Muscular Movement (A review of Neoconservatism: The Biography of a Movement by Justin Vaïsse)

TNR ^ | 7/20/2010 | Adam Kirsch

[mojito]

By the middle of 2003, as it became clear that the American invasion of Iraq would result not in a quick “mission accomplished” but a long, bloody occupation, a certain narrative of what went wrong began to take root in some precincts of the anti-war left. The decision to invade Iraq, this story went, was the result of the government falling under the sway of a dangerous ideology, called neoconservatism. The neocons, as they were often derisively called, believed in the naked assertion of American power—in a kind of imperialism, really, which gave America the right to invade other countries and remake the world at will. Such adventures might be cloaked in the rhetoric of promoting democracy, but in truth the neoconservatives were anti-democratic, because their intellectual guru, the University of Chicago philosopher Leo Strauss, had taught them that the ruling elite should keep the masses in ignorance. At the same time, somewhat paradoxically, the neoconservatives did not really care about American interests; their primary goal was to remake the Middle East for the benefit of Israel, and the invasion of Iraq was really carried out at the behest of Likud.

It was not hard to find the common theme that connected all these allegations: a small group of Jews, working together and inspired by a sinister Jewish mastermind, had taken over the American government and was using its power to serve Jewish ends. In other words, the neocon myth—which began on the hard left but found subscribers on the isolationist right as well and became almost commonplace in Europe—was in some quarters a twenty-first-century reprise of some old and very unpleasant ideas about Jewish power.

[mojito]

Although TNR is a left-leaning publication, this is, for the most part, a fair and interesting discussion of the roots of neoconservatism.

My only major objection being the labeling of the Iraq war as a "failure." It's too early to describe the political evolution of Iraq as a failure, and as an example of American military and political resolve - at least until the present administration - it was certainly not a failure.

[Cacique]

Bump for later reading.

[Liz]

Historian Dr. Stephen Sniegoski's book "The Transparent Cabal: The Neoconservative Agenda," is rated as one of the top history books of the century by Amazon.

Retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski reviewed "The Transparent Cabal" for "The Independent Review." She comments that Dr. Sniegoski's book elaborates on the key differences between neocon-centric machinations and official American foreign policy in the Middle East.

(a) Neocons seek to destabilize the region by fragmenting and weakening states in the region using US treasure and military personnel.

(b) Traditional American foreign policy is to promote regional stability to serve US national interest, employing policies that facilitate the flow of oil to sustain the US economy and support American consumers.

Amazon web site here: http://www.amazon.com/Transparent-Cabal-Neoconservative-National-Interest/dp/1932528172

[SunkenCiv]

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[Ben Ficklin]

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