Jason Tate
02/15/07, 05:03 PM
Today (http://thinkprogress.org/2007/02/15/aei-bush-white-house/#more-10375), President Bush delivered a speech on Afghanistan at the American Enterprise Institute (http://www.aei.org/) (AEI), a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C. AEI and the Bush administration are deeply entwined, something Bush admitted during his speech. “I admire AEI a lot,” Bush said. “After all, I have been consistently borrowing some of your best people. More than 20 AEI scholars have worked in my administration. (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/02/20070215-1.html)” Below are a few examples of the people and ideas that AEI has shared — or tried to share — with the Bush White House over recent years:
– Escalation. President Bush’s escalation plan is based on a report (http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.25292/pub_detail.asp) by AEI scholar Frederick Kagan. CNN reporter Suzanne Malveaux said of AEI’s influence on Iraq policy: “One conservative policy group that has the president’s ear (http://thinkprogress.org/2006/12/19/bush-aei-iraq/) and is influencing his thinking is the American Enterprise Institute.”
– The Cheneys. Dick Cheney served as AEI Senior Fellow from 1993-1995 (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,130346,00.html), and his wife Lynn currently serves as Senior Fellow studying education and children (http://www.aei.org/scholars/scholarID.10,filter.all/scholar.asp). “Both Lynne and I have a long history with the American Enterprise Institute (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/11/20051121-2.html), and we value the association,” Vice President Cheney said in 2005.
– Bomb Iran. “We must bomb Iran (http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-muravchik19nov19,0,1681154.story?co ll=la-opinion-center),” AEI Resident Scholar Joshua Muravchik wrote in an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times. Muravchik called for an “air campaign against Tehran’s nuclear facilities”
– Richard Perle. Perle has been at AEI since 1987, and currently serves as a Resident Fellow (http://www.aei.org/scholars/filter.,scholarID.49/scholar2.asp). A leading neoconservative, Perle was a fierce proponent of regime change in Iraq. He served as Chairman of the Defense Policy Board from 2001 to 2003.
– John Bolton. Served as Senior Vice President of AEI (http://www.aei.org/scholars/filter.,scholarID.121/scholar2.asp) before coming to the Bush administration. Bolton currently serves as a Senior Fellow at AEI. “There is no such thing as the United Nations (http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/07/bolton/index.html),” Bolton said. “If the U.N. secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.”
– Climate change inaction. AEI offered $10,000 to climate change deniers (http://thinkprogress.org/2007/02/03/aei-letter/) to speak out against the recent IPCC climate change study.
– Karl Zinsmeister. Worked for 12 years at the American Enterprise magazine (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/24/AR2006052402349.html). He became Bush’s top domestic policy adviser, but only after he admitted to padding his resume (http://www.prospect.org/horsesmouth/2006/06/post_75.html#002656).
– Social Security privatization. AEI has long been a vocal supporter of Social Security privatization (http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.7450,filter.all/pub_detail.asp).
– Greg Mankiw. A visiting scholar at AEI (http://www.aei.org/scholars/scholarID.100,filter.all/scholar.asp), Mankiw served as Bush’s chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from 2003 to 2005. In 2004, Mankiw said the outsourcing of U.S. jobs overseas was “probably a plus for the economy (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3485025.stm) in the long run.”
– John Yoo. Currently a visiting scholar for AEI, and a former deputy assistant attorney general in the office of legal counsel of the Department of Justice. Yoo authored the infamous torture memo (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37687-2004Dec30.html) that argued interrogation techniques only constituted torture if they are “equivalent in intensity to…organ failure (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26401-2004Jun8.html), impairment of bodily function, or even death.”
– Escalation. President Bush’s escalation plan is based on a report (http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.25292/pub_detail.asp) by AEI scholar Frederick Kagan. CNN reporter Suzanne Malveaux said of AEI’s influence on Iraq policy: “One conservative policy group that has the president’s ear (http://thinkprogress.org/2006/12/19/bush-aei-iraq/) and is influencing his thinking is the American Enterprise Institute.”
– The Cheneys. Dick Cheney served as AEI Senior Fellow from 1993-1995 (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,130346,00.html), and his wife Lynn currently serves as Senior Fellow studying education and children (http://www.aei.org/scholars/scholarID.10,filter.all/scholar.asp). “Both Lynne and I have a long history with the American Enterprise Institute (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/11/20051121-2.html), and we value the association,” Vice President Cheney said in 2005.
– Bomb Iran. “We must bomb Iran (http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-muravchik19nov19,0,1681154.story?co ll=la-opinion-center),” AEI Resident Scholar Joshua Muravchik wrote in an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times. Muravchik called for an “air campaign against Tehran’s nuclear facilities”
– Richard Perle. Perle has been at AEI since 1987, and currently serves as a Resident Fellow (http://www.aei.org/scholars/filter.,scholarID.49/scholar2.asp). A leading neoconservative, Perle was a fierce proponent of regime change in Iraq. He served as Chairman of the Defense Policy Board from 2001 to 2003.
– John Bolton. Served as Senior Vice President of AEI (http://www.aei.org/scholars/filter.,scholarID.121/scholar2.asp) before coming to the Bush administration. Bolton currently serves as a Senior Fellow at AEI. “There is no such thing as the United Nations (http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/07/bolton/index.html),” Bolton said. “If the U.N. secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.”
– Climate change inaction. AEI offered $10,000 to climate change deniers (http://thinkprogress.org/2007/02/03/aei-letter/) to speak out against the recent IPCC climate change study.
– Karl Zinsmeister. Worked for 12 years at the American Enterprise magazine (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/24/AR2006052402349.html). He became Bush’s top domestic policy adviser, but only after he admitted to padding his resume (http://www.prospect.org/horsesmouth/2006/06/post_75.html#002656).
– Social Security privatization. AEI has long been a vocal supporter of Social Security privatization (http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.7450,filter.all/pub_detail.asp).
– Greg Mankiw. A visiting scholar at AEI (http://www.aei.org/scholars/scholarID.100,filter.all/scholar.asp), Mankiw served as Bush’s chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from 2003 to 2005. In 2004, Mankiw said the outsourcing of U.S. jobs overseas was “probably a plus for the economy (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3485025.stm) in the long run.”
– John Yoo. Currently a visiting scholar for AEI, and a former deputy assistant attorney general in the office of legal counsel of the Department of Justice. Yoo authored the infamous torture memo (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37687-2004Dec30.html) that argued interrogation techniques only constituted torture if they are “equivalent in intensity to…organ failure (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26401-2004Jun8.html), impairment of bodily function, or even death.”