Danielle Pletka

Danielle Pletka (born 12 June 1963, Melbourne, Australia) is vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Pletka is the AEI expert on Iraq and was involved in the drafting of the Iraq Liberation Act. She was a senior professional staff member for Near East and South Asia with the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations from 1992 to 2002 — where she was a chief aide to Sen. Jesse Helms. Prior to working with the Senate committee she was a staff writer for Insight Magazine (Rev. Moon's Unification Church publication) from 1987 to 1992 and an editorial assistant with the Los Angeles Times and Reuters, working in Jerusalem from 1984 to 1985

Pletka is one of the early neoconservatives, a Zionist, and an associate of Martin Indyk (also Australian born). Pletka has been at the forefront of the neoconservative war drumming against Iraq, and she has been a champion for Ahmad Chalabi, an Iraqi politician who supported regime change in Iraq..

Views on Iraq

Pletka was strongly against the idea of moving policy decisions on Iraq from the White house to the United Nations. Her strong support for the U.S. policy on Iraq was conveyed in her testimony to the International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight Subcommittee, She argued:

conduct of war and the protection of our national security is not popularity contest. Mob rule does not decide how a President deploys troops in his role as commander in chief, nor how the Congress allocates money with its power of the purse. There are vital questions to be answered in the months and years ahead about Iraqi burden sharing, protection of long term American interests in Iraq and in the wider region, and about how best to sustain the victory that the surge has brought.

Professional History

• Senior professional staff member for Near East and South Asia, U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, 1992-2002
• Staff writer, Insight Magazine, 1987-1992 (NB: Magazine produced by Rev. Moon's Unification Church).
• Editorial assistant, Los Angeles Times and Reuters, in Jerusalem, 1984-1985

Affiliations

• Project for the New American Century – signatory to several PNAC statements
• American Enterprise Institute
• Committee on the Present Danger
• Coalition for Democracy in Iran – Supporter
• Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP)

References, Resources and Contact

External References

• Justin Raimondo, Triumph of the Neocons: Bush Cabinet shuffle deals the War Party a winning hand, AntiWar, 17 November 2004.