The George W. Bush Administration launched the Greater Middle East Initiative (GMEI) as "a forward strategy of freedom in the Middle East" in November 2003. The policy emerged as a central plank in the "war on terrorism" just as Operation Iraqi Freedom began to encounter stiff resistance to the US occupation of Iraq. Marketed as a "brand new strategy" of "ending autocracy" in the region and bringing democracy to those deprived of freedom, officials clainned the policy was designed to "clean up the messy fart of the world." This article argues that the GMEI is not about waging democracy in the Middle East, but rather neo-Wilsonian ideological cover for the neoconservative agenda of controlling the entire world by force. On the drawing board, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and its affiliated organizations, working clandestinely through US private transnational corporations, are to serve as conduits for the imperialist control of local political parties and elections. This will allow for the neoliberal control of the region by US and Israeli capital, help to contain China and Europe through the control of oil, and bolster US capitalist accumulation. Ultimately, the US is certain to fall back on business as usual, supporting local autocracies which serve "US national interests."