MetaFilter posts tagged with neocon

Seventy-five years of Bonnie and Clyde

Guy_Inamonkeysuit — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:34:38 -0800

But have they become tools of the Left? Seventy-five years on, the murderous pair is still provoking comment. This time, from neocons.

Or have we eaten on the insane root that takes the reason prisoner?

The Whelk — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:09:04 -0800

“Josephine had practically every desirable personal characteristic, except wisdom and mercy.” Gee, that sounds like she actually isn’t a nice person at all! Gary Brecher (previously) reviews Banquo’s Ghosts, a political-minded spy thriller from National Review editor Richard Lowry and novelist Keith Korman. Lowry describes it as an "episode of “24″ written by Proust. " Bonus Conservative Potboiler Review: Matt Taibbi on William F. Buckley's Tucker's Last Stand.

"forward, forward I say"

adamvasco — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 02:18:10 -0800

"Fog of War" cited by United States Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad. He was speaking to journalists to clarify reports concerning his unauthorised contacts with foreign government officials, among them Asif Ali Zardari; a then contender to succeed Pervez Musharraf as president of Pakistan. Earlier this year he was being touted as a possible successor to Hamid Karzai as President of Afghanistan as seen in these two articles. So who is Zalmay Khalilzad? Neo con and oil businessman. From Scourcewatch "Just as oil industry conflicts of interest have not been a concern for the Bush administration in its appointments, Khalilzad's historic support for the Taliban seems not to be either..." and "Even as the Clinton administration was beginning to recognize the repressive nature of the Taliban regime and its links to [Osama] bin Laden, Khalilzad called for U.S. engagement with the Taliban. 'The Taliban do not practice the anti-US style of fundamentalism practiced by Iran...' Some more profiles: - Wiki and rightweb and Democracy Now and Emperor's Clothes

Iraq was just the beginning.

FeldBum — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 00:43:13 -0800

Iraq was just the beginning. According to retired General Wesley Clark, a top-secret memo detailed a plan for “taking out” seven countries in five years, ending with Iran. Wesley Clark: I said, “Are we still going to war with Iraq?” And he said, “Oh, it’s worse than that.” He reached over on his desk. He picked up a piece of paper. And he said, “I just got this down from upstairs” -- meaning the Secretary of Defense’s office -- “today.” And he said, “This is a memo that describes how we’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.” I said, “Is it classified?” He said, “Yes, sir.”

Torture innocents or suffer the consequences.

bitmage — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 09:32:18 -0800

Torture innocents or suffer the consequences. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) expounded yesterday on the process of 'extraordinary rendition' where suspects are flown to foreign countries outside of US law, so they can be tortured for information. He's got no problem with it, even if innocents are involved. [more inside]

In Defense Of Foreign Policy Reptiles

Sticherbeast — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:01:16 -0800

Learning From Ike: What a Republican realist could teach George Bush. "If we hope to succeed, we manage evil. We minimize, mitigate, and manipulate evil. But efforts to pre-emptively eliminate evil are prone to end in overreaction and destabilization, with consequences that are often worse than the original problem."

The End of the End of History

unSane — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 19:15:15 -0800

"The End of History was never linked to a specifically American model of social or political organisation... I believe that the European Union more accurately reflects what the world will look like at the end of history than the contemporary United States." Francis Fukuyama, one of the leading lights of the canonically neoconservative Project for a New American Century, jumps ship. Via.

Blaming Bush

digaman — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 15:27:31 -0800

Now they tell us. Neocon hindsight is 20/20. War architect Richard Perle on invading Iraq, 2002: "We have no time to lose, and I think the president understands that and it's probably taken too long already, but I don't think it'll be much longer... Support for Saddam, including within his military organization, will collapse at the first whiff of gunpowder.... Now, it isn't going to be over in 24 hours, but it isn't going to be months either." Four years later: "If I had been delphic, and had seen where we are today, and people had said, 'Should we go into Iraq?,' I think now I probably would have said, 'No, let's consider other strategies'... Could we have managed that threat by means other than a direct military intervention? Well, maybe we could have."

Feith-Based Judgement

digaman — Sun, 08 May 2005 12:50:21 -0800

"Expertise is a very good thing, but it is not the same thing as sound judgment regarding strategy and policy. George W. Bush has more insight, because of his knowledge of human beings and his sense of history, about the motive force, the craving for freedom and participation in self-rule, than do many of the language experts and history experts and culture experts." -- From a fascinating profile of Douglas Feith, undersecretary of Defense, and one of the main architects of the war in Iraq. From the New Yorker.

“Welcome to our website of the rock-band, The Trumpet Call!”

MaxVonCretin — Sun, 24 Apr 2005 10:22:27 -0800

“Welcome to our website of the rock-band, The Trumpet Call!” No sir, this ain’t yer daddy’s apocalyptic Russian-American-Born-Again-Christian-Neocon hair metal. Rock out to "September 11", "Britain Say NO! to Brussels," and the wholly inexplicable “Sacramento" - "Musical sacred place of the USA!”

On The New American Militarism - How Americans Are Seduced By War 2.0

y2karl — Sat, 23 Apr 2005 16:33:43 -0800

At the end of the Cold War, Americans said yes to military power. The skepticism about arms and armies that pervaded the American experiment from its founding, vanished. Political leaders, liberals and conservatives alike, became enamored with military might. The ensuing affair had and continues to have a heedless, Gatsby-like aspect, a passion pursued in utter disregard of any consequences that might ensue. Few in power have openly considered whether valuing military power for its own sake or cultivating permanent global military superiority might be at odds with American principles. Indeed, one striking aspect of America's drift toward militarism has been the absence of dissent offered by any political figure of genuine stature...

The Normalization of War and New Boys in Town - The Neocon Revolution and American Militarism are two excerpts from Andrew J. Bacevich's just released The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War, concerning who and which there was a previous post here.

I love quizzes...

trinarian — Wed, 20 Apr 2005 01:17:37 -0800

Are you a Neo-Conservative? Another well designed and researched quiz that gives results you might not expect. Even at only ten questions, it's surprisingly accurate because the density of possible responses serve to counter transparency. Consider taking some other less silly online quizzes when you're done. Try staples like the Myers-Briggs and World's Smallest Political Quiz or some Blue flashbacks like the BBC's Sex ID, Belief-O-Matic, or the Europa Dart game.

We're So Outta Here! Good Luck, Dudes

digaman — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 07:40:56 -0800

Condi's plan for Iraq: cut and run. Conservative columnist Robert Novak -- the same guy who hung Valerie Plame out to dry -- launches the media campaign to prepare the US electorate for withdrawal even if, as he puts it with exquisite understatement, "what is left behind does not constitute perfection." (I'll say.) US commander Gen. George Casey seems to be on the same page.

Paging Father Merrin

billsaysthis — Sat, 19 Feb 2005 14:11:36 -0800

Help Wanted: Exorcist Although I would prefer more Monarch Butterflies, their utility is more visible to me, but perhaps we're just seeing an evolution of the god gene. David Brooks, apparently moving away from his neocon pals, has posted a different help wanted ad while some triumphant right wing Evangelicals are planning a different kind of recruiting .

And Bush claims to protect liberty

Bag Man — Wed, 30 Jul 2003 09:18:40 -0800

Bush looks to ban gay marriage and implies gays are "sinners." I'm not surprised; I guess the neo-cons got jittery when Bush refused to do their bidding and have asked for the value of their campaign contributions.

Embarrassing Correligionists

MiguelCardoso — Sat, 05 Jul 2003 14:58:42 -0800

Oh, I So Wish So-And-So Were On The Other Side! Just move over, dude! For conservatives, it's often the case that our allies are a damn sight worse than our worst so-called enemies. Here's a prime example, extremely rare in its totality: an embarrassing piece by an embarrassing neo-con, John Laughland, about an even more embarrassing neo-con, Michael Ledeen, in a totally embarrassing magazine, American Conservative. Do liberals and lefties have it any easier? Who are the Center's and the Left's most difficult-to-explain compagnons de route dudes? Quite honestly - and although they're certainly not immune to the exquisite unease of political companionship - I enviously fear that they do.

Mister, that sure is one big baby...

troutfishing — Thu, 12 Jun 2003 10:59:07 -0800

Drowning the government in a bathtub - "My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub." Thus spoke Grover Norquist, of Americans for Tax Reform. "The lunatics are now in charge of the asylum", quipped the conservative UK Financial Times. Hardly, says Paul Krugman. The strategy?: "Instead of challenging popular liberal programs directly, the Republicans are creating fiscal conditions that make those programs unsustainable." [lead post, Am. Prospect]. In other words, the 400 billion dollar deficit, coupled with the Bush tax cuts, is designed to shift the obligations of the Fed onto the States and, later, to cause a fiscal train wreck after Bush is out of office.

NeoConservatism in a Nutshell

thedailygrowl — Wed, 12 Feb 2003 23:48:50 -0800

NeoConservatism in a Nutshell! Lately I've been researching the NeoConservative movement and stumbled upon this European website which is by far the best overview I have encountered. Be sure to read the end called The Dangers for Europe. Here is a little tidbit - "What ought to be of concern to Europeans is the fact that Americans are being indoctinated into beliefs which many Europeans (particularly those who are old enough to remember the 1920's and 1930's) would characterise as extremely dangerous.... A country considers itself at war against an ill-defined foreign enemy who threaten its way of life. To protect itself against this enemy, civil liberties are abrogated, arrest and detention without trial are introduced and the state creates a secret police which can spy on citizens and foreigners alike. The state allies itself with big business to protect its way of life and promote national security. Public opinion is manipulated so that dissent from the "national purpose" becomes socially unacceptable. Those are the conditions which Europeans will recognise as the precursors of fascism. "