The RAND Corporation is a "non-profit" think-tank supported by taxpayers. It receives well over $100M per year in funds to conduct research for the government, universities, and private corporate clients. Most recently, it has been employed to advise the Bush administration on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Interesting facts:
1. Among the many corporate bigwigs on the board of this "independent" think-tank is former Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci, also the chairman of The Carlyle Group. The Carlyle Group is another infamous war profiteer. Calucci and his shareholders - George Bush, Sr and George Bush, Jr - stand to make a fortune the reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan. So much for RAND's "objective analysis..."
2. RAND's experts are quite the handy apologists. In one commentary posted at their website, the author profusely defends the police departments who have been found to engage in racial profiling. The author says the data isn't good enough to prove anything conclusively, even though dozens of other studies and millions of law-abiding minority citizens can testify otherwise.
3. One of RAND's experts, Laurent Murawiec, testified just prior to the invasion of Iraq that Saudi Arabia - a 60-year ally of the US - was suddenly "the kernel of evil, the prime mover, the most dangerous opponent in the Middle East." He actually said outloud that if the Saudis refused to cooperate in the war on terror that all their oil assets should be aggressively seized by the United States. The Saudis were to cooperate in removing Saddam Hussein and installing a friendly regime in Iraq that would increase oil exports to the West. One way or another, Murawiec wanted to see Americans in control of Saudi and Iraqi oil assets. The Bushies never acted on this advice, of course, the worse to ruffle the feathers of their royal Saudi friends. Nevertheless, it is a strikingly blunt expression of the neo-con agenda being pushed by this "independent" organization.
References:
www.hereinreality.com
www.rand.org
www.the-cat-bird-seat.net
