Rumors of the Neocons' Demise Are Greatly Exaggerated

[RBHam]

By Jacob Heilbrunn
Jacob Heilbrunn is an editorial writer for The Times.
June 16, 2004
http://fairuse.1accesshost.com/news2/latimes195.htm

Neoconservatism is finished. According to the conventional wisdom, the Pentagon's top neocons, like Paul D. Wolfowitz, Douglas J. Feith and William J. Luti, have been discredited by the insurgency in Iraq, by Abu Ghraib and by growing public discontent with the war. The United Nations has been invited back — begged, really — while the organization's chief opponent, Richard Perle, has been marginalized. The exposure of Iraqi exile leader Ahmad Chalabi as a charlatan, and possibly as an Iranian spy, has delivered the knockout punch. The neocons have lost President Bush's confidence, it seems, and will be abandoned if he wins a second term.

That's the way the story goes, anyway. In Washington, it is widely believed, easy to understand and fun to pass along. But it is also wrong.

Although it is certainly true that the neoconservatives have had to beat a number of tactical retreats, they have not lost the war for Bush's mind. Quite the contrary; that's just wishful thinking by their enemies on both the left and right.

For one thing, Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have made no fundamental revisions in foreign policy. Sure, they've made a few modest concessions to Europe and the U.N. on Iraq. But the basics remain unchanged: Bush isn't bailing out of Iraq, and more than 100,000 U.S. troops will remain there for at least another year.

Rather than tone down his rhetoric, Bush has adhered to the twin neoconservative themes of promoting democracy abroad and aggressively employing U.S. military power. "If is abandoned to dictators and terrorists," he said June 2, "it will be a constant source of violence and alarm, exporting killers of increasing destructive power to attack America and other free nations."

Nor has Bush wavered in his support of Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, an ally of the neocons. The president has insisted that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat be sidelined. He has slapped sanctions on Syria and pushed to isolate Iran. If this is moving away from neoconservatism, what would an embrace look like?

more...

[gratuitous]

1. I tend to agree

Which is why I'm re-doubling my efforts to consign these greedy, bloodthirsty bastards to the ash heap of history. Their war-profiteering ways are a stink in the nostrils of all decent humanity, and the sooner they are removed from the levers of power, the better off the vast majority of people sharing this planet will be.

[TexasSissy]

2. Yes. Judging from Repub posts on another board

I post to, Bush supporters are alive and well and going to defend him to (others') deaths. They are vehemently standing behind "the greatest President next to Ronald Reagan." It's disgusting.

3. They found his mind?

"they have not lost the war for Bush's mind."


(this is supposed to be a reply to original post -- hit wrong button)

[KharmaTrain]

4. Now See What Type Of Repugnican They Are...

Ask if they're A "Bush" Repugnican or a Raygun Repugnican and see what you get.

They can't be both. Raygun worked internationally, not unilterally and marginalize and antagonize the CIA the way this regime has done.

Listen to the "older" repugnicans these days...you heard precious little praise for Bunnypants last week.

[tom_paine]

5. I agree. Not sure what could end their reign of terror

And teh real terror has yet to begin.

It begins after the Unchecked Power is 100% totally secure.

Then the rest of us better look out.

[jukes]

7. apsitively, tom

& who knows if they'll relinquish power even if voted out? so many hideous scenarios cd unfold.

[Goldmund]

6. Another in the long line of stories...

...which are based on the assumption that Bush himself isn't a neocon, but the poor thing is somehow in their grip. They are "fighting for his mind". But Bush, he's the fair arbiter on the top who only cares for the good of our country... And these nasty neocons may have convinced him to go their way.

Bullshit. If Bush isn't a neocon, it's only because he can't pronounce "neocon". His whole image and his whole personality is off the neocon conveyer-belt; he is indinspensible to them and vice versa. Bush is also a neocon.

[jukes]

8. slav

you're right, o/c. i do believe he's handled & manipulated, & isn't the real person in power. BUT, he loves what he's got, & is infatuated w/the agenda.