Newt Gingrich sees major Mideast mistakes, rethinks his neocon views on intervention

The Washington Times ^ | 4 Aug 2013 | V

[mandaladon]

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a leading neoconservative hawk and staunch supporter of Israel, says the U.S. military interventions he has long supported to promote democracy in the Middle East and elsewhere have backfired and need to be re-evaluated. “I am a neoconservative. But at some point, even if you are a neoconservative, you need to take a deep breath to ask if our strategies in the Middle East have succeeded,” the 2012 Republican presidential hopeful said in an interview.

Mr. Gingrich supported the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, but he said he has increasingly doubted the strategy of attempting to export democracy by force to countries where the religion and culture are not hospitable to Western values. “It may be that our capacity to export democracy is a lot more limited than we thought,” he said. Mr. Gingrich at times has expressed doubts about the U.S. capacity for nation-building, but he said he now has formed his own conclusions about their failures in light of the experiences of the past decade. “My worry about all this is not new,” Mr. Gingrich said. “But my willingness to reach a conclusion is new.” Mr. Gingrich said it is time for Republicans to heed some of the anti-interventionist ideas offered by the libertarian-minded Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, and Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, tea party favorite and foreign policy skeptic.

[ckilmer]

The way to execute this defeat by obama is byo amnesty. If Obama can somehow get amnesty for 12 million illegals—then either Florida or Texas —or both— will be flipped to an inter-generational win in the democrat party. That will be all the dems need to keep the white house for decades. Why? Because the dems already have inter-generational control of New York Massachusetts Illinois and California. All they need is one more big state and the white house and the bureaucracy is controlled by the democrats for decades.

[SunkenCiv]

Rand Slams Congress for Funding Egypt’s Generals:
‘How Does Your Conscience Feel Now?’
Foreign Policy | 15 Aug 2013 | John Hudson
Posted on 08/15/2013 5:44:10 PM PDT by Hoodat
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3055253/posts

Sen. Rand Paul is hammering his fellow senators for keeping billions in financial aid flowing to Egypt’s military — even as Cairo’s security forces massacre anti-government activists.

[by “anti-government activists” is meant church-burning jihadists]