Neoconning us again? (major hurl)

More inside the Beltway spinning at work: Libya's coming clean on WMD is solely the product of Bush's war in Iraq. That's what the Bush Administration wants us to believe. And the Beltway paper of record seems awfully accepting of the Administration's spin. In Sunday's Post, Dana Milbank writes, "It has been a week of sweet vindication for those who promulgated what they call the Bush Doctrine."

Richard Perle scurried to tell Milbank, "It's always been at the heart of the Bush doctrine that a more robust policy would permit us to elicit greater cooperation from adversaries than we'd had in the past when we acquiesced. With the capture of Saddam, the sense that momentum may be with us is very important."

In the Beltway narrative, there's no room for how Libya's decision to permit UN weapons inspectors in confirms that the US can achieve its strategic international goals using tools other than military force--for example, diplomatic, political and economic pressure. Nor is there room for all the work and time numerous European nations have invested in engaging Libya over the last five years. Or of the hard work of the UN Security Council in negotiating a settlement of the Lockerbie case, a resolution which may have had more to do with Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi's desire to reenter the international mainstream than any other single factor.

Nor is there any discussion of why the Administration supports the role of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors in disarming Libya whereas it was so dismissive of the IAEA's work in Iraq. And, how many understand that--as Flynt Leverett, a former Bush Adminstration National Security Council staff member reveals--"Within months after September 11th, we had the Libyans, the Syrians and the Iranians all coming to us saying what can we do [to better relations]? We didn't really engage any of them because we decided to do Iraq. We really squandered two years of capital that will make it harder to apply this model to the hard cases like Iran and Syria."

Libya's agreement to disarm under the watch of international inspectors is a welcome development but it is not as dramatic a turnaround as Bush & Co want us to believe. According to Joseph Cirincone, an arms specialist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, "It's part of a trend that has been underway for ten years--of reforms and trying to reintegrate with Europe, mainly for business reasons."

Let's not allow the Administration to neocon us into believing that Libya's decision is the sole result of Bush's war in Iraq. Instead, let's use Libya's example to call for inspections and reductions of WMD in all countries around the world, including here in the US.

I wouldn't quote from vanden heuvel except that she is often scheduled to debate the far leftist side and where listeners rarely hear the opposing guest because of her filibustering. Maybe someone should clue Katrina that one of her own liberal journalist buddies from CNN got it right from the horses mouth. This from CNN's Andrea Koppel:

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, in an exclusive interview with CNN, acknowledged Monday that the war in Iraq may have played a role in his decision to dismantle his country's weapons of mass destruction programs.

I enjoy intelligent and enlightened debate but Mz vanden Heuvel just gives me a helluva headache trying to listen to her. She is truly one of the ultimate elitist.

"I will do whatever the Americans want because I saw what happened in Iraq, and I was afraid." -- Moammar Gadhafi to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, 12/22/03.

Ms. vanden Heuvel: meet Mr. Gadhafi.

He says you're an ignorant Dem shill, and don't have Clue One as to what it is you're whinnying about.

Have a nice day. :)

Kadaffi, or however it's spelled presently, is getting old, tired out, and too worn out to bluster. His country can't even manufacture a tractor, never mind an air force and atom bombs. If they made a tractor there is nothing there to plow. He's accepted his fate and the fate of his hopeless nation. The days when he could play us off against the Soviets for blackmail and power have passed. It's over. Inspectors can go there and find nothing but barren rock and sand. That's all there has been. He's not conceding anything and somebody may just throw him a bone for his touted cooperation.

I love it when libs add qualifying phrases in their work like "Richard Perle scurried" - gives immediate warning to the reader that the article is BS. Saves time. Thanks!

BTW - isn't she the one with the Saruman voice? "Pro-cess". I heard a lib on MSNBC who kept trying to placate us with delicately parsed vowells. "Pro-cess". That her?

Let's not allow the Administration to neocon us into believing that Libya's decision is the sole result of Bush's war in Iraq.

We must remember that "neocon" is Leftist code for "Jew".

Apparently, Josef Stalin's Jew-hating legacy lives on in the Katrina vanden Heuvels of the American Left.

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