May 17, 2006
by Jesse Toler

There has been a lot of talk these days about the projection of American power throughout the globe. Much of the rhetoric from the left focuses on hidden agendas, secret rites and ancient cults controlling our national destiny, mostly through manipulating foreign policy. In my research looking or a common thread that made sense, passed logical muster, and made good reading under scrutiny, I came across the Project for the New American Century, which instantly captivated my attention and alarmed me all at once. I was rapt.

NewAmericanCentury.org is where I found the conception of the NeoCon philosophy. It was both brilliantly coherent and deceptive in its pronouncements and suggestions. Born in the pages of the Weekly Standard [et al] from the notion that 'might, morality and mastery' are the cornerstones of American preeminence, that Bill Clinton was some kind of Manchurian Candidate, and that underspending, rather than overspending, is the real threat to national security. Most if not all of the protagonists are enthusiastic hanger-ons from the Reagan Administration who long deeply for "Reaganite assertion of American power and morality." Hubba-hubba, have we learned nothing from the swan song of the Roman Empire and the Soviet Menace? Someone over there ought to read a book.

In the Statement of Principals for the New American Century published in 1997, familiar names like soon-to-be Vice President Dick Chaney, former Vice President Dan Quayle, soon-to-be Undersecretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, soon-to-be Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, William Bennett of of the Heritage Foundation, even Steve Forbes and Florida Governor Jeb Bush signed onto a cabal of very powerful and well financed conservative thinkers entirely devoted to one narrow aspect of conservative ideology, that is to say military power, with little regard to the consequences, realities on the ground or outcome. For the NeoConservative, having and using the American War Machine is reward enough. Since then, the Neoconservatives have gone so far as to agree with or convince the Bush administration that war and occupation in the middle-east are 'generational commitments.' Can you believe it, occupation is being spun so far as to call it a 'commitment'?

On January 28th, 2005 the Neoconservatives submitted to congressional leadershipa letter outlining their view of the United States military generally, and the occupation in Iraq specifically. To sum it up, the authors write,

"The only way to fulfill the military aspect of this commitment [the occupation] is by increasing the size of the force available to our civilian leadership [that means a draft]."

There is nothing like a good ole' fashion war to get the hawks thinking 'why stop there'? I happen to think that the only way to fulfill the military 'commitment' over there is to get the Iraqi security forces trained, paid and on the job so the guys who signed up for one weekend a month and two weeks each Summer can finally come home.

As far back as 1998 NeoConservatives were desperately trying to drive the Republican party even further into the right-wing, if that is even possible. Missile defense is a prime example. The NeoConservative policy is to ignore our own borders, all the while spending tens of billions of tax payer dollars to defend us against the fallen Soviet Union. If these 'Reaganites'are worried about getting evaporated by a 'nuke, they need to take their eyes off the skies over the North Pole, and get their eyes on the ball down here. If the heat and ash of a nuclear mushroom cloud is eminent, it'll be towed across the Southern border in the back of a pick-up truck, hiked through the Arizona desert or sailed into San Diego Bay in the hull of a million dollar yacht. Most likely under Saudi Arabian colors.

During the presidential elections of '04, it was no surprise that the NeoConservatives declared vociferously against John Kerry. The Vice President went so far as to say that,

"If we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again -- that we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States."

The implication being that a Kerry win would mean the end of life as we know it. Its dangerously paranoid.

NeoCons have a lot to say about the war on terrorism as well. Leading NeoConservative intellectual and author William Bennett is nothing less than daring in his comments on the war in Iraq, Central Asia, and American foreign policy in general. A few noteworthy mentions come from Heritage Lecture #819, where Bennett makes several misleading or false statements in defense of the broken 'Bush Doctrine' and preemptive war. For example, he declared that Iraq no longer 'officially harbors terrorists' when in fact Iraq never did. Terrorists may have been in Iraq, but that is a far cry from being a guest of Saddam Hussein or that Saddam's government had knowledge of their whereabouts. That's like blaming President Bush for 9/11. In Afghanistan, for instance, Bennett claims that 'The Taliban is finished' when in fact not a day goes by that we don't hear of another Taliban attack on coalition forces. Former Ambassador to Morocco Marc Ginsberg, in an interview on Fox News September 18th 2005 commented at length that the Taliban is now strong enough to seek political power in the fragile government of Harmid Karzai. Where is William Bennett getting his information from, the White House? You gotta wonder if while applauding loudly while Bennett lectures, some of his audience isn't looking sideways at the face of the person sitting next to them.

The coup-de-gras that has me wanting to fling myself out of a window or jump under a bus comes from the sophomoric way Bennett, and others, dismiss Usama Bin Laden as 'living a troglodyte existence on the run.' Usama Bin Laden has become no less than an outlaw hero of epic proportion that makes Jesse James and Han Solo look like breast feeding infants. Usama and his jihadist disciples are hardy enough to elude the United States in some of the harshest ground on Terra Firma, and planed 9/11 with the rarest of cunning that makes the world's most skilled secret operators green with envy. Underestimating these professional and dedicated assassins is the mistake that led to 9/11, and its a mistake the current administration and its NeoCon apologists keep making.

My final observation in this article is the NeoCons references to the successful occupation of Germany after WWII and comparing it to that of Iraq to explain away the insurgency and chaos as temporary, without recognizing a much different set of events leading to much different circumstances. The crux of his argument is that if we occupy the country long enough, something good may happen.

Jesse Toler [send him email] is an activist and freelance writer in Southern California.