Time to End the Neocon Con Game

[laststeamtrain]

consortiumnews.com

Time to End the Neocon Con Game

By Bruce P. Cameron
December 17, 2009

As Washington’s long debate on the Afghan war unfolded, one group had an unhealthy advantage though – based on its record – it should have had no influence at all. These are the neoconservatives, and they have captured The Washington Post’s editorial pages along with other outlets of elite opinion.

Over the past three decades, the neocons have carved this important place for themselves in Washington by purporting to stand for liberal values, such as democracy and human rights, while using those worthy goals to justify the frequent use of military force.

For the neocons, war also is not just a last-resort option. Rather, it is how they have gained – and how they maintain – their prominence. When the United States is at peace – or without a war looming – the neocons are at a loss.

<snip>

On the Iraq War, the neocons were the ones who gave inspiration to two of their own, L. Paul “Jerry” Bremer, head of the occupation, and Douglas Feith, Under Secretary for Policy in the Defense Department, who was responsible for day-to-day Pentagon operations in Iraq in 2003.

In eight days – after the U.S. invading force had ousted Saddam Hussein’s government – Bremer and Feith changed the whole tenor of the occupation from a quick get-in and get-out to a complex nation-building scheme that was designed to bring free-market “democracy” to Iraq.

Bremer and Feith did this by abolishing the Iraqi army and the civilian bureaucracy, thereby placing American solders in the middle of a Sunni insurgency that followed soon afterwards.

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http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/121709a.html

[applegrove]

1. There seem to be lots of people in the USA who like to think in black and white. In fact they

are taught to think that way by the GOP instead of thinking like adults. The neocons love to grow people down...just like psychopaths do.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

2. YES YES YES

THE GOP IS TOXIC

[Goldstein1984]

3. Labels are very confusing

The labels "liberal" and "conservative" are oddly intermingled with the overlapping philosophies of political "neoconservatism" and economic "neoliberalism." The first makes use of war, overt and covert, to spread U.S. political interests; the second is basically a policy of free-market, privatization, cuts to social spending and deregulation. The two work hand-in-hand. Our support of the military coup in Chile to displace a socialist President was accompanied by a push of Chicago School economics (neoliberal economics). Naomi Klein, in her "The Shock Doctrine," does a great job of documenting how man-made or human disasters provide opportunities to force rapid change on a frightened and disoriented people.

In a nutshell, it's imperialism. It is no wonder that Hugo Chavez received a standing ovation when he condemned capitalism and imperialism. Of course, the condemnation was directed at the United States, which is perceived as the empire in question, thanks to decades of neoliberalism and neoconservatism.