty-five-year history and annual reports. One of the few who has written on it, Washington journalist [[Joseph Kraft]], noted in 1958 that it was mentioned only five times in Time magazine in the period 1953-1958.’(Joseph Kraft, “School for Statesmen� (Harper’s Magazine, July,1958), p. 64.) We can go one step further and say that there never has been any research paper on it in any scholarly journal indexed in the Social Science and Humanities Index. While this may suggest it is not very important, there are several ways to establish its crucial role, including testimony by journalists and scholars, the acknowledged preeminence of its journal ([[Foreign Affairs]]), the nature of its financial backing, the composition of its leadership and membership, and the presence of its members in federal government positions.
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:"The "Next Stop Baghdad?" article by [[Kenneth M. Pollack]] appeared in the March/April 2002 issue of [[Foreign Affairs]]. At the time of writing the article Pollack was the Council on Foreign Relations' Olin Senior Fellow and Director of National Security Studies. An expanded version of the "Next Stop Baghdad?" article was published in October 2002 by Random House as a Council on Foreign Relations book entitled "The Threatening Storm". A review of the book in the November/December issue of Foreign Affairs called it "...exceptionally thoughtful. If any book can shape the current thinking on Iraq, this one will assuredly be it." Pollack's blunt conclusion in both the article and book is, "The United States should invade Iraq, eliminate the present regime, and pave the way for a successor..."<ref>Laurence H. Shoup, [http://www.zmag.org/zmag/viewArticle/14053 Behind the Bipartisan Drive Toward War The Council on Foreign Relations and the U.S. Invasion of Iraq], ''Z Magazine'', March 2003, Accessed 10-September-2009</ref>.
  
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:To begin with expert testimony, CFR was called by Kraft a “school for statesmen [which] comes close to being an organ of what C. Wright Mills has called the Power Elite - a group of men, similar in interest and outlook, shaping events from invulnerable positions behind the scenes.â€?(Joseph Kraft, “School for Statesmenâ€? (Harper’s Magazine, July,1958), p. 64, 68).  [[Douglass Cater]], a journalist from Exeter and Harvard who served on the staff of President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], has noted that “a diligent scholar would do well to delve into the role of the purely unofficial Council on Foreign Relations in the care and breeding of an incipient American Establishment.â€?(Douglass Cater, Power in Washington (New York: Random House, 1964), p. 247.) The New York Times calls it “a testing ground for new ideas, with enough political and financial power to bring the ideas to the attention of the policy makers in Washington.â€?(“Experts on Policy Looking to Youthâ€? (The New York Times, May 15, 1966), p. 34.) Political scientist Lester Milbrath notes that “The Council on Foreign Relations, while not financed by government, works so closely with it that it is difficult to distinguish Council actions stimulated by government from autonomous actions.â€?(Lester Milbrath, “Interest Groups and Foreign Policyâ€? in James N. Rosenau, ed., Domestic Sources of Foreign Policy (New York: Free Press, 1967), p. 247.)
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In a December 2002 interview, Council member [[Rachel Bronson]], who is the CFR's Director of Middle East Studies and an Olin Senior Fellow, made the following pro-war comments:  
  
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:Empirically speaking, such reputational testimony is the least important of our evidence. Far more important is CFR’s financing and leadership. Aside from membership dues, dividends from invested gifts and bequests, and profits from the sale of Foreign Affairs, the most important sources of income are leading corporations and major foundations. In 1957-58, for example, [[Chase Manhattan]], [[Continental Can]], [[Ford Motor]], [[Bankers Trust]], [[Cities Service]], [[Gulf]], [[Otis Elevator]], [[General Motors]] Overseas Operations, Brown Brothers, Harriman, and International General Electric were paying from $i,ooo to $io,ooo per year for the corporation service, depending upon the size of the company and its interest in international affairs. (The benefits of subscribing to this corporation service are as follows: free consultation with all members of the CFR staff, subscriptions to [[Foreign Affairs]] for leading officers of the corporation, the use of the Council’s excellent library which is second to none in its field, and the right to nominate one “promising young executive� to participate in seminars which the Council conducts each fall and spring for the benefit of the corporations.)(Annual Report of the Council on Foreign Relations, 1957—58.) More generally, in 1960-61, eighty-four large corporations and financial institutions contributed 12% ($i 12,200) of CFRs total income. As to the foundations, the major contributors over the years have been the Rockefeller Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation, with the Ford Foundation joining in with a large grant in the 1950’s. According to Kraft, a $2.5 million grant in the early i 0’s from the Ford, Rockefeller, and Carnegie foundations made the Council “the most important single private agency conducting research in foreign affairs.�(Kraft, op. cit., p. 68.) In 1960-61, foundation money accounted for 25% of CFR income.
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:"...in my mind, in a war of our choosing, we should choose the most advantageous period for fighting and the summer is not that. I am more optimistic now than I was earlier because the inspectors got in early. That completely changes the calculus.... The chances for a military action are probably about 75 percent. There's about a ten percent chance of a coup, and a fifteen percent chance that Washington still doesn't get the diplomacy right and an attack gets pushed off to the fall".  
  
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:The foundations which support the CFR are in turn directed by men from Bechtel Construction, Chase Manhattan, Cummins Engine, Corning Glass, Kimberly-Clark, Monsanto Chemical, and dozens of other corporations. Further, to complete the circle, most foundation directors are members of CFR. In the early 1960’s, Dan Smoot found that twelve of twenty Rockefeller Foundation trustees, ten of fifteen Ford Foundation trustees, and ten of fourteen Carnegie Corporation trustees were members of CFR.(Dan Smoot, The Invisible Government (Dallas: The Dan Smoot Re¬port, 1962), pp. 168-71.) Nor is this interlock of recent origin. In 1922, for example, former ‘Secretary of State Elihu Root, a corporation lawyer; was honorary CFR president as well as president of the Carnegie Corporation, while John W. Davis, the corporation lawyer who ran for President on the Democratic ticket in 1924, was a trustee of both the Carnegie Corporation and CFR.
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:"Q. That's been your view all along? Not only that war is inevitable, but that we should launch it?"
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:"A. Yes. It is strategically sound and morally just. The Middle East is a strategic region for us. It is where oil does play into all this.... It is about stability in the region. Saddam has been very destabilizing.... Strategically trying to get rid of one of the most destabilizing forces in the Middle East is a good idea. But the moral aspect doesn't get as much play as it should.... When Secretary Albright said it was not us causing the suffering of the Iraqi people, but Saddam, technically she was right. And everyone in the region agreed; but what they couldn't understand was why we pursued a policy knowing that Saddam would use it to his advantage to torture his people. We were complicit. We have to get rid of this monster. He is our Frankenstein."<ref>Cited in Laurence H. Shoup, [http://www.zmag.org/zmag/viewArticle/14053 Behind the Bipartisan Drive Toward War The Council on Foreign Relations and the U.S. Invasion of Iraq], ''Z Magazine'', March 2003, Accessed 10-September-2009</ref>.
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Another prominent CFR member who spoke out in favour of the war was [[Lawrence J. Korb]]. Korb made the following comments in an interview.
  
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:A consideration of the leadership and membership of CER is equally conclusive in establishing its relationship tothe power elite. Its founders included two lawyers and two bankers from Wall Street. The single permanent official of CFR at its outset, Hamilton Fish Armstrong, and the first editor of Foreign Affairs, Archibald Coolidge, were both from well-known, upper-class families. Indeed, Hamiltons, Fishes and Armstrongs have been involved in American foreign policy since the beginnirigs of the Republic. Nor has anything changed since the early 1920’s, with fourteen of the twenty-two recent or current directors as of the early 1960’s being listed in the Social Register. Among the most prominent of the recent directors highly visible in the corporate elite are [[Frank Altschul]], [[Elliott V. Bell]], [[Thomas K. Finletter]] (one-time Secretary of the Air Force), [[Devereaux C. Josephs]], [[John J. Mc Cloy]], [[David Rockefeller]] and [[Adlai B. Stevenson]].
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:"Q. Everyone remembers the allied land invasion in 1991 to liberate Kuwait that lasted three days. What kind of military action will we have this time? Will it also be a quick one?
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:"A. I think if there is a military action and it occurs during the winter and you get support from countries in the region it will be over in less than a month. What you will have this time is simultaneous air and ground operations....
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:"Q. Can the United States afford this? How much will this cost?
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:"A. If you talk about cost, you have the incremental cost of the operation. We have a $400 billion annual defense budget. You won't have to buy much new equipment. For a one month war, counting the buildup underway, you are talking about an incremental cost of about $50 billion.... The Persian Gulf campaign in today's dollars cost $80 billion.
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:"Q. That was essentially paid by the Saudis, right?
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:"A. The last war was actually paid for by the Saudis, the Germans, and the Japanese. We actually made a profit on that war.... What we did after the war was over was make the books come out even... we actually collected more than we actually spent"<ref>Cited in Laurence H. Shoup, [http://www.zmag.org/zmag/viewArticle/14053 Behind the Bipartisan Drive Toward War The Council on Foreign Relations and the U.S. Invasion of Iraq], ''Z Magazine'', March 2003, Accessed 10-September-2009</ref>.
  
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:The CFR limits itself to 700 New York area residents and 700 non-New York residents (no women or foreigners are allowed to join). As of the mid-sixties, 46% of the resident members and 49 % of the non-resident members, most of whom are big businessmen and lawyers, were listed in the Social Register.(John F. Whitney, Jr., “The Council on Foreign Relations, Inc.� (Un¬published research paper, Texas A and I University, January, 1968).) The Council’s only other formal associates are the Committees on Foreign Relations that have been formed in about thirty cities across the country. These committees come together at dinners and other occasions to hear speakers (mostly supplied by CFR) and exchange ideas. This committee program has been financed since 1938 by the Carnegie - Corporation.(Smoot, op. cit., p. 21.) We were able to locate information on 509 committee members from twenty-nine cities ranging in size and importance from Philadelphia, Detroit and Atlanta to Albuquerque, Boise and Little Rock. A significant minority of those studied (41 %) were corporate executives and bankers. Twenty-one percent were lawyers, almost half of whom (44%) were also corporate directors. Thus, a small majonty (51%) were directly involved in business enterprises. Another significant group consisted of educators (22 %), most of whom were college presidents, political scientists, economists, and deans. Seven percent of those studied were editors or publishers, with the remainder being small numbers of government officials, politicians, church lead¬ers, physicians, accountants and museum directors.
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==2002 Planning for Iraq's Oil==
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Turning to the all-important question of government involvement, the presence of CFR members in government has been attested to by Kraft, Cater, Smoot, CFR histories and The New York Times, but the point is made most authoritatively by John J. McCloy, Wall Street lawyer, former chairman of [[Chase Manhattan]], trustee of the [[Ford Foundation]], director of CFR and a government appointee in a variety of roles since the early 1940’s: “Whenever we needed a man,� said McCloy in explaining the presence of CFR members in the modem defense establishment that fought World War II, “we thumbed through the roll of council members and put through a call to New York.�(Kraft, op. cit., p. 67.) According to Kraft, “When John McCloy went to Bonn as US High Commissioner, he took with him a staff composed almost exclusively of men who had interested themselves in German affairs at the Council.�(Ibid.., p. 68.) CFR members also were prominent in the US delegation to the founding of the United Nations, and several dozen have held high posts in postwar administrations. One Annual Report spoke as follows in an obituary notice:
 
  
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:[[John Foster Dulles]] was a member of the Council almost from the start. He wrote an article on “The Allieri Debts� for the first issue of Foreign Affairs and six more articles thereafter, including two while Secretary of State. He participated in numerous study and discussion groups over the years and ‘spoke often at Council afternoon meetings an dinners, twice as Secretary of State.(Annual Report of the Council on Foreign Relations, 1958—59, p. 4.)
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According to Laurence H. Shoup:
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:"In mid-2002 the CFR, together with the [[James A. Baker]] III Institute for Public Policy of Rice University, established a 23 member planning group to formulate the U.S. war aims and the political and economic rules for a post-war Iraq. One of the project directors was [[Rachel Bronson]] and members included [[Kenneth Pollack]], as well as corporate leaders ([[Boeing]], [[PFC Energy]]), university professors (Princeton, Yale, Vermont) a Naval War College professor, a Senate on Foreign Relations staffer, and representatives from the Cambridge Energy Research Associates, the Brookings Institution, the James Baker III Institute for Public Policy, and nine staffers from the CFR. A report, Guiding Principles for U.S. Post -Conflict Policy in Iraq, was produced by the Council in late 2002"<ref>Laurence H. Shoup, [http://www.zmag.org/zmag/viewArticle/14053 Behind the Bipartisan Drive Toward War
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The Council on Foreign Relations and the U.S. Invasion of Iraq], ''Z Magazine'', March 2003, Accessed 10-September-2009</ref>.
  
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:[[Theodore White]], in recounting how Lyndon Johnson won the Presidency in 1964, wrote as follows about the relationship of the Council to government:
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:"The body of the report has a section called "The Lure of Oil: Realities and Constraints," as well as an addendum called "Oil and Iraq: Opportunities and Challenges," which is almost as long as all of the rest of the report text. In the sections focusing on oil, lip service is given to Iraq's control of its own oil, while, in fact, the report argues that national control of Iraqi oil must be scrapped and an "economy based on free market principles" and a "level playing field for all international players to participate" be created. The report goes on to point out: "Paragraph 30 of UNSCR 1284 already authorizes the UN secretary-general to investigate ways that oil companies could be allowed to invest in Iraq. Thus, the legal basis for the UN to authorize and oversee foreign investment...already exists."
  
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:Its roster of members has for a generation, under Republican and Democratic administrations ‘alike, been the chief recruit¬ing ground for Cabinet-level officials in Washington. Among the first eighty-two names on a list prepared for John F. Kennedy for staffing his State Department, at least sixty-three were members of the Council, Republicans and Democrats alike. When, finally, he made his appointments, both his Secretary of State (Rusk, Democrat) and Treasury (Dillon, Republican) were chosen from Council members; so were seven assistant and undersecretaries of State, four senior members of Defense, . . . as well as two members of the White House staff (Schlesinger, Democrat; Bundy, Republican) (Theodore H. White, The Making of the President 1964 (New York: Atheneum Publishers, 1965), pp. 67-8.)
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:"The report also makes clear that the Iraqi oil contracts that French and Russian companies now have will be challenged: "Finally, the legality of post- sanctions contracts awarded in recent years will have to be evaluated. Prolonged legal conflicts over contracts could delay the development of important fields in Iraq.... It may be advisable to pre-establish a legitimate (preferably UN mandated) legal framework for vetting pre-hostility exploration agreements."<ref>Laurence H. Shoup, [http://www.zmag.org/zmag/viewArticle/14053 Behind the Bipartisan Drive Toward War The Council on Foreign Relations and the U.S. Invasion of Iraq], ''Z Magazine'', March 2003, Accessed 10-September-2009</ref>
  
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:Now that we have located the CFR in sociological space as. an institution controlled by members of the upper class, we are in a position to see what it does and how effective it is in shaping foreign policy. As to what the CFR does, in addition to serving as a talent pool and training ground for government service, it is a tax-exempt, non-partisan organization which sponsors education, discussion and research on all aspects of foreign affairs. As part of its educational effort, it brings before its exclusive membership leading scholars and government officials from all nations to make off-the-record speeches and to answer questions from the members. And, as Kraft notes, this not only educates the members, it gives them a chance to size up important leaders with whom they will have to deal.15 Also under the heading of education, CFR publishes Foreign Affairs, by far the most important journal in its field, and three annual surveys: Political Handbook of the World, The United States in World Affairs, and Documents on American Foreign Relations.
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==CFR and the US 'ruling class'==
  
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Despite the importance of speeches and publications, I think the most important aspects of the CFR program are its special discussion groups and study groups. These small groups of about twenty-five bring together businessmen, government officials, military men and scholars for detailed discussions of specific topics in the area of foreign affairs. Discussion groups explore problems in a general way, trying to define issues and alternatives. Such groups often lead to a study group as the next stage. Study groups revolve around the work of a Council research fellow (financed by Carnegie, Ford and Rockefeller) or a staff member. This group leader usually presents monthly papers, which are discussed and criticized by the rest of the group. The goal of such study groups is a detailed statement of the problem by the scholar leading the discussion. In 1957-58, for example, the Council published six books which grew out of study groups. Perhaps the most famous of these was written by Henry Kissinger, a bright young McGeorge Bundy protégé at Harvard who was asked by the CFR to head a study group. His Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy was “‘a best seller which has been closely read in the highest Administration circles and foreign offices abroad.�’6 As 40 his study group, it included “two former chairmen of the Atomic Energy Commission, a Nobel Prize winner in physics, two former civilian secretaries in the Defense Department and representatives just below the highest level from the State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency the three armed services.�17 When economist Percy of the CFR staff led a discussion on foreign tariff, issue that will be discussed later, the study group included ten corporate representatives, ten economists, two communications experts from MIT’s Center for International Studies, a minor Defense Department official and a foreign service officer.18
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==CFR and US Neoconservatives==
  
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It is within these discussion groups and study groups, where privacy is the rule to encourage members to speak freely, that members of the power elite study and plan as to how best to attain American objectives in world affairs. It is here that they discuss alternatives and hash out differ ences, far from the limelight of official government and mass media. As The New York Times says of these unpublicized luncheons and closed seminars: “Except for its annual public Elihu Root Lectures, the Council’s talks and  
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The CFR is closely connected to the US neoconservative movement. According to Laurence Bloom "One of the key neo-con groups, Project for the New American Century, established in 1997 and identified by many as being the central organization behind the Bush administration, is heavily connected to the CFR. Fully 17 of the 25 founders of the Project for the New American Century are Council members"<ref>Laurence H. Shoup, [http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Foreign_Policy_Institutions/Council_Foreign_Relations.html Bush, Kerry, and The Council on Foreign Relations], ''Third World Traveller'', October 2004, Accessed 09-September-2009</ref>.
  
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15. Kraft, op. cit., p. 66. A perusal of any annual report of the CER will show that a foreign official visiting in New York who is anyone at all will be speaking or meeting with members of the Council.
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==War of Neccesity or War of Choice?==
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16. Ibid.
 
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17. Ibid.
 
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18. Percy W. Bidwell, What the Tariff Means to American industries (published for the Council on    Foreign Relations by Harper & Row, New York, 1956).
 
  
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seminars are strictly off the record. An indiscretion can be grounds for termination or suspension of. membership.....�19 Such discussions also help to reduce the effect of political changes. In Kraft’s language: “e.g the Council plays a special part in helping to bridge the gap between the two parties, affording unofficially a measure of continuity when the guard changes in Washington.�20
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According to IPS:  
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Given its privacy as to discussions (it is quite open about everything else), can we know the relationship between CFR and government policy? Can we go beyond the fact that CFR conducts research and discussions and that its members hold responsible positions in the federal govern¬ment? It is not only secrecy which makes this question hard to answer; there is also the problem that CFR as an organization does not take a partisan stand. To even begin to answer such a question completely would require a large number of studies of various decisions and their outcomes. In lieu of such studies, the most important and easy of which would be on the origins of the bipartisan foreign policy of postwar years, several suggestive examples will have to suffice, along with the general testimony of Kraft (“It has been the seat of some basic government decisions, has set the context for many more�) and The New York Times (“Discussion groups, scholarly papers and studies sponsored by the Council laid the groundwork for the Marshall Plan for European recovery, set American policy guidelines for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and currently are evolving a long-range analysis of American attitudes toward China�).21 More concretely, Kraft claims that CFR action was responsible for putting Greenland out of bounds for the Nazis, for shaping the United Nations charter, and for softening the American position on German postwar reparations, among others. One of the most impressive evidences is that four CFR planning groups, set up in 1939 with aid from the Rockefeller Foundation, were taken (along with most of. the personnel) into the State Department in 1942 “as the nub of its Advisory Committee on Postwar Planning Problems.�22 And it was supposedly a special CFR briefing session in early 1947 that convinced Undersecretary of State Robert Lovett of Brown Brothers, Harriman that “it would be our principal task at State to awaken the nation, to the dangers of Communist aggression.�23
 
  
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Despite the ‘fact that the CFR is an organization most Americans have never heard of, I think we have clearly established by a variety of means that it is a key connection between the federal government and the owners and managers of the country’s largest
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:"In August 2009 Council on Foreign Relations president [[Richard Haass]], who served in the administrations of both George H.W. and [[George W. Bush]], suggested in the New York Times that Afghanistan is a "war of choice" rather than a war of necessity. Haass suggested that the Obama administration consider alternate policies up to and including full withdrawal from Afghanistan, although he stopped short of endorsing them outright".<REF>Daniel Luban, [http://domino.ips.org/ips%5Ceng.nsf/vwWebMainView/C5018B0BAD981BBFC1257624007E3738/?OpenDocument Prominent Conservative Calls for Afghanistan Pullout], ''IPS'', 01-September-2009</ref>
  
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19. “Experts on Foreign Policy Look to Youth,� op cit., p. 34.
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Haas introduced the concept of a distinction between the two types of war in a book published in May 2009. His book entitled War of Necessity, War of choice argues that:
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20. Kraft, op. cit., p. 68.
 
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21. Ibid., p. 64; “Experts on Foreign Policy Look to Youth,� op. cit., p.34.
 
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22. Kraft, op. cit., p. 67. Much of Kraft’s information on CFR involve¬ment in specific issues seems to be drawn from CFR’s self-published 25-year history. It contains further details and information on other issues as well. See The Council on Foreign Relations, A Record of Twenty-five Years, New York, 1947.
 
−
23. Quoted in Kraft, op. cit., p. 68
 
  
−
financial institutions and corporations. It is an organization of the power elite. If it is not all-embracing in its importance, it is certainly a considerable understatement to speak of CFR members and members of similar power elite associations, as one scholar does, as “external bureaucratsâ€? who supply the government with information, perspectives, and manpower.24 Inmy view, what knowledge we have of CFR suggests that through it the power elite formulate general guidelines for American foreign policy and provide the personnel to carry out’ this policy. But I also know that the evidence I have presented is not enough for those scholars who prefer to analyze actual decisions. Then, too, skeptics can point out that CFR has no policy (other than the all-important policy of international involvement, as opposed to isolationism, for which it is called “Communistâ€? and “Un-Americanâ€? by older-fashioned, nationalistic critics). Furthermore, skeptics can say that CFR’s members have other institutional and associational affiliations that may be more important in determining their outlook. For all of these reasons, I will let the case for.  
+
:"The first Iraq war, following Saddam Hussein’s invasion of neighboring Kuwait, was a war of necessity. It was limited in ambition, well executed, and carried out with unprecedented international support".
  
−
CFR rest at this point, noting the presence of its directors and members only in passing, and instead emphasizing the direct corporate connections of important decision-makers In closing this discussion of the CFR as an organization of the power elite, it should be noted that Kraft is among the skeptics. Despite all the comments we have quoted from him on the importance of CFR, he con¬cludes that “even that cock will not fight� as far as the CFR being part of any power elite. This is because CFR has assumed “semi-official duties only in emergencies,� because it “has never accepted government financial support� and because its recommendations “have subsequently all stood test at the polls or in Congress.� Furthermore, there are “divergent views within the Council, and such an organ¬ization is necessary because issues are too complicated for the ordinary citizen, who is all wrapped up in his private life. Kraft’s concluding sentence seems to be a challenge to those who might criticize—he quotes Voltaire, asking, “What have you got that’s better?�25
+
:"By contrast, the second Iraq war was one of choice, the most significant discretionary war undertaken by the United States since Vietnam. Haass argues that it was unwarranted, as the United States had other viable policy options. Making matters worse was the fact that this ambitious undertaking was poorly implemented and fought with considerably more international opposition than backing"<ref>Richard N. Haass, [http://www.cfr.org/publication/18273/ War of Necessity, War of Choice: A Memoir of Two Iraq Wars], ''Council on Foreign Relations'', Accessed 10-September-2009</ref>.
  
−
24. Chadwick F. Alger, “The External Bureaucracy in United States Foreign Affairs (Administration Science Quarterly, June, 1962).
+
==People==
−
25. Kraft, op. cit., p. 68.
+
===Board of Directors and Membership===
 +
The table below right, showing the Board of Directors, is taken from the Council on Foreign Relations website, accessed September 10 2009.<ref>[http://www.cfr.org/about/people/board_of_directors.html Board of Directors], CFR website, accessed September 10 2009</ref>
 +
 
 +
The table below left, showing the Board of Directors, is taken from the Council on Foreign Relations website, version current as of September 2006.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20060927111420/www.cfr.org/about/people/board_of_directors.html Board of Directors], CFR website, version placed in web archive 27 Sept 2006, accessed in web archive September 10 2009</ref>
 +
 
 +
{| cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="margin:10px; border:3px solid #000000;" align="right"
 +
!bgcolor="#DDDDDD" colspan="3"|
 +
|-
 +
|align="left"|'''OFFICE'''||align="left"|'''NAME'''||
 +
|-
 +
!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|
 +
|-
 +
|Co-Chairman of the Board||'''[[Carla A. Hills]]'''
 +
|-
 +
|Co-Chairman of the Board||'''[[Robert E. Rubin]]'''
 +
|-
 +
|Vice Chairman||'''[[Richard E. Salomon]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[President]]||'''[[Richard N. Haass]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|
 +
|-
 +
|Board of Directors||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Peter Ackerman]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Fouad Ajami]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Madeleine Albright]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Charlene Barshefsky]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Henry Bienen]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Alan Blinder]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Stephen W. Bosworth]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Tom Brokaw]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Sylvia Mathews Burwell]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Frank J. Caufield]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Kenneth Duberstein]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Richard N. Foster]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Stephen Friedman (PFIAB)|Stephen Friedman]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Ann M. Fudge]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Maurice R. Greenberg]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[J. Tomilson Hill]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Richard Holbrooke]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Alberto Ibargüen]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Shirley Ann Jackson]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Henry Kravis]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Jami Miscik]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Joseph Nye]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Ronald L. Olson]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[James W. Owens]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Colin Powell]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[David Rubenstein]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[George E. Rupp]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Anne-Marie Slaughter]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Joan E. Spero]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Vin Weber]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Christine Todd Whitman]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|Director||'''[[Fareed Zakaria]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
{| cellpadding="1" cellspacing="4" style="margin:3px; border:3px solid #000000;" align="right"
 +
!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|
 +
|-
 +
|align="left"|'''OFFICE'''||align="left"|'''NAME'''||
 +
|-
 +
!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|
 +
|-
 +
|[[Chairman]]||'''[[Peter G. Peterson]]'''
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Vice Chairman]]||'''[[Carla A. Hills]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Vice Chairman]]||'''[[Robert E. Rubin]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[President]]||'''[[Richard N. Haass]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Peter Ackerman]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Fouad Ajami]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Madeleine K. Albright]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Charlene Barshefsky]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Henry S. Bienen]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Stephen W. Bosworth]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Tom Brokaw]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Kenneth M. Duberstein]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Martin S. Feldstein]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Richard N. Foster]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Helene D. Gayle]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Maurice R. Greenberg]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Richard C. Holbrooke]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Karen Elliott House]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Michael H. Moscow]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Joseph S. Nye, Jr.]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Ronald L. Olson]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Thomas R. Pickering]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Colin L. Powell]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[David M. Rubenstein]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Richard E. Salomon]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Anne-Marie Slaughter]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Joan E. Spero]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Laura D'Andrea Tyson ]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Vin Weber]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Christine Todd Whitman]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|[[Board of directors|Board Member]]||'''[[Fareed Zakaria]]'''||
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
 
 +
The Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations is composed of thirty-six members.
 +
 
 +
There are two types of membership - term membership (which lasts for 5 years and is available to those between 30 and 36) and regular membership. Only US citizens (native born or naturalised) and permanent residents who have applied for U.S. citizenship are eligible for membership. Proposed members must be nominated by current members. A candidate for life membership must be nominated in writing by one Council member and seconded by a minimum of three others.<ref>[http://www.cfr.org/about/membership/ "Membership"].</ref>
 +
 
 +
Corporate membership (250 in total) is divided into "Basic", "Premium" ($25,000+) and "President's Circle" ($50,000+). All corporate executive members have opportunities to hear distinguished speakers, such as overseas presidents and prime ministers, chairmen and CEOs of multinational corporations, and U.S. officials and Congressmen. President and premium members are also entitled to other benefits, including attendance at small, private dinners or receptions with senior American officials and world leaders.<ref>[http://www.cfr.org/content/about/annual_report/ar_2006/11_corporate_044-047.pdf "Corporate Program"].</ref>
 +
 
 +
[[Peter G. Peterson]] and [[David Rockefeller]] are Directors Emeriti (Chairman Emeritus and Honorary Chairman, respectively). It also has an International Advisory Board consisting of thirty-five distinguished individuals from across the world.<ref>[http://www.cfr.org/about/people/ "Leadership and Staff"]. Accessed February 24, 2007.</ref>
 +
 
 +
===Board member biographies===
 +
* [[Coca Cola]] Board of Directors member [[James D Robinson]] III is reported to be a member of the [[Council on Foreign Relations]]. Robinson's biography also describes him as a general partner and co-founder of [[RRE Ventures]], president of [[J D Robinson Inc.]] (a strategic consulting firm) and non-executive chairman of the Board of Directors for [[Bristol-Myers Squibb]] (since 1976). He also serves on the Boards of Directors of [[Novell Inc.]], [[Visiprise]] and [[PrimeRevenue]]. Robinson is a member of the [[Business Council]], an honorary trustee of the [[Brookings Institution]] and honorary chairman of the [[Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center]]. Robinson was previously Chairman and CEO of [[American Express]] Company (1977 to 1993), Co-Chairman of the [[Business Roundtable]] and Chairman of the [[Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations]] (ACTPN)<ref> Coca Cola Company [http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/ourcompany/bios/bio_28.html James D Robinson] Accessed 21st January 2008</ref>.
 +
 
 +
* [[Martin S Feldstein]], who sit on the Board of Directors, is also on the Board of Directors for [[Eli Lilly and Company]]. In his biography<ref> Eli Lilly and Company [http://investor.lilly.com/corpgov-BioDetail.cfm?BioID=4151&Group=2 Martin S Feldstein] Accessed 31st January 2008</ref>, it is reported that he is also the George F. Baker Professor of Economics at [[Harvard University]], President and CEO of the [[National Bureau of Economic Research]], a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]], the Institute of Medicare of the [[National Academy of Sciences]], and is a fellow of the [[British Academy]], the [[Econometric Society]] and the [[National Association for Business Economics]]. Feldstein is a member of the executive committee of the [[Trilateral Commission]] and a member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]. Feldstein is also a director of [[American International Group]] and is reported to be an economic advisor to several businesses in the United States and abroad whilst also contributing regularly to The [[Wall Street Journal]]. His previous involvements include serving as chairman of the [[Council of Economic Advisers]] and as President Ronald Reagan's chief economic advisor. He also previously served as a fellow at [[Nuffield College]] (1964-67), was a lecturer in public finance for [[Oxford University]] and served as an assistant professor (in 1967), associate professor (in 1968) and full professor (in 1969) at Harvard University.
 +
 
 +
* [[Vin Weber]] - Chief Executive Officer of lobbying firm [[Clark & Weinstock]] is reported to serve on the Board of The [[Council on Foreign Relations]]<ref>Clark & Weinstock [http://www.clarkandweinstock.com/vin_weber.html Vin Weber] Accessed 20th March 2008</ref>. Vin is also Chairman of the [[National Endowment for Democracy]], is a member of the U.S. Secretary of Defense’s [[Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee]], serves on the U.S. Secretary of State’s [[Advisory Committee on Democracy Promotion]], is a senior fellow at the [[Humphrey Institute]] at the [[University of Minnesota]] (where he is co-director of the Policy Forum) and is on the Board of [[ITT Educational Services]], The [[Lenox Group]], and the [[Aspen Institute]] (where he serves on the Institute’s Middle East Strategy Group). He is also Policy Chairman of [[Romney for President Inc.]] (overseeing all policy development for Governor [[Mitt Romney]]).
 +
 
 +
Weber served in the United States House of Representatives from 1981 to 1993 and according to his biography,
 +
:'Vin is one of the most prominent and successful strategists in the Republican Party and enjoys strong bipartisan relationships across the Legislative and Executive branches of government. He serves as a trusted advisor to senior officials in the Administration and on Capitol Hill, and has counseled numerous Presidential campaigns'.
 +
 
 +
Weber previously co-chaired a major 'independent' task force on U.S. Policy Toward Reform in the Arab World with former U.S. Secretary of State [[Madeleine Albright]]. Prior to 1994, Vin was president and co-director of [[Empower America]] a public policy advocacy group alongside other co-directors [[Jack Kemp]], [[Jeane Kirkpatrick]] and [[Bill Bennett]]. He was a member of the [[Appropriations Committee]] and an elected member of the [[House Republican Leadership]] and prior to this was campaign manager and chief Minnesota aide to Senator [[Rudy Boschwitz]] (1978-1980)
 +
 
 +
Weber is a contributing columnist to <i>The Hill</i> newspaper and was the publisher of The [[Murray County Herald]] from 1976-1978. He has featured in numerous national publications, including The <i>[[New York Times]]</i>, The <i>[[Wall Street Journal]]</i>, The <i>[[Washington Post]]</i>, The <i>[[Los Angeles Times]]</i>, the <i>[[Associated Press]]</i>, <i>[[National Journal]]</i> and The <i>[[New Republic]]</i>. He has also appeared on [[NBC’s Nightly News]], The News Hour with Jim Lehrer on [[PBS]], [[ABC]]’s This Week, the [[CBS]] Early Show, [[Fox News Channel]], [[CNN]] and [[MSNBC]].
 +
 
 +
====Corporate Members====
 +
<table>
 +
<tr valign="top" bgcolor="#F5F5FF">
 +
<td width="300" >
 +
*[[ABC News]]
 +
*[[Alcoa]]
 +
*[[American Express]]
 +
*[[American International Group|AIG]]
 +
*[[Bank of America]]
 +
*[[Bloomberg L.P.]]
 +
*[[Boeing]]
 +
*[[BP]]
 +
*[[CA, Inc.]]
 +
*[[Chevron (company)|Chevron]]
 +
*[[Citigroup]]
 +
*[[Coca-Cola]]
 +
*[[De Beers]]
 +
*[[Deutsche Bank]]
 +
*[[Duke Energy]]
 +
*[[ExxonMobil]]
 +
*[[FedEx]]
 +
*[[Ford Motor Company|Ford Motor]]
 +
*[[General Electric]]
 +
*[[GlaxoSmithKline]]
 +
*[[Google]]
 +
</td>
 +
<td width="300">
 +
*[[Halliburton]]
 +
*[[H. J. Heinz Company|Heinz]]
 +
*[[Hess Corporation|Hess]]
 +
*[[IBM]]
 +
*[[JPMorgan Chase]]
 +
*[[Kohlberg Kravis Roberts]]
 +
*[[Lockheed Martin]]
 +
*[[MasterCard]]
 +
*[[McGraw-Hill]]
 +
*[[McKinsey & Company|McKinsey]]
 +
*[[Merck & Co.|Merck]]
 +
*[[Merrill Lynch]]
 +
*[[Morgan Stanley]]
 +
*[[Motorola]]
 +
*[[NASDAQ]]
 +
*[[News Corporation|News Corp]]
 +
*[[Nike, Inc.|Nike]]
 +
*[[PepsiCo]]
 +
*[[Pfizer]]
 +
</td>
 +
<td width="300">
 +
*[[Shell Oil Company|Shell Oil]]
 +
*[[Sony Corporation of America]]
 +
*[[Tata Group]]
 +
*[[Time Warner]]
 +
*[[Total S.A.]]
 +
*[[Toyota Motor North America]]
 +
*[[UBS AG|UBS]]
 +
*[[United Technologies Corporation|United Technologies]]
 +
*[[United States Chamber of Commerce]]
 +
*[[U.S. Trust Corporation]]
 +
*[[Verizon Communications|Verizon]]
 +
*[[Visa (company)|Visa]]<ref>[http://www.cfr.org/about/corporate_membership/index.html Corporate Membership].</ref>
 +
</tr>
 +
</table>
 +
===Notable current council members===
 +
*[[Erin Burnett]] - CNBC News Anchor<ref>CNBC TV Profiles [http://www.cnbc.com/id/15838220/?site=14081545 Erin Burnett] CNBC, Inc</ref>
 +
*[[Timothy Shriver]]<ref>[http://www.specialolympics.org/tim_shriver.aspx Special Olympics: Timothy Shriver], [[Special Olympics]] accessed 2009-03-25</ref>
 +
*[[Ruth J. Simmons]] - President of [[Brown University]]
 +
*[[Katrina vanden Heuvel]] - Editor of [[The Nation]] Magazine
 +
*[[Ray Takeyh]]
 +
 
 +
===Notable historical members===
 +
 
 +
*[[Graham Allison]]
 +
*[[Robert Orville Anderson]]
 +
*[[Les Aspin]]
 +
*[[Kenneth Bacon]] (1944-2009), [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] spokesman who later served as president of [[Refugees International]].<ref>Schudel, Matt. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/15/AR2009081501336.html "Pentagon Spokesman Became an Advocate for Refugees"], ''[[The Washington Post]]'', August 16, 2009. Accessed August 17, 2009.</ref>
 +
*[[J. Bowyer Bell]]<ref> [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/10/15/db1502.xml John Bowyer Bell] ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' 14 October 2003, accessed 2008-02-12</ref>
 +
*[[W. Michael Blumenthal]]
 +
*[[Amy Bondurant]]
 +
*[[Harold Brown]]
 +
*[[Zbigniew Brzezinski]]
 +
*[[William P. Bundy]]
 +
*[[George H. W. Bush]]
 +
*[[Dick Cheney]]
 +
*[[William S. Cohen]]
 +
*[[Warren Christopher]]
 +
*[[E. Gerald Corrigan]]
 +
*[[William J. Crowe]]
 +
*[[Kenneth W. Dam]]
 +
*[[John W. Davis]]
 +
*[[Norman Davis]]
 +
*[[C. Douglas Dillon]]
 +
*[[Thomas R. Donahue]]
 +
*[[Lewis W. Douglas]]
 +
*[[Elizabeth Drew]]
 +
*[[Peggy Dulany]]
 +
*[[Allen Welsh Dulles]]
 +
*[[Dianne Feinstein]]
 +
*[[Tom Foley]]
 +
*[[Leslie H. Gelb]]
 +
*[[David Gergen]]
 +
*[[Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.]]
 +
*[[Joachim Gfoeller]]
 +
*[[Maurice R. Greenberg]]
 +
*[[Alan Greenspan]]
 +
*[[Chuck Hagel]]
 +
*[[Najeeb E. Halaby]]
 +
*[[W. Averell Harriman]]
 +
*[[Theodore M. Hesburgh]]
 +
*[[Carla A. Hills]]
 +
*[[Stanley Hoffmann]]
 +
*[[Richard Holbrooke]]
 +
*[[James R. Houghton]]
 +
*[[Charlayne Hunter-Gault]]
 +
*[[Bobby Ray Inman]]
 +
*[[Otto H. Kahn]]
 +
*[[Nicholas Katzenbach]]
 +
*[[Lane Kirkland]]
 +
*[[Jeane Kirkpatrick]]
 +
*[[Roger T. Moritz]]
 +
*[[Walter Lippmann]]
 +
*[[Winston Lord]]
 +
*[[Charles Mathias, Jr.]]
 +
*[[John McCain]]
 +
*[[John J. McCloy]]
 +
*[[William J. McDonough]]
 +
*[[Donald F. McHenry]]
 +
*[[George J. Mitchell]]
 +
*[[Bill Moyers]]
 +
*[[Peter George Peterson]]
 +
*[[Frank Polk]]
 +
*[[John S. Reed]]
 +
*[[Elliot L. Richardson]]
 +
*[[Alice M. Rivlin]]
 +
*[[David Rockefeller]]
 +
*[[Jay Rockefeller]]
 +
*[[Robert Roosa]]
 +
*[[Elihu Root]]
 +
*[[William D. Ruckelshaus]]
 +
*[[Brent Scowcroft]]
 +
*[[Donna E. Shalala]]
 +
*[[George P. Shultz]]
 +
*[[Theodore Sorensen]]
 +
*[[George Soros]]
 +
*[[Adlai E. Stevenson]]
 +
*[[Strobe Talbott]]
 +
*[[Peter Tarnoff]]
 +
*[[Fred Thompson]]
 +
*[[Garrick Utley]]
 +
*[[Cyrus Vance]]
 +
*[[Paul Volcker]]
 +
*[[Paul M. Warburg]]
 +
*[[Paul Warnke]]
 +
*[[Clifton R. Wharton, Jr.]]
 +
*[[Owen D. Young]]
 +
*[[Robert Zoellick]]
 +
'''Source:''' The Council on Foreign Relations from 1921 to 1996:Historical Roster of Directors and Officers<ref>http://www.cfr.org/about/history/cfr/appendix.html Continuing the Inquiry: Historical Roster of Directors and Officers</ref>
 +
 
 +
===List of chairmen and chairwomen===
 +
<table>
 +
<tr valign="top" bgcolor="#F5F5FF">
 +
<td width="300">
 +
*[[Russell Cornell Leffingwell]] <font size="-4" color="#660000">1946-1953</font>
 +
*John J. McCloy <font size="-4" color="#660000">1953-1970</font>
 +
</td>
 +
<td width="300">
 +
*David Rockefeller <font size="-4" color="#660000">1970-1985</font>
 +
*[[Peter George Peterson]] <font size="-4" color="#660000">1985-2007</font>
 +
</td>
 +
<td width="300">
 +
*[[Carla Anderson Hills|Carla A. Hills]] <font size="-4" color="#660000">(co-chairwoman)  2007- </font>
 +
*[[Robert E. Rubin]] <font size="-4" color="#660000">(co-chairman) 2007- </font>
 +
</table>
 +
 
 +
===List of presidents===
 +
<table>
 +
<tr valign="top" bgcolor="#F5F5FF">
 +
<td width="300">
 +
*[[John W. Davis]] <font size="-4" color="#660000"> 1921-1933 </font>
 +
*[[George W. Wickersham]] <font size="-4" color="#660000"> 1933-1936 </font>
 +
*[[Norman Davis]] <font size="-4" color="#660000"> 1936-1944 </font>
 +
*[[Russell Cornell Leffingwell]] <font size="-4" color="#660000"> 1944-1946 </font>
 +
*[[Allen Welsh Dulles]] <font size="-4" color="#660000"> 1946-1950 </font>
 +
</td>
 +
<td width="300">
 +
*[[Henry Merritt Wriston]] <font size="-4" color="#660000"> 1951-1964 </font>
 +
*[[Grayson L. Kirk]] <font size="-4" color="#660000"> 1964-1971 </font>
 +
*[[Bayless Manning]] <font size="-4" color="#660000"> 1971-1977 </font>
 +
*[[Winston Lord]] <font size="-4" color="#660000"> 1977-1985 </font>
 +
*[[John Temple Swing]] <font size="-4" color="#660000"> 1985-1986  ([[Pro tempore]]) </font>
 +
</td>
 +
<td width="300">
 +
*[[Peter Tarnoff]] <font size="-4" color="#660000">1986-1993 </font>
 +
*[[Alton Frye]]  <font size="-4" color="#660000">1993 </font>
 +
*[[Leslie Gelb]] <font size="-4" color="#660000">1993-2003 </font>
 +
*[[Richard N. Haass]] <font size="-4" color="#660000">2003- </font>
 +
</table>
 +
 
 +
''Source:'' ''The Council on Foreign Relations from 1921 to 1996: Historical Roster of Directors and Officers''<ref>CFR [http://www.cfr.org/about/history/cfr/appendix.html Continuing the Inquiry: Historical Roster of Directors and Officers], accessed 9 September 2009</ref>
 +
 
 +
==Resources, Further Reading, Links, Criticism, Notes==
 +
===Powerbase Resources===
 +
*G. William Domhoff, (1967) ''Who rules America?'', New Jersey: Prentice Hall. p.71., [[Council on Foreign Relations, extract from Who Rules America|Council on Foreign Relations]].
 +
*G. William Domhoff, (1971) ''The Higher Circles: the governing class in America'', [[Council on Foreign Relations, extract from The Higher Circles|Council on Foreign Relations]], New York: vintage, p112-23.
 +
*G. William Domhoff, (1979) ''The Powers That Be'', [[Council on Foreign Relations, extract from The Powers That Be|Council on Foreign Relations]], Vintage. pp. 67-9.
 +
 
 +
===Further reading===
 +
*de Villemarest, Pierre, ''Facts & Chronicles Denied to the Public, Vol. 1,'' Aquilion, 2004, ISBN 1-904997-00-7
 +
*Grose, Peter, ''Continuing the Inquiry: The Council on Foreign Relations from 1921 to 1996'', New York, N.Y.: Council on Foreign Relations: 1996. ISBN 0-87609-192-3
 +
*Perloff, James, ''The Shadows of Power: The Council on Foreign Relations and the American Decline,'' Western Islands, 1988. ISBN 0-88279-134-6
 +
*Schulzinger, Robert D., ''The Wise Men of Foreign Affairs'', New York: Columbia University Press, 1984. ISBN 0-231-05528-5
 +
*Shoup, Laurence H., and William Minter, '' Imperial Brain Trust: The Council on Foreign Relations and United States Foreign Policy'', New York: Authors Choice Press, Reprint, 2004.
 +
*Laurence H. Shoup [http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Foreign_Policy_Institutions/Council_Foreign_Relations.html Bush, Kerry, and The Council on Foreign Relations] ''Z Magazine'', October 2004
 +
*Laurence H. Shoup [http://www.zmag.org/zmag/viewArticle/14053 Behind the Bipartisan Drive Toward War: The Council on Foreign Relations and the U.S. Invasion of Iraq] ''Z Magazine'', March 2003 
 +
*Wala, Michael, ''The Council on Foreign Relations and American Foreign Policy in the Early Cold War'', Providence, R.I.: Berghann Books: 1994. ISBN 1-57181-003-X
 +
 
 +
===External links===
 +
*[http://www.cfr.org Council on Foreign Relations] - Official website
 +
*[http://www.cfr.org/about/history/cfr/ CFR Website - Continuing the Inquiry: The Council on Foreign Relations from 1921 to 1996] Council history by Peter Grose, a Council member.
 +
*[http://www.meforum.org/article/751 Council on Foreign Relations does the Middle East]
 +
*[http://www.thenewamerican.com/focus/cfr/index.htm Focus on the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)]
 +
*[http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/world/middleeast/21iran.html?hp&ex=1158897600&en=fd75007868ac87af&ei=5094&partner=homepage Iran's Leader Relishes 2nd Chance to Make Waves]- Article in [[The New York Times]](registration required)
 +
 
 +
====Criticism====
 +
*[http://www.thenewamerican.com/focus/cfr/index.htm Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)] (from the [[John Birch Society]])
 +
*[http://www.eagleforum.org/column/2005/july05/05-07-13.html CFR's Plan to Integrate the U.S., Mexico and Canada]
 +
*[http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/2/15/224945.shtml Cuba and the Council on Foreign Relations]
 +
*[http://www.cfr.org/content/publications/attachments/NorthAmerica_TF_final.pdf Building a North American Community] - CFR document promoting a North American union
 +
 
 +
====Research====
 +
 
 +
[http://diglib.princeton.edu/ead/eadGetDoc.xq?id=/ead/mudd/publicpolicy/MC104.4.EAD.xml Finding Aid: Council on Foreign Relations Meetings Records, 1920-1995.]
 +
 
 +
===References===
 +
<references/>
 +
[[Category:Think Tanks]]

Latest revision as of 07:16, 19 February 2011

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American foreign policy think tank based in New York City. It describes itself as being "dedicated to increasing America's understanding of the world and contributing ideas to U.S. foreign policy," and accomplishes this mainly by promoting constructive, closed debates and discussions, clarifying world issues through research and analysis, and publishing the noted journal Foreign Affairs and related content online.

History

The earliest origin of the Council stemmed from a working fellowship of about 150 scholars, called "The Inquiry", tasked to brief President Woodrow Wilson about options for the postwar world following Germany's defeat.[1] Through 1917–1918, this group, including Wilson's closest adviser and long-time friend "Colonel" Edward M. House, as well as Walter Lippmann, gathered at 155th Street and Broadway at the Harold Pratt House in New York City, to assemble a strategy for the postwar world. The team produced more than 2,000 documents detailing and analyzing the political, economic, and social facts globally that would be helpful for Wilson in the peace negotiations. Their reports formed the basis for the Fourteen Points, which outlined Wilson's strategy for peace after war's end.[2]

Members of the group accompanied Wilson at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919. The Council on Foreign Relations, as well as the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London, came about as a result of a meeting on May 30 1919, at the Hotel Majestic in Paris. Some of the fifty participants were Edward M. House, Harold Temperley, Lionel Curtis, Lord Eustace Percy, Herbert Hoover, Christian Herter, Paul Warburg, and American academic historians James Thomson Shotwell of Columbia University, Archibald Coolidge of Harvard and Charles Seymour of Yale.

Formally established in 1921, it is one of the most powerful private organizations with influence on U.S. foreign policy. It has about 4,000 members, including former national security officers, professors, former CIA members, elected politicians, and media figures. The CFR is not a formal institution within U.S. policy making.

In 1944, Harold I. Pratt's widow donated the family's four-storey mansion on the corner of 68th Street and Park Avenue and this became the CFR's new headquarters, Harold Pratt House, where it has remained to the present.

Elite foreign policy think tank

Fostering elite consent for the invasion of Iraq

Laurence Shoup identified connections between the Council on Foreign relations and arguments supporting the invasion of Iraq:

"The "Next Stop Baghdad?" article by Kenneth M. Pollack appeared in the March/April 2002 issue of Foreign Affairs. At the time of writing the article Pollack was the Council on Foreign Relations' Olin Senior Fellow and Director of National Security Studies. An expanded version of the "Next Stop Baghdad?" article was published in October 2002 by Random House as a Council on Foreign Relations book entitled "The Threatening Storm". A review of the book in the November/December issue of Foreign Affairs called it "...exceptionally thoughtful. If any book can shape the current thinking on Iraq, this one will assuredly be it." Pollack's blunt conclusion in both the article and book is, "The United States should invade Iraq, eliminate the present regime, and pave the way for a successor..."[3].

In a December 2002 interview, Council member Rachel Bronson, who is the CFR's Director of Middle East Studies and an Olin Senior Fellow, made the following pro-war comments:

"...in my mind, in a war of our choosing, we should choose the most advantageous period for fighting and the summer is not that. I am more optimistic now than I was earlier because the inspectors got in early. That completely changes the calculus.... The chances for a military action are probably about 75 percent. There's about a ten percent chance of a coup, and a fifteen percent chance that Washington still doesn't get the diplomacy right and an attack gets pushed off to the fall".
"Q. That's been your view all along? Not only that war is inevitable, but that we should launch it?"
"A. Yes. It is strategically sound and morally just. The Middle East is a strategic region for us. It is where oil does play into all this.... It is about stability in the region. Saddam has been very destabilizing.... Strategically trying to get rid of one of the most destabilizing forces in the Middle East is a good idea. But the moral aspect doesn't get as much play as it should.... When Secretary Albright said it was not us causing the suffering of the Iraqi people, but Saddam, technically she was right. And everyone in the region agreed; but what they couldn't understand was why we pursued a policy knowing that Saddam would use it to his advantage to torture his people. We were complicit. We have to get rid of this monster. He is our Frankenstein."[4].

Another prominent CFR member who spoke out in favour of the war was Lawrence J. Korb. Korb made the following comments in an interview.

"Q. Everyone remembers the allied land invasion in 1991 to liberate Kuwait that lasted three days. What kind of military action will we have this time? Will it also be a quick one?
"A. I think if there is a military action and it occurs during the winter and you get support from countries in the region it will be over in less than a month. What you will have this time is simultaneous air and ground operations....
"Q. Can the United States afford this? How much will this cost?
"A. If you talk about cost, you have the incremental cost of the operation. We have a $400 billion annual defense budget. You won't have to buy much new equipment. For a one month war, counting the buildup underway, you are talking about an incremental cost of about $50 billion.... The Persian Gulf campaign in today's dollars cost $80 billion.
"Q. That was essentially paid by the Saudis, right?
"A. The last war was actually paid for by the Saudis, the Germans, and the Japanese. We actually made a profit on that war.... What we did after the war was over was make the books come out even... we actually collected more than we actually spent"[5].

2002 Planning for Iraq's Oil

According to Laurence H. Shoup:

"In mid-2002 the CFR, together with the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy of Rice University, established a 23 member planning group to formulate the U.S. war aims and the political and economic rules for a post-war Iraq. One of the project directors was Rachel Bronson and members included Kenneth Pollack, as well as corporate leaders (Boeing, PFC Energy), university professors (Princeton, Yale, Vermont) a Naval War College professor, a Senate on Foreign Relations staffer, and representatives from the Cambridge Energy Research Associates, the Brookings Institution, the James Baker III Institute for Public Policy, and nine staffers from the CFR. A report, Guiding Principles for U.S. Post -Conflict Policy in Iraq, was produced by the Council in late 2002"[6].
"The body of the report has a section called "The Lure of Oil: Realities and Constraints," as well as an addendum called "Oil and Iraq: Opportunities and Challenges," which is almost as long as all of the rest of the report text. In the sections focusing on oil, lip service is given to Iraq's control of its own oil, while, in fact, the report argues that national control of Iraqi oil must be scrapped and an "economy based on free market principles" and a "level playing field for all international players to participate" be created. The report goes on to point out: "Paragraph 30 of UNSCR 1284 already authorizes the UN secretary-general to investigate ways that oil companies could be allowed to invest in Iraq. Thus, the legal basis for the UN to authorize and oversee foreign investment...already exists."
"The report also makes clear that the Iraqi oil contracts that French and Russian companies now have will be challenged: "Finally, the legality of post- sanctions contracts awarded in recent years will have to be evaluated. Prolonged legal conflicts over contracts could delay the development of important fields in Iraq.... It may be advisable to pre-establish a legitimate (preferably UN mandated) legal framework for vetting pre-hostility exploration agreements."[7]

CFR and the US 'ruling class'

CFR and US Neoconservatives

The CFR is closely connected to the US neoconservative movement. According to Laurence Bloom "One of the key neo-con groups, Project for the New American Century, established in 1997 and identified by many as being the central organization behind the Bush administration, is heavily connected to the CFR. Fully 17 of the 25 founders of the Project for the New American Century are Council members"[8].

War of Neccesity or War of Choice?

According to IPS:

"In August 2009 Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haass, who served in the administrations of both George H.W. and George W. Bush, suggested in the New York Times that Afghanistan is a "war of choice" rather than a war of necessity. Haass suggested that the Obama administration consider alternate policies up to and including full withdrawal from Afghanistan, although he stopped short of endorsing them outright".[9]

Haas introduced the concept of a distinction between the two types of war in a book published in May 2009. His book entitled War of Necessity, War of choice argues that:

"The first Iraq war, following Saddam Hussein’s invasion of neighboring Kuwait, was a war of necessity. It was limited in ambition, well executed, and carried out with unprecedented international support".
"By contrast, the second Iraq war was one of choice, the most significant discretionary war undertaken by the United States since Vietnam. Haass argues that it was unwarranted, as the United States had other viable policy options. Making matters worse was the fact that this ambitious undertaking was poorly implemented and fought with considerably more international opposition than backing"[10].

People

Board of Directors and Membership

The table below right, showing the Board of Directors, is taken from the Council on Foreign Relations website, accessed September 10 2009.[11]

The table below left, showing the Board of Directors, is taken from the Council on Foreign Relations website, version current as of September 2006.[12]

OFFICE NAME
Co-Chairman of the Board Carla A. Hills
Co-Chairman of the Board Robert E. Rubin
Vice Chairman Richard E. Salomon
President Richard N. Haass
Board of Directors
Director Peter Ackerman
Director Fouad Ajami
Director Madeleine Albright
Director Charlene Barshefsky
Director Henry Bienen
Director Alan Blinder
Director Stephen W. Bosworth
Director Tom Brokaw
Director Sylvia Mathews Burwell
Director Frank J. Caufield
Director Kenneth Duberstein
Director Richard N. Foster
Director Stephen Friedman
Director Ann M. Fudge
Director Maurice R. Greenberg
Director J. Tomilson Hill
Director Richard Holbrooke
Director Alberto Ibargüen
Director Shirley Ann Jackson
Director Henry Kravis
Director Jami Miscik
Director Joseph Nye
Director Ronald L. Olson
Director James W. Owens
Director Colin Powell
Director David Rubenstein
Director George E. Rupp
Director Anne-Marie Slaughter
Director Joan E. Spero
Director Vin Weber
Director Christine Todd Whitman
Director Fareed Zakaria
OFFICE NAME
Chairman Peter G. Peterson
Vice Chairman Carla A. Hills
Vice Chairman Robert E. Rubin
President Richard N. Haass
Board Member Peter Ackerman
Board Member Fouad Ajami
Board Member Madeleine K. Albright
Board Member Charlene Barshefsky
Board Member Henry S. Bienen
Board Member Stephen W. Bosworth
Board Member Tom Brokaw
Board Member Kenneth M. Duberstein
Board Member Martin S. Feldstein
Board Member Richard N. Foster
Board Member Helene D. Gayle
Board Member Maurice R. Greenberg
Board Member Richard C. Holbrooke
Board Member Karen Elliott House
Board Member Michael H. Moscow
Board Member Joseph S. Nye, Jr.
Board Member Ronald L. Olson
Board Member Thomas R. Pickering
Board Member Colin L. Powell
Board Member David M. Rubenstein
Board Member Richard E. Salomon
Board Member Anne-Marie Slaughter
Board Member Joan E. Spero
Board Member Laura D'Andrea Tyson
Board Member Vin Weber
Board Member Christine Todd Whitman
Board Member Fareed Zakaria

The Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations is composed of thirty-six members.

There are two types of membership - term membership (which lasts for 5 years and is available to those between 30 and 36) and regular membership. Only US citizens (native born or naturalised) and permanent residents who have applied for U.S. citizenship are eligible for membership. Proposed members must be nominated by current members. A candidate for life membership must be nominated in writing by one Council member and seconded by a minimum of three others.[13]

Corporate membership (250 in total) is divided into "Basic", "Premium" ($25,000+) and "President's Circle" ($50,000+). All corporate executive members have opportunities to hear distinguished speakers, such as overseas presidents and prime ministers, chairmen and CEOs of multinational corporations, and U.S. officials and Congressmen. President and premium members are also entitled to other benefits, including attendance at small, private dinners or receptions with senior American officials and world leaders.[14]

Peter G. Peterson and David Rockefeller are Directors Emeriti (Chairman Emeritus and Honorary Chairman, respectively). It also has an International Advisory Board consisting of thirty-five distinguished individuals from across the world.[15]

Board member biographies

Weber served in the United States House of Representatives from 1981 to 1993 and according to his biography,

'Vin is one of the most prominent and successful strategists in the Republican Party and enjoys strong bipartisan relationships across the Legislative and Executive branches of government. He serves as a trusted advisor to senior officials in the Administration and on Capitol Hill, and has counseled numerous Presidential campaigns'.

Weber previously co-chaired a major 'independent' task force on U.S. Policy Toward Reform in the Arab World with former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Prior to 1994, Vin was president and co-director of Empower America a public policy advocacy group alongside other co-directors Jack Kemp, Jeane Kirkpatrick and Bill Bennett. He was a member of the Appropriations Committee and an elected member of the House Republican Leadership and prior to this was campaign manager and chief Minnesota aide to Senator Rudy Boschwitz (1978-1980)

Weber is a contributing columnist to The Hill newspaper and was the publisher of The Murray County Herald from 1976-1978. He has featured in numerous national publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press, National Journal and The New Republic. He has also appeared on NBC’s Nightly News, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer on PBS, ABC’s This Week, the CBS Early Show, Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC.

Corporate Members

Notable current council members

Notable historical members

Source: The Council on Foreign Relations from 1921 to 1996:Historical Roster of Directors and Officers[24]

List of chairmen and chairwomen

List of presidents

Source: The Council on Foreign Relations from 1921 to 1996: Historical Roster of Directors and Officers[25]

Resources, Further Reading, Links, Criticism, Notes

Powerbase Resources

Further reading

  • de Villemarest, Pierre, Facts & Chronicles Denied to the Public, Vol. 1, Aquilion, 2004, ISBN 1-904997-00-7
  • Grose, Peter, Continuing the Inquiry: The Council on Foreign Relations from 1921 to 1996, New York, N.Y.: Council on Foreign Relations: 1996. ISBN 0-87609-192-3
  • Perloff, James, The Shadows of Power: The Council on Foreign Relations and the American Decline, Western Islands, 1988. ISBN 0-88279-134-6
  • Schulzinger, Robert D., The Wise Men of Foreign Affairs, New York: Columbia University Press, 1984. ISBN 0-231-05528-5
  • Shoup, Laurence H., and William Minter, Imperial Brain Trust: The Council on Foreign Relations and United States Foreign Policy, New York: Authors Choice Press, Reprint, 2004.
  • Laurence H. Shoup Bush, Kerry, and The Council on Foreign Relations Z Magazine, October 2004
  • Laurence H. Shoup Behind the Bipartisan Drive Toward War: The Council on Foreign Relations and the U.S. Invasion of Iraq Z Magazine, March 2003
  • Wala, Michael, The Council on Foreign Relations and American Foreign Policy in the Early Cold War, Providence, R.I.: Berghann Books: 1994. ISBN 1-57181-003-X

External links

Criticism

Research

Finding Aid: Council on Foreign Relations Meetings Records, 1920-1995.

References

  1. ↑ The Inquiry.  History of CFR. Council on Foreign Relations.  Retrieved 2007-02-24.
  2. ↑ President Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points (1918).  Our Documents.
  3. ↑ Laurence H. Shoup, Behind the Bipartisan Drive Toward War The Council on Foreign Relations and the U.S. Invasion of Iraq, Z Magazine, March 2003, Accessed 10-September-2009
  4. ↑ Cited in Laurence H. Shoup, Behind the Bipartisan Drive Toward War The Council on Foreign Relations and the U.S. Invasion of Iraq, Z Magazine, March 2003, Accessed 10-September-2009
  5. ↑ Cited in Laurence H. Shoup, Behind the Bipartisan Drive Toward War The Council on Foreign Relations and the U.S. Invasion of Iraq, Z Magazine, March 2003, Accessed 10-September-2009
  6. ↑ Laurence H. Shoup, [http://www.zmag.org/zmag/viewArticle/14053 Behind the Bipartisan Drive Toward War The Council on Foreign Relations and the U.S. Invasion of Iraq], Z Magazine, March 2003, Accessed 10-September-2009
  7. ↑ Laurence H. Shoup, Behind the Bipartisan Drive Toward War The Council on Foreign Relations and the U.S. Invasion of Iraq, Z Magazine, March 2003, Accessed 10-September-2009
  8. ↑ Laurence H. Shoup, Bush, Kerry, and The Council on Foreign Relations, Third World Traveller, October 2004, Accessed 09-September-2009
  9. ↑ Daniel Luban, Prominent Conservative Calls for Afghanistan Pullout, IPS, 01-September-2009
  10. ↑ Richard N. Haass, War of Necessity, War of Choice: A Memoir of Two Iraq Wars, Council on Foreign Relations, Accessed 10-September-2009
  11. ↑ Board of Directors, CFR website, accessed September 10 2009
  12. ↑ Board of Directors, CFR website, version placed in web archive 27 Sept 2006, accessed in web archive September 10 2009
  13. ↑ "Membership".
  14. ↑ "Corporate Program".
  15. ↑ "Leadership and Staff". Accessed February 24, 2007.
  16. ↑ Coca Cola Company James D Robinson Accessed 21st January 2008
  17. ↑ Eli Lilly and Company Martin S Feldstein Accessed 31st January 2008
  18. ↑ Clark & Weinstock Vin Weber Accessed 20th March 2008
  19. ↑ Corporate Membership.
  20. ↑ CNBC TV Profiles Erin Burnett CNBC, Inc
  21. ↑ Special Olympics: Timothy Shriver, Special Olympics accessed 2009-03-25
  22. ↑ Schudel, Matt. "Pentagon Spokesman Became an Advocate for Refugees", The Washington Post, August 16, 2009. Accessed August 17, 2009.
  23. ↑ John Bowyer Bell The Daily Telegraph 14 October 2003, accessed 2008-02-12
  24. ↑ http://www.cfr.org/about/history/cfr/appendix.html Continuing the Inquiry: Historical Roster of Directors and Officers
  25. ↑ CFR Continuing the Inquiry: Historical Roster of Directors and Officers, accessed 9 September 2009
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