Posted on 08/28/2003 7:35:28 AM PDT by u-89
Neocon 101
Some basic questions answered.
What do neoconservatives believe?
- "Neocons" believe that the United States should not be ashamed to use its unrivaled power – forcefully if necessary – to promote its values around the world. Some even speak of the need to cultivate a US empire. Neoconservatives believe modern threats facing the US can no longer be reliably contained and therefore must be prevented, sometimes through preemptive military action.
- Today, both conservatives and neocons favor a robust US military. But most conservatives express greater reservations about military intervention and so-called nation building. Neocons share no such reluctance.
- neocons are not afraid to force regime change and reshape hostile states in the American image
- many other conservatives, particularly in the isolationist wing, view this as an overzealous dream with nightmarish consequences.
- Neocons envision a world in which the United States is the unchallenged superpower, immune to threats. They believe that the US has a responsibility to act as a "benevolent global hegemon." In this capacity, the US would maintain an empire of sorts
- Any regime that is outwardly hostile to the US and could pose a threat would be confronted aggressively, not "appeased" or merely contained. The US military would be reconfigured around the world to allow for greater flexibility and quicker deployment to hot spots in the Middle East, as well as Central and Southeast Asia. The US would spend more on defense, particularly for high-tech, precision weaponry that could be used in preemptive strikes.
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In their own words. A collection of quotes by neoconservatives.
- "Change - above all violent change - is the essence of human history." - Michael Ledeen
- "American power should be used not just in the defense of American interests but for the promotion of American principles." - William Kristol
- "Republicans are good at wielding power, but they're not so wonderful when it comes to the more idealistic motives of liberal internationalism. The Democrats are better at liberal internationalism, but they're not so good at wielding power. I would say that if there were a Joe Lieberman/John McCain party, I'm in the Joe Lieberman/John McCain party." - Robert Kagan
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The Monitor asked a leading US foreign policy expert, Walter Russell Mead, to place neoconservative beliefs in historical context.
- "..in the early part of the 20th century when it was clear that the British empire was not going to be as strong and the Unisted States was growing. And you had people like Teddy Roosevelt and others beginning to think ... "What if America is going to become an imperial nation? What does that look like?"
-If you went back a hundred years or so, Wilsonianism was carried out by people like missionaries who thought that the way to make America safe was to make the rest of the world believe the way we do ........The neocons of today have sort of revived this older Wilsonian tradition
Q: What do you see as the neocons' biggest obstacles in the future?
A: They have the problem that all Wilsonians have. Wilsonians always want more foreign policy, in a way. If you think about democratizing the Middle East ... that's an incredibly tall order. That could take us a very long time. And it's not completely sure that everybody in the US is going to want to make those sacrifices ... especially if it involves troops, maybe not just in Iraq, but in other places ... some of whom will be getting shot at from time to time.
• Walter Russell Mead is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
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The Monitor asked award-winning author, US military historian, and self-described neocon Max Boot to discuss the extent of neocon power.
Max Boot: "I think neocons combine the best of the two dominant strains of US foreign policy thinking: Wilsonian idealism and Kissingerian realpolitik. They have Wilson's devotion to promoting democracy while at the same time recognizing ” as Wilson did not – that this often requires force"
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
Neither.
> Think back to 9-11-2001. This is when the story begins.
No it doesn't. The first Gulf War would be a more convenient date. Something we didn't need to get involved with and have been paying for ever since.
> Bin Laden was demolishing our embassies in Africa with huge death tolls and the cowardly Bill Clinton did NOTHING
Most unwise on his part as a leader and typically for him very selfish. As best I can figure he wanted to avoid anything that was risky to his poll numbers. He should have retaliated forcefully.
> Payback is a b***h and not responding is not an option.
I agree. Bin Laden and Co. think so too. The CIA call terrorist occurrences "Blowback." Meaning reaction to our policies.
As I stated a prudent foreign policy is trying to peaceable engage other nations or at least to avoid making mortal enemies. We have a habit of just the opposite. Since no connection between Saddam and 9/11 was ever established all one can say is that we took cynical advantage of our fight with Bin Laden to occupy Iraq so we can have a large permanent base from which to project force and dominate the oil flow to our benefit. Nice move for certain corporate types and megalomaniacs intent on remaking foreign societies but not something that will ensure safety for Americans. We just guaranteed may long years of bloodshed and sorrow. Nothing cowardly about pointing out the flaws of the foolish and greedy.
P.S. never voted for a democrat in my life. I have a natural born aversion to all things socialist which sadly now includes the GOP.
I have NEVER heard anyone 'speak' or even hint at such a thing.
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Please do a search on FR and google for keywords like empire, imperial, imperialism, colonialism and all the variants. You will find opinion columns from National Review, The Weekly Standard, The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic and a host of other sources from center left/center right (neocon) pundits who have been trying to whitewash these terms so we can get use to the idea.
Yeah, values like don't kill your people with NERVE GAS, don't INVADE your Neighbors, Don't MASS MURDER your own people, and use the resources of an entire NATION for your own pleasure, yeah, that is some really strange VALUES to try and FORCE on the REST of the WORLD.
Liberals, pulease get a life and a dogma that can't be laughed at.
dennisw: I have nothing more to discuss with you
Fine, don't discuss anything then but perhaps you should review the facts.
a) 1990 - Iraq is finished with a war against Iran and is deep in debt.
b) Kuwait is pumping more oil than allowed by OPEC agreement, deflating the price of oil thus hurting Iraq's already troubled economy and ability to repay it's debts.
b1) Kuwait is drilling sideways under their border taping into Iraqi fields.
c) Iraq does a lot of very loud saber rattling but the Kuwaitis do not cease and desist.
d) The US does not take the initiative to be a peace broker or approach OPEC members on the brewing trouble.
d2) The US ambassador to Iraq April Glasby actually tells Saddam that his dispute with Kuwait is not our concern thus giving him a green light for action.
e) Saddam finally makes a move against Kuwait and we scream like a stuck pig about how Saddam is the next Hitler and we need to "restore democracy to Kuwait".
f) We tell the Saudis they need us to protect them though they do not feel threatened. We say we have satellite photos of Iraqi armor massing on their border ready to overrun them. Other countries satellites show nothing on the border - theirs are released to the world - we stand by our story and to this day have not released our photos.
g) We assure the Saudis our bases will only be on their soil for as long as it takes to liberate Kuwait.
h) We leave Saddam in power and establish no fly zones over his sovereign territory telling him he has no rights there thus making sure we need permanent bases to counter him and thus never leave Saudi Arabia. In short we now have a permanent excuse to have our troops in theatre where they can project force.
i) Just an aside - the Soviet Union had collapsed the year before and was therefore in no position to object to our moving into the gulf.
Hate is irrational. It rots the soul and clouds the judgment thus disqualifying one from being a good or wise leader. Your policy outline is simply murder and theft. At least the neocon heirarchy whitewashes their statements with noble sounding bromides like benevolent global hegemony, Pax Americana and all that. You may be a soulmate of the neocons but don't expect a job as a pundit or diplomat from this crowd anytime soon. You do more harm to the cause than good.
You are incorrect. I do not hate anyone, nor have I advocated anyone's murder, nor theft of any kind. If you are familiar with the House of Saud you know that they were basically a mafia family picked by Chruchill and FDR to be The Corleones and rule the peninsula. There is nothing whatsoever royal about them, nor is there any link or claim to the lineage of Mohammed. They are the epicenter of global terror and must be removed from power. The experiment has failed. Moreover, oil is the lifebloo of Western economies and cannot be held hostage to despotic regimes whoch do not adhere to market forces. I am advocating the removal of the Ibn Saud Clan from leadership, the destruction of the flow of money to global terrorsm, and the disintegration of OPEC through removal of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the Emirates and Kuwait from its membership. No murder, no theft. Just rational foreign policy goals.
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