I recall reading about PNAC first on a much older metafilter thread

[swag]

but this metafilter thread from Sept 2002 contains enough prescience, naivete, and poignance to keep anybody aching for years:

http://www.metafilter.com/comments.mefi/20025

from Sept 15, 2002

Sample post:

Honestly, does anyone need a think tank document to convince them that Cheney and his energy pals have been planning "regime change" in Iraq since the day he became Bush's candidate for Vice President?

It's interesting to consider the possibility that one of the reasons Republicans fought so hard to win the Florida thing was because the forces that want a Pax Americana (and the idea's hardly new) knew this was their best shot at locking down some Middle East oil of their own. And we already know they were willing to deal with the Taliban. 9/11 just made it easier.

*contemplates the notion of the United States as a deficit-ridden empire trying to control the entire world*

Yeah, sign me up for *that* one.
posted by mediareport at 12:12 PM PST on September 15