[Shermy]

So, when Irving Kristol wrote his book "Reflections of a Neoconservative" he was acting under the spell of PJB?

My meaning is the current usage of "neo-cons" on persons who aren't even neo-cons. It relates to the Iraq war and American "Empire" rather than the economic/social thought of persons in the 70's and early 80's who went from left to right.

Check out PJB's early 2003 articles on Iraq and the "lobby".

BTW, I like some of his other stuff.

[Pelham]

A group of prominent intellectuals and activists formed the Project for the New American Century, for the purpose of influencing American foreign policy. Some of these thinkers were advocating the overthrow of Iraq well before Dubya ran for President, so it seems fair to treat them as important.

PNAC certainly has an influential membership-

Elliott Abrams, Gary Bauer, William J. Bennett,

Jeb Bush, Dick Cheney, Eliot A. Cohen,

Midge Decter, Paula Dobriansky, Steve Forbes,

Aaron Friedberg, Francis Fukuyama, Frank Gaffney,

Fred C. Ikle, Donald Kagan, Zalmay Khalilzad,

I. Lewis Libby, Norman Podhoretz,

Dan Quayle, Peter W. Rodman, Stephen P. Rosen,

Henry S. Rowen, Donald Rumsfeld, Vin Weber,

George Weigel, Paul Wolfowitz

whether they consider themselves "neoconservatives" is probably up to them. Some seem to have identified themselves as such in the past.