| Harold L. (Hal) Mansfield, Ph.D. | |
| 7366 North County Road 27, Loveland, CO 80538 | |
| Phone: 970.667.3878 | E-mail: hal.mansfield3@gmail.com |
October 18, 2002
Morley C. Ballantine, Editor
Durango, CO 81301
Dear Morley,
The following paragraph is a quote from an article by David Armstrong in the October 2002 issue of Harper's Magazine:
The Plan is for the United States to rule the world. The overt theme is unilateralism, but it is ultimately a story of domination. It calls for the United States to maintain its overwhelming military superiority and prevent new rivals from rising up to challenge it on the world stage. It calls for dominion over friends and enemies alike. It says not that the United States must be more powerful, or most powerful, but that it must be absolutely powerful.
The title of the article is: "Dick Cheney's Song of America: Drafting a plan for global dominance." The Plan, according to the article, is the current form of a Defense Planning Guidance document ostensibly written by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and leaked to the press this past July. Actually, it is the present form, again according to the article, of a document that has taken several forms over the past ten years and is the "masterwork" of Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and Colin Powell (and others?).
I find the article disturbing in the extreme. Three possibilities occur to me: 1) The article is some sort of misguided joke. 2) The article is only partly right; it misstates, misinterprets or misrepresents some of the basic tenets of the plan. 3) The article is fundamentally correct. If the article is fundamentally correct, the "plan" is one of the most odious and dangerous documents to come to light in the history of the United States of America!
I have made inquiries on the Net and by phone to try to determine which of the three possibilities (or some that I have not thought of) might be true. So far, my efforts are in the beginning stages. There has not been time for informed replies.
I am providing you with the enclosed copy of the article. I hope you will read it and institute your own inquiries, as something that the Herald readers need and deserve to read (especially if possibility three is correct).
Sincerely,
Hal Mansfield, 1138 C. R. 302, Durango, CO 81303-8050 970.259.1324
mansfield_h@fortlewis.edu
P.S. Mrs. Terry Hershey asked me to convey her "best wishes" to you. She left her Pagosa ranch and returned to Houston recently without fulfilling her intention to see you.