The New Neocons

The left wing of the War Party raises its ugly head

by Justin Raimondo, May 13, 2009

"...... When Bill Clinton was in power, Weekly Standard editor William Kristol organized an ad hoc think-tank/advocacy group known as the Project for a New American Century, which ceaselessly agitated for war with Iraq and a policy of "regime change" throughout the Middle East. In coordination with like-minded folks over at the American Enterprise Institute, publications such as the Weekly Standard and National Review, plus influential columnists such as Charles Krauthammer and Max Boot, the neocons led the charge as we careened into the Iraqi quagmire. It took them a good decade, but in the end they succeeded: both major political parties are now committed to their program of endless military intervention in the Middle East, with the only differences being tactical.......

The establishment is facing a popular uprising on several fronts, and foreign policy is no exception. There is a general, though inchoate, rebellion against the idea that we have to intervene all over the world, especially given our present economic straits. The Iraq war has soured a new generation on the idea of America as a world-savior, as Vietnam did the previous one, and the left-neocons pushing the Af-Pak war are facing an uphill fight in the long run, although they may hold the temporary advantage of serving under a popular president.

It’s early yet, and already voices are being raised – on the Left as well as the anti-Obama Right – against the widening of the Afghan war and the incursions into Pakistan. Yet the War Party has one big advantage......"