Neocon Architect Says: 'Pull it down' (Fukuyama Recants)

[Clara T]

Neocon architect says: 'Pull it down'
ALEX MASSIEIN WASHINGTON

NEOCONSERVATISM has failed the United States and needs to be replaced by a more realistic foreign policy agenda, according to one of its prime architects.

Francis Fukuyama, who wrote the best-selling book The End of History and was a member of the neoconservative project, now says that, both as a political symbol and a body of thought, it has "evolved into something I can no longer support". He says it should be discarded on to history's pile of discredited ideologies. In an extract from his forthcoming book, America at the Crossroads, Mr Fukuyama declares that the doctrine "is now in shambles" and that its failure has demonstrated "the danger of good intentions carried to extremes".

In its narrowest form, neoconservatism advocates the use of military force, unilaterally if necessary, to replace autocratic regimes with democratic ones. Mr Fukuyama once supported regime change in Iraq and was a signatory to a 1998 letter sent by the Project for a New American Century to the then president, Bill Clinton, urging the US to step up its efforts to remove Saddam Hussein from power. It was also signed by neoconservative intellectuals, such as Bill Kristol and Robert Kagan, and political figures Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle and the current defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld.

<snip>

Mr Fukuyama, one of the US's most influential public intellectuals, concludes that "it seems very unlikely that history will judge either the intervention itself or the ideas animating it kindly". Going further, he says the movements' advocates are Leninists who "believed that history can be pushed along with the right application of power and will. Leninism was a tragedy in its Bolshevik version, and it has returned as farce when practised by the United States".

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=266122006

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

1. too late asshat

:grr:

maybe you should have thought things through before singing onto the PNAC letters and helping them develop their ideas.

[file83]

18. Yeah, when Rich people make mistakes, like oh, say, overthrowing sovereign

nations, they say they are "sorry" and then expect everyone to forgive them.

But when a common person conspires to over throw a nation, they call him a terrorist and execute him.

Reminds me of this excellent animation I saw called "Pirates and Emperors". You should check it out - it's pretty good.

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

24. so true! thats a great animation

it deserves its own post :thumbsup:

[davekriss]

45. It's the Doctrine of Good Intentions...

...a commonplace propaganda ruse used by our glorious State to skirt by sticky issues (like illegal, aggressive wars leading to security-eroding quagmire). Chomsky often writes about it. The USG, well, they meant well, didn't they? Everything was for the best. In Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador in the eighties; Panama in the nineties; Afghanistan and Iraq now; Syria and Iran tomorrow. Our leaders always have the best intentions at heart, don't they. Shuuuuure they do!

[Auntie Bush]

89. They didn't even have the best intentions at HEART. Their best

intentions were pure GREED for money, power, control, conquest and EGO.

[worldgonekrazy]

107. Fukuyama was a fool that gave them intellectual cover

Really, how can a man so clearly brilliant be so ridiculously misguided? I'm glad he's seen the light now, but he gave these bunch of criminals intellectual cover to carry out their nefarious plans. What a stooge.

[specimenfred1984]

109. Bingo, It's a Pseudo-Intellectual Fraud

Now weakly being disguised as "best intentions".

Sorry fraudcon-neopigs, nobody's buying it, in fact it's what the whole world was saying before your imperialist murder-a-thon began.

[closeupready]

90. It does seem that way

sometimes.

[JackRiddler]

116. My thought exactly

Rat looking for porthole...

Mercenary academics understand that radical shifts every 10 years and sudden advocacy of controversial positions serves to shine up their reps, generates attention, provides bread and butter for the next decade (see: Hitchens; or for that matter most of the neocons themselves, who used to be Trotskyists).

[LiberalVoice]

2. You hear that you fucking freepers?!?!

Even THE architect of your ideals has said "it should be discarded on to history's pile of discredited ideologies". Fucking asshats :eyes:

Your whole world is crashing under you! Jump ship freeptards! Or drown with the rest of the rats you call politicians.

[htuttle]

8. David Stockman said that about Supply Side Economics

...but that didn't stop the Bush administration from presenting it as a viable economic theory.

[peacetalksforall]

12. Yeah, they resurrected a failure and got total freeper support. n/t

[katty]

104. ha! Good Intentions?! how about, Show Me the Money

[SmokingJacket]

3. I always thought he was too smart to be a PNACer...

finally he comes around...

[DemExpat]

9. My impression too.....

and at least he has the guts/honesty to admit he was wrong, something extremely rare with that crowd.

DemEx

[AlCzervik]

4. Now he says this, now? Feeling guilty is he?

[rodeodance]

65. gee, do you think he feels guilty enough to give his new books sales

$$ to some charity?

NO

[xchrom]

5. mr fukuyama should reconsile himself to the dustbin

of history.

there are an awful lot innocent dead iraqis paying for your epiphany.

[Canuckistanian]

6. I never knew it was a coherent "ideology" to begin with

It always seemed to be grown up little boys eager to throw their weight around and to use the might of the US to prove some kind of point.

I'm still not sure what that point is.

[Binka]

67. The Point? Surely You Jest? It's A Malignant Narcissist Pageant!

Here he is Mr NeoCon......

[high density]

7. No "Do-overs" allowed

I hope nobody buys this dick's book. Nothing can bring back the lives that the neocons have destroyed.

[RazzleDazzle]

10. HOLY COW

Color me DEEPLY surprised... and look at this stinging rebuke:

Leninism was a tragedy in its Bolshevik version, and it has returned as farce when practised by the United States.

Damned dangerous farce, but I do see his point.

I'll say something else. I strongly believe that when people come over to the light, shall we say, we should hold them accountable as necessary, but also welcome them. It's no small thing for someone to recant NeoConservatism, and it helps us immeasurably in several different ways. Let's not make it too difficult for people to come forward to DO such recanting.

[RazzleDazzle]

11. Oh, look -- here's a clue to the genesis of his recant

PNAC signatory Fukuyama: "everything to be regretted" in Iraq
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4520085#4520299
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/31/opinion/31fukuyama.html

[Turn CO Blue]

13. Another one unplugged from the Matrix. I'll take it.

I consider this no small reversal. Similar to Wolfowitz shedding tears over third-world poverty. I worry about those on this board who think that Neocons, converted Repubs (or indeed anyone) cannot be persuaded.

The ability to forgive is the highest virtue.

[tom22]

14. I tried to read the article

It was over written and very boring. This guy thinks he is a great thinker but is not, he is just a great blabber. I doubt if anyone pays attention to his writings in this administration.

[VirginiaDem]

36. Fukuyama wrote one of the 2 most influential

IR books in the post-Cold War era. Bush's entire foreign policy post-9/11 has been a direct function of Fukuyama's ideas.

They were listening.

And, for the record, Fukuyama is much more of a classic Liberal than a neocon. There are important similarities but he's been backtracking on the Iraq war for over a year now.

[cliss]

127. If I'm not mistaken - the Neo-CONs

were first allied with the Democratic Party, in the 1960's (?) with Mr. Strauss. Then, they jumped ship and moved into the Republican Bed.

It's really interesting to follow these neo-cons, after their first colossal failure. I read the PNAC documents, and they had many, many plans for the US and the world. Iraq was just the FIRST among many, many changes they had in store.

They couldn't even succeed in their first project.

Call me skeptical - I never believed in their "benevolent dictator" bullshit for a second. That was just a cover for what they really wanted (visualize foam hanging out of their mouths, now).....WORLD DOMINATION. That's right (glazed eyes) rule the world. NO ONE will oppose us.

Here's what's happened to those original big-mouths:

William Kristol - he's still around, publishing his toilet-paper rag the Weekly Standard. He's changed his tune, though. Now, he's busy blaming Bush and his fools on the failure.

Douglas Feith - he left the Pentagon when the heat got too high. Couldn't stand it eh?
Paul Wolfowitz - now the head of the World Bank. He said recently: "We should move forward, don't look back"> NO KIDDING<

[file83]

16. Yeah, but what's the next brilliant idea Mr. Fukuyama supports?

Is it something even more radical than neo-conservatism? Like, oh, say, Neo-Nazism?

[Donailin]

27. his epiphany is this:

"Radical Islamism is a by-product of modernisation itself, arising from the loss of identity that accompanies the transition to a modern, pluralist society. More democracy will mean more alienation, radicalisation and - yes, unfortunately - terrorism," he says.

"By definition, outsiders can't 'impose' democracy on a country that doesn't want it; demand for democracy and reform must be domestic. Democracy promotion is therefore a long-term and opportunistic process that has to await the gradual ripening of political and economic conditions to be effective."


Unfuckingreal. I, a lowly fucking housekeeper and single mom of three with no higher education realized that the moment they started beating the drum of war to Iraq. And I posted it on every godamned message board I could find to wake people the fuck up. But I was called unpatriotic and ostracized by people in my community. Now this guy gets a fucking conscience and because he's some goddommed genuis, we should buy his fucking books???

FUCK YOU, FUKUYAMA. Fuck you to hell. You are complicit in this god-forsaken hell that brought about on a nation of innocent people and our own men and women in service. YOU have blood on your hands and I pray that you are held accountable for war crimes just as the architects for the Final Solution were hunted down and tried.

[calimary]

29. Um... well, I was gonna add something, but this post says it all.

NOTHING more I could add to this. Except FUCK YOU, FUKUYAMA - from ME, TOO!

Hey, Donailin, a lowly stay-at-home mother-of-two and artist-in-her-own-mind could realize the same thing you saw, early-on. It's always mystified me - if I could figure this shit out, and smell such strong fishy smells, and all I do is read on the internet and chat with my friends, with NO connections to high-level insiders, power-brokers, or party bosses, WTF is wrong with these people?

You CAN'T export democracy at the barrel of a gun. Especially if you want those to whom you're exporting to be receptive. It's something THEY have to want, themselves, whoever they are, and that THEY have to be willing to fight/die for.

Nice of him to get it, finally, don't you think? Only 22-hundred and some American lives wasted completely, along with who knows how many lost limbs, and that's just Americans - not Iraqi civilians... :grr:

[susanna]

46. Best phrase ever...

"I, a lowly fucking housekeeper and single mom of three with no higher education realized that the moment they started beating the drum of war to Iraq."

As did I: a lowly married no kids career woman realized that the moment they started beating the drum of war to Iraq.

Well said, Donailin!

[hopeisaplace]

55. I'll add to that...

..a mother of 4 in Canada, running around with an insane life of tasks and responsibilities,
had the genius to figure this out while working,cooking,parenting and wifing *ahem*
You know, lately I've discovered why I've been so pissed about all this stuff..it's because
they think we're stupid. Politicians believe they can spin anything, anytime, anywhere,
and the public will bend over and say thank you. Getting played like a grand piano is
extremely insulting.

[rodeodance]

62. sigh---yes, his new book will sell.

....Now this guy gets a fucking conscience and because he's some goddommed genuis, we should buy his fucking books???

[rodeodance]

63. maybe PNAC will get a little press?

[SupplyConcerns]

102. I hope it sells

Because that means more publicity for this devastating turnaround.

[llmart]

69. WHAT YOU SAID!!!!

I second that motion! Your post is 100% correct. This pompous ass is full of himself. Intellectual my ass. Since when are neocons intellectual? They're self-serving bastards every last one of them.

[AnneD]

106. The great philosophical genius....

Gene Roddenbury said it years earlier. It was called 'The Prime Directive'. This guy needs to get out of the library and deal with people more often. As pennance for his war crimes, he needs to either go to Iraq with a mop and bucket or serve community service in the VA for 10 yrs.
Oh and proceeds from all his books go into a trust fund for children of the war.

[colorado_ufo]

115. Amen.

Anyone with common sense and a conscience could draw the same conclusion.

[arewenotdemo]

123. I'd turn every last one of them over to the families

of the Iraqis killed and wounded in THEIR war.

Those are the people that could rightfully forgive the neocons their atrocities.

And if I was one of those Iraqis, I'd want to hang them all.

[burythehatchet]

15. a day late and a couple trillion dollars short scumbag

Since I knew this about 5 years ago, maybe I should join a stinkin "think tank"

[Quetzal]

17. I thought Fukuyama opposed the War in Iraq

more aligned with the Pat Buchanan school of foreign policy.

let me find some links.

I take that back - he was a signatory to the PNAC letter to Clinton

http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm

[Jacobin]

31. Only after it went bad

[EVDebs]

50. Rent 3 Days of the Condor and then read when NYTimes published

the story in real life and who published first, the British (the story of how Nixon wanted to seize Saudi oil fields in '73...only today they went for Iraq instead)

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0102-01.htm

In the fictional movie with the NYTimes plotline as potential 'hero', in real life they don't publish and instead become an Operation Mockingbird cheerleader for whatever war du jour the Nixon heirs apparent wish to foist upon an unsuspecting public.

The neocons legacy will end up being voted out of office in '06 followed by the relief in '08 of a Democratic president ready to do the people's business. Free at last free at last, thank God Almighty, we'll then be free at last of this odious regime in DC !

[JWS]

118. He did oppose the invasion of Iraq

And he voted for John Kerry.

[GliderGuider]

19. Somebody gave that leopard an industrial strength bottle of spot remover.

Going further, he says the movements' advocates are Leninists who "believed that history can be pushed along with the right application of power and will. Leninism was a tragedy in its Bolshevik version, and it has returned as farce when practised by the United States".

Neocons cast as modern Leninists. Now THAT is delicious!

I wonder what their comeback will be?

[Igel]

28. There won't be any.

Many of the original neoconservatives were former radicals of a Leninist bent that brought over much of their tactics and strategy to a more conservative point of view. Hence "neo" conservative, as opposed to paleoconservative. This isn't a novel insight, and hard left partisans who used to share those radicals' PoV were usually the ones that have a harder time admitting it. It's easier now that any former connection with pro-Soviet or pro-Leninist views has been forgotten, and the USSR has been re-classed as fascist; we were pretty much all cold warriors, in hindsight.

The "Jewish conspiracy" view of neocons that some have is merely a warmed over "Jewish conspiracy" view of communists that the opposing camp used to have, for the same reasons, a good GTA (general term of abuse).

[TexasLawyer]

20. yes!

At end of article:

"Radical Islamism is a by-product of modernisation itself, arising from the loss of identity that accompanies the transition to a modern, pluralist society. More democracy will mean more alienation, radicalisation and - yes, unfortunately - terrorism," he says.

"By definition, outsiders can't 'impose' democracy on a country that doesn't want it; demand for democracy and reform must be domestic. ...

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

22. Direct from the "No Shit!" file.

[LynnTheDem]

25. ""By definition, outsiders can't 'impose' democracy..."

NO DUH.

Gee, a 5 year-old could figure that out. Many did.

[Jacobin]

32. Only took a trillion $ mistake and 100s of thousands dead for

him to figure this out?

Why does anyone even listen to this dweeb?

[shanti]

43. of course it took trillions

that's what it was all about.

[A Simple Game]

81. But they don't care about the trillions,

because it is mostly debt and they plan on having nothing to do with the repaying of the debt, those trillions are ours. They care about the billions in profits that have been made from that debt, that is theirs, and they have it now.

[IronLionZion]

84. NO, it is definitely ALL ABOUT THE TRILLIONS

They did it to give trillions in no-bid contracts to their corporate buddies. Not just Halliburton, Bechtel, and Parsons either. There are a lot of companies involved in this, and most are overcharging. We need to be on this like white on rice.

[A Simple Game]

88. For us, the people who will repay the debt, yes it is all about

the trillions.

But I will restate that they have no plans to help repay the debt. They, along with China and others, are making money from financing the debt.

So they use their money to help finance the debt and make more money from interest on the debt plus war profits, nice work if you can get it.

[susanna]

47. God, that sounds like me...

...to my Republican-matrixed family. You can't force democracy folks - and that is a no-brainer. I am astounded that people - any people - do not see that. Democracy by force is an oxymoron (or something like that).

[IronLionZion]

82. Funny how ordinary folks on DU figured that out long ago

And terrorism was not a serious problem for the US...until Bush took office.

In the two attacks during Clinton's time, WTC and OK City, they arrested and convicted the assholes who did it. Yes, and they got Ted Kaczinski the Unabomber too.

Al Qaeda attacked us while Bush was in charge, no convictions yet. Al Qaeda wasn't even a problem in Iraq until Bush invaded.

It's shocking that sensible liberal Democrats would subscribe to the neocon philosophy. Assholes like Paul Wolfowitz and other prominent neocons came out of the staff of flaming liberal Scoop Jackson D-WA.

[IndyOp]

21. So, can he bring back the people who died as a result of these asshats?

Idiot rich boy, clueless son-of-a-bitch. Your ECONOMIC THEORIES have life and death consequences!!

:nuke: :nuke:

[henslee]

23. So this complete disregard for the future of mankind was an experiment?

[The Witch]

26. If he was in with PNAC, might he know something?

As in something that could cast light on any MIHOP theories?

Recruit the man. Now. :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat:

[file83]

33. Recruit? Torture him! Beat it out of him!!!!

I'm only kidding.

[mitchum]

30. Too late, motherfucker...

there's wall space waiting for you

[calimary]

83. There's wall space, AND HELL space, both.

My husband and I were speculating last night on which lower (or maybe the plain ol' lowest) level of Hell, these guys would wind up burning in.

I'm sure the moms and dads who have yet to dry their tears and clean out their lost loved one's rooms and give away his(her) belongings will feel comforted by these words.

The ultimate arrogance in this just makes me scream!!

Going further, he says the movements' advocates are Leninists who "believed that history can be pushed along with the right application of power and will. Leninism was a tragedy in its Bolshevik version, and it has returned as farce when practised by the United States".

The ARROGANCE!!!! Thinking THEY could push history along with the right application of power and will. They sound just like the christofascists who think they can force the Hand of God and bring on the End Times - on THEIR schedule, rather than God's. HOW DARE THEY?!?!?!?! Who the FUCK do they think they are?

One thing, guys, I do have to point out... Any time you find yourself thinking you're gonna have something to answer for in the afterlife, just be grateful. NOTHING you'll be confessing to St. Peter will EVER match the multiple mortal sins these guys have on their souls. NOTHING. They literally will be paying - FOREVER.

[regnaD kciN]

34. Let's cut the crap...

In its narrowest form, neoconservatism advocates the use of military force, unilaterally if necessary, to replace autocratic regimes with democratic ones.

Let's be honest here...in its narrowest form, neoconservatism advocates the use of military force, unilaterally if necessary, to replace "difficult" regimes with ones that will bow to American and corporate-capitalist hegemony. Any noble-sounding rhetoric about "democracy" and "human rights" is merely window-dressing for the real neo-con agenda.

:spank:

[Binka]

68. Take A Bow Beautifully Said

I love your work BTW. I will email you when I get back home about which piece I would like to purchase. I live in Sicily and I hope shipping internationally will not be too difficult.

[dufrenne]

35. His book

the end of history and the last man is definitely worth a read - mind blowing. Read it in high school. Very though provoking.

[VirginiaDem]

37. Very good, influential book

in which he argues that democracy is something of a last stage because there are no suitable alternatives and it does the job well enough to satisfy the individual's inherent need for respect.

Fukuyama's getting a bit of a bad rap here. Sure, he supported the Iraq war but he has been backtracking for quite a while; that's a lot more than can be said for most neocons. And he's not a neocon, really. He's a classic liberal who got caught up in the moment.

He had a famous running debate, maybe in Commentary, with Krauthammer over the Iraq war that started quite a while back. He took the neocon-against position.

Fukuyama wasn't the only person wrong about the war and it didn't take him that long to honestly change his mind and come out against it. It's not his fault that nobody's paid attention until now.

[Peace Patriot]

126. "The End of History" was a piece of crap--wishful thinking by the rich

that history will end now that they have all the marbles. Intellectual ass-kissing drivel for the fatcats. Well, "history" is rushing on, and leaving Fukuyama and his elite snob readers behind. In South America, for instance, there is a huge socialist revolution occurring--with virtually the entire map of South America turning "blue" over the last several years--leftist governments elected by solid majorities in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Venezuela and Bolivia, with Peru likely next (and this revolution is moving north into Mexico as well). The common theme of these governments is that democracy must include ECONOMIC FAIRNESS or it is as meaningless as a Fukuyama theory or a Bushite's "Christian" ethics. They oppose U.S. imperialism and U.S.-based global corporate predators. (Bolivia threw Bechtel out of their country for privatizing the water in a Bolivian city, then jacking up the prices to the poor--and then elected their first indigenous president, Evo Morales, partly on the strength of that grass roots movement.)

Democracy AND ecumenic fairness. THAT is the future. Not this warped so-called democracy that we have here in the U.S., of, by and for giant corporations and war profiteers--who are now (thanks to Tom Delay and Bob Ney) even control the tabulation of our votes with 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code--code so secret that not even our secretaries of state are permitted to review it--owned and controlled by two rightwing Bushite corporations, Diebold and ES&S. THAT is Fukuyama's "democracy." Capitalism run absolutely rampant--cheating, squeezing, thieving from and killing the poor, using people as cannon fodder and slave labor, looting the country, and destroying every good thing we ever created for our communities and our nation, from FEMA to Social Security to the EPA to the Geneva Conventions.

The Iraq War is the INEVITABLE result of the DESTRUCTION of our democracy by our corporate rulers. It was not a "mistake." It was not a theory gone awry. It was not "Leninism" turned into a "farce" by the Bush junta and its insane Neo-Cons. This is what happens when democracy itself becomes a farce--and power is determined by corporate-controlled, blackbox voting. The utter corruption and mayhem that has been created started way back in the Reagan years with the Reagan tax code rewrite, favoring the rich, the destruction of the nation's savings and loan institutions, and the dramatic escalation of the cost of political campaigns and in the filth of the campaign contribution system. The corporations started buying our government big-time back then. Diebold/ES&S (secret vote counting by Bushite corporations) is the coup de grace. They don't even have to buy it any more. They pick who runs and who wins.

It just makes me want to screech with laughter at Fukuyama's notion that the Bush junta had even the slightest intention of "democratizing" the Middle East. They are right now selling our port facilities to the goddamned sheiks of the United Arab Emirates--a fundamentalist theocracy! They dine with Prince Bandar. They are in the pockets of the Saudi royals--who bailed Bush out of his failed oil business. They flew the Bin Laden family out of the country to safety in the days after 9/11! They have supported every odious dictatorship in the Middle East, including Saddam Hussein. And they are in cahoots in Ahmed Chalabi, one of whose henchmen was an operative of the torture-loving Shah of Iran, who oppressed the Iranian people for 25 years (after the U.S. and Israel destroyed Iran's democracy in 1953).

A "mistake"? A good intention gone wrong? A misunderstanding about how democracy happens--that you can't impose it on people? What crap.

[dchill]

38. It's not really an idology, anyway.

It's a conspiracy of greed, advanced by a gang of chickenhawk nancyboys who talk big and send the poor off to die. Not ideology so much as tradition.

[Clara T]

39. Just a small thought

Fukuyuma is intelligent in the sense that he can use polysyllabic gibberish to pontificate in pretentious and punctilious manner the necessary position papers to prop up empire in the halls of academia hence garnering numerous acolytes who mindlessly regurgitate his facile meanderings.

In short an asshat.

BTW I know quite personally one Fuku's purported best friends, if these cretins even have such a thing, who claims to be a 'liberal' and is definitely a Bush-hater. All of them are elites and easily fungible intellects who really aren't that bright.

[daleo]

49. Fungible intellects

That's good.

[A Simple Game]

85. And with all of his polysyllabic gibberish, Fukuyuma still doesn't

get it. Getting rid of Neoconism in the end won't solve the problem, neoconism was and is only the means to the end. Not that neocons aren't a problem, but the end is the bigger problem, and it is called fascism. I believe that the neocons are just being used by the real villains, the fascists.

(polysyllabic gibberish) I really like that.

[wookie294]

40. This is WICKED news !!

This news will EXPLODE within Republican and neoconservative circles. I am starting to get PSYCHED about the end of the Bush cabal. It feels like CHRISTMAS again!!

[rodeodance]

64. oh, i think I will hold back for a bit.

[emald]

121. christmass that a lot of good people have died for

[hatrack]

41. Let me suggest a title for his next book - "The End of Relevance"

:evilgrin:

[leesa]

42. War crimes trials are looming, eh, asshole?

[TroubleMan]

44. "Backsies!!!"

That was a Colbert Report "The Word" subject a couple of weeks ago. He should probably revisit it with this one.

[daleo]

48. He must not have long to live

They start to come around sometimes, near the end...

[UpInArms]

51. I want this SOB's head on a pike and paraded through the streets

so that the people of this country can throw rotten tomatoes at him and ridicule him for his horrible "theory" and he can rot in hell where he belongs.

:nuke:

[The_Casual_Observer]

52. WTF is the Scotsman anyway??

Scotsman was linked all the time with up to date Iraq stuff back in the day. Good to see it again here.

[Historic NY]

53. Doesn't work that way Mr. Fukuyama the blood is already on your hands.

You subscribed to the philosophy, which has caused thousand of deaths and untold suffering. May you have many sleepless nights.

[killbotfactory]

54. Aw shucks, back to the drawing board!

Boy is his face red!

[alfredo]

56. Rats leaving sinking ship?

Looks that way.

The only way they can rehabilitate themselves to any degree is to push for impeachment, and war crime charges against all of the major players in this administration.

[rman]

66. My thoughts exactly, meaning he's still a rat

Deception is what neocons do.

[alfredo]

111. Not deception

"Noble Lies" :sarcasm:

[rman]

125. oh right, thanks for the correction. nt

[leveymg]

76. In that case, he should surrender himself at the US Attorney's Office

If he really wants redemption and rehabilitation.

[alfredo]

112. And name names

[Ben Ceremos]

57. Hey Francis,

GO FUCKYOURMAMA!!!

[deadparrot]

58. My International Relations professor made us read this for class.

He's a little late to the party, but I'll take what I can get.

[Shelor]

59. Link to a very long piece by Fukuyama from this past Sunday's NYT

Read him denouncing the neocons in his own words.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/19/magazine/neo.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

[DemExpat]

61. Interesting!

Thanks,

:hi:

DemEx

[NorthernSpy]

60. This is wonderful! It'll bring all those killed in Iraq back to life!

Well, at least Fukuyama finally noticed that ship's going down, and it's time to find a raft. Some of them haven't figured that out yet.

[lakeguy]

70. "oopsie, sorry about that" says frances

fuckmeintheass. great, now that you asshats have admited guilt, pay us back the 3 trillion that bush has run up the deficit and also hire some people to write new laws to fix all the ones georgie broke. i'd also like a new bike.

[LynnTheDem]

72. I want my dead friends back.

Have I mentioned lately how much I despise bush & Cabal, the MFing war criminal bastards?

[lakeguy]

101. yes, more important than the money...

are all the dead and maimed people, and their families.

[susu369]

71. Fukuyama is listed as member of Advisory Committee

for the Scooter legal defense team (they are currently raising five million big ones for Scooter 'cause his good name has been attacked).

Trust him? Not me.

http://scooterlibby.org

[leveymg]

75. Exactly, when he resigns we'll reconsider things. Til then, he's a neocon

Kool-Aid vinter, not just a Kool-aid drinker, but a recognized authority and estate bottler for the neocon crush-kill-destroy approach to the remnants of non-assimilated humanity. The End of History and the Last Man, indeed.

Sorry, Francis, there are still billions of us out here who still live and make history and feel our connection and responsibility to our fellow man, including the less priviledged. Your New Global Order yearnings have been proven nonsense.

[blindpig]

73. Does that make him "better" than Henry Kissinger?

He's never been sorry for anything.:puke:

[Tin Man]

74. K&R. Barometric pressure plunging - political hurricane coming ashore

...and I ain't talkin 'bout Katrina.

When noted PNACer Fukuyama admits he was wrong... the house of cards will soon tumble. Unfortunately for the rest of us, it's gonna be a "long hard slog" to straighten out the mess they've made.

[PATRICK]

77. Admirable if it wasn't so predictable

so early on. It ALWAYS seemed the PNAC jingoist nationalism was a pollyanna cover for naked private enterprise interests. the farce was that in its intent and origins the whole PNAC reality was a setup, most of its signatories second rank dupes that set up the road to collusion and surrender to simple fascism. ALL and I mean all ideologies and bases and interests down the ladder would be betrayed and those on the top pursuing this evil path for the dominion of select anti-democratic, anti-American cliques would themselves go down to destruction some time or other.

And yes, all the concepts, the analogies so bejeweling this convert's speech have been said in these forums years ago, so obvious their application, so deadly the proofs. So abysmal the predictable and enthusiastic disaster.

That was foreseeable as well as the utter nonsense the PNAC burbling was anyway. In milder hands this sugar coating on all the traditional evils of imperial corporate US policy was still rotten to the core and doomed. Bush has been so bad they moved from his mishandling to his bungling to the utter discrediting of every flaw Bush has pushed beyond its limits in the destruction of real American values and sane, just behavior. And forget the real future rushing past us on all sides compared to that cartoon update of the nineteenth century gilded age. Too late the books and counter warnings by people little suspecting such lunacy would be actually implemented. As obvious as the death of empire and hegemony as a viable concept in today's world, it was the drugged that held the temporary reins of physical power.

This apology is wondrous since I little thought any dunderhead charmed by such drivel could be capable of some small personal redemption.

Yet give credit to the human spirit even in that benighted elitist group of virtual warriors. Even there sanity can dawn like a crack in a windowless cell.

[valerief]

78. I guess when he incites to tear away liberties it's called free speech

But when Cindy Sheehan wears a tee shirt, it's called inciting a riot (or something similar).

[bluerum]

79. Whoopsie - sorry about that. eom.

[Ganja Ninja]

80. I thought neocon's were going to fix everything?

Now this one says they're going to fix everything they fixed! Thanks but No Thanks!

What this country needs right now is for neocon's to surrender all their wealth and possessions to cover the debt they've saddled us with. Then they should crawl off and die under a rock somewhere.

[centristo]

86. i haven't seen this on FR yet

gee, i wonder why...

[Earth_First]

91. You're right, 3 hours later, and no mention of Fukuyama

FR must have their heads spinning overtime these past two days.

[Dr Ron]

94. Because He's A Liberal

By definition anyone who disagrees with Bush is a liberal and therefore should not be listened to.

[Dr Ron]

87. Kerry Was Right: Fukuyama Stealing From Him

John Kerry: "Wrong War, Wrong Place, Wrong Time"

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0906-02.htm

Francis Fukuyama (above article): However, Mr Fukuyama now thinks the war in Iraq is the wrong sort of war, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

[rustydad]

92. Look folks

Fukuyama and the rest of the neocons didn't *lead* us into Iraq with their bullshit fantasies of democratizing Muslims. Even if they themselves might believe they were in charge, they in fact were not. The real powers, the real movers and shakers, were fine with letting the neo cons play in leadership roles. So what is the real why? It always comes back to OIL, that is Peak Oil. We are building massive permanent military bases in Iraq. We are fomenting civil war in Iraq. Our military is planning on controlling the flow of ME oil for as long as it flows. And the last drop of oil will go to fill the military needs. The neo cons are a hapless bunch of intellectuals and unwittingly serve their masters. Bob

[politicaholic]

97. I would really dispute that it's ALL oil...

George HW Bush is an extremely powerful man with a place on the board of the Carlyle Group, a company who's board of directors is a line up of some of the most powerful international conservatives of any company that exists today. Yes they represent oil and have a huge amount of influence over the administration, but they are also brokers of the United States as a whole.

The United States has been sold. Sold to and sold out to the international community unbeknownst to the American public (Clinton, for example, sold a large portion of the American wholesale economy to China). That means that American policy is beholden to numerous outside influences. Just like China takes its share, the middle east will take its share the most profitable way possible.

George W Bush and his administration are just grabbing as much of the table scraps as possible, just like the Carlyle Group. Until an honest diplomat with no international business interest or monetary vestage in the dismateling of the US is elected President, the US will remain a raveged carcass until the last maggot has picked it clean.

[Dr Ron]

108. I'm not sure if it was really all oil

I agree that spreading democracy was not the reason for Bush going in. It is an excuse he came up with later.

However, I'm not sure if it is really all about oil (although that certainly is part of it). I suspect that much of Dubya's reasons for going to war are for even less meaningful reasons, such as knocking out Saddam to do what daddy couldn't do.

[leeroysphitz]

93. "the danger of good intentions carried to extremes".

GOOD INTENTIONS? Just what intentions is this f@cker refering to?

Was it the PNAC "intention" to shamelessly EXPLOIT the deaths of 300+ Americans on 9-11 for the purposes of embroiling this country in a "perpetual" war? Was THAT one of the "good intentions"?

I'm confused on this point.

[tomg]

95. While I never could abide

Fukuyama's position (from when it first came out around 1992), and I find the concept of American exceptionalism unbelievably arrogant, in all fairness 1) he started distancing himself from the Bush administration after 9-11; 2)he was opposed to the Iraq war; 3) he started calling for the resignation of Rumsfeld almost two years ago; and 4) in July of 2004 he said he would not vote for Bush because of the Iraq War.( quick check with google, or just go to Wikipedia, and then the article).

This is not meant to excuse anything (and I am amazed he is on the Scooter Libby Defense Team - now that's a great reason to pile on him- in fact, there are other reasons to seriously disagree with the guy), but if he were a Democrat in the House of Reps, and he started this stuff about two years ago, I think our reactions might be different. Yes, he was an architect of the neo-com movement. Yes, one is responsible for the consequences of one's ideas,and those ideas were used to invade Iraq ( I say this as an old conscientious objector with a young relative in Irag). Two quick points: a few weeks ago, there was a thread on Mo Hinchey ( Dem rep. in New York)( http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2091445#2094893) to the effect that he said Bush didn't want to capture OBL. A lot of people piled on him for finally "getting a clue." Mo's been saying stuff like that for years. Just because I hear about it today doesn't mean they haven't been saying it for awhile. And the second point, even if he said it all today, - yes there is responsibility and such, but in a case like this, at least for me, "better late than never."

[Amonester]

96. Fuk U, Yama HA!

Now:, get this, a$$hat: How about the current Global Warming "point-of-no-return" that's about to "consume" us all in a few years?

Oh.... Mi$ter Intellectual ain't seen it comin' to bite his behind$ at all!

Fukutwit! :mad:

[Uncle Joe]

98. Three wrongs do not make a right.

"However, Mr Fukuyama now thinks the war in Iraq is the wrong sort of war, in the wrong place, at the wrong time."

<snip>

This next quote should have been as elemental as fire hot, ice cold.

"By definition, outsiders can't 'impose' democracy on a country that doesn't want it; demand for democracy and reform must be domestic. Democracy promotion is therefore a long-term and opportunistic process that has to await the gradual ripening of political and economic conditions to be effective."

Kicked and recommended

:kick:

[degreesofgray]

99. How could such an "influential intellectual"

have had his head so far up his ass to begin with? Neoconservatism was a farce from the start, and that it takes someone of supposed great intelligence so long to see the folly of unilaterally invading other nations is ridiculous. He ought to be ashamed of himself (something Rumsfeld, Cheney, et al, will never be).

[mb7588a]

100. Fukuyama has never been right,

he's just upset that neoconservatism has changed from his original ideas - philosophers hate that.

[calimary]

105. He's probably also upset that the perverted attempt to carry out his

stated philosophy is working as well as the original campaign to sell the Edsel. It fucked up royally. So - denounce it and prance around like you suddenly "got religion." Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter if he opposed the war. Doesn't matter if he decided somewhere down the line that it wasn't such a good idea. What matters is - he helped launch this Push into Hell. He was one of its architects. It wouldn't even be a campaign now, or an idea worth pushing if it weren't originally for people like him thinking it up and bringing it forward.

The post above about rats and sinking ships - spot-on. Maybe that's what he is - a rat deserting a sinking ship. But that doesn't suddenly transform him magically into a dolphin or an eagle. HE'S STILL A RAT. And as such, he's still capable of coming up with more ratty ideas.

[arewenotdemo]

124. Totally agree.

"Doesn't matter if he opposed the war...he helped launch this Push into Hell."

[Clara T]

113. It's a requirement

"How could such an "influential intellectual" have had his head so far up his ass to begin with?"

To gain such influence ones ideas must be in confluence with those who hold the keys to power. For those who pull the levers then deem these "great thinkers" "great" and the position papers take hold through such inbred influential academic circles.

Fukuyama isn't that bright any more so than Wolfowitz, Perle etc. they just create new linguistically tortured documents that buttress the walls of Empire.

[wrate]

103. Its failure has demonstrated the danger of STUPIDITY carried to extremes!!

" and that its failure has demonstrated "the danger of good intentions carried to extremes".

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

110. Good stuff!!! Intellectual honesty turns...

...up in the darnedest places.

[yorkiemommie1]

114. kind of hard to UNring a bell!

this idea has infected too many minds.

[JWS]

117. Francis Fukuyama is NOT a neo-con

Francis Fukuyama is an International Relations theorist of the Neo-realist school of thought, this is vastly different from Neo-conservative. Realists (i.e. Robert kagan), Neo-realists (kenneth waltz), and Neo-liberals (Nye, and Keohane), have long been critical of so called neo-conservative doctrine.

End of History was an excellent article on globalization and its impacts, in fact Fukuyama has long been considered the creator of the way we think about globalization today, and End of History began the globalization debate. To somehow tie him to the doctrine of wolfowitz, rumsfeld, etc., is not just merely incompetent but intellectually insulting.

[goforit]

119. Fukuyama!!!...OMG!! (sounds like****) This guy authored the Patriot act

He can't back out now!!!

He's got alot of penance to pay for....and he's NOT off the hook!!!

He's a creator of ARMAGEADON!!!!

[emald]

120. fools commit crimes and then cry for forgiveness

"ohhhhhhh, pleeeaaassseeA" they shout, give me forgiveness, I did not understand the consequences. Bull fucking shit. Anyone advocating this illegal administration, anyone who helped enable it, should be shamed right out of the country, if not put into prison for the rest of their pitiful lives. Francis Fukuyama deserves to be in prison for sedition. SEDITION. Working to destroy what was once a great country. Mother fuckers have pissed me off now to the very limit. Anyone with a bushit sticker on their car better not be in sight of me. I'm looking for revolution, you fuckers. I'm looking for you, your lurking freeptards. Bring it fucking on. Time to kill a bad idea, and the people who brought it about. I'm that mad. Bailing off a sinking ship you helped build because the construction was faulty means you deserve to drown. Time for revolution again. Wipe these idiots off the earth. Liars. Cheats, and killers. FUCKING CRIMINALS WHO DESERVE TO BE IN PRISON FOR SEDITION. This ugly administration is beyond explanation, their policies criminal and selfish. Bushit himself should be hung by the neck until dead, the worthless fucker. HE IS STILL AWOL, A FUCKING DESERTER.

okay, I feel a little better now, sorry about the venting if it offends anyone. But it's time for action, not words. Time to smash this ugliness so it will never appear again for a very long time.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

122. He hasn't asked for forgiveness...

He hasn't even acknowledged his role. Fukuyama merely says he can no longer support neoconservatism because of the way it's evolved, as if he was blameless.

The whole lot of them should relinquish their wealth to those who've been victimized by their arrogance and spend the rest of their lives serving those left homeless, childless and orphaned in this wreckless folly.

[Miss Chybil]

128. Kick nt