The Neocons are Back Again for More!

You may be familiar with Foreign Policy Initiative and directors William Kristol and Robert Kagan. And you may be familiar with FPI’s 25 February 2011 open letter to President Barack Obama. Forty-five former U.S. government officials and assorted foreign policy experts, including the likes of Paul Wolfowitz, Max Boot, John Podhoretz, and Randy Scheunemann (foreign policy advisor to both Palin and McCain) chimed in. The letter advised President Obama and NATO to develop operational plans to urgently establish a presence in Libyan airspace. The letter was expansive beyond its initial request.

The same quartet—Kristol/Kagan/Wolfowitz/Scheunemann—was the lynchpin of the 1997/2006 Project for the New American Century. The Project was known for its interest in U.S. world dominance and full spectrum dominance. Other names from the Project included Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Frank Gaffney, Robert Kagan, John McCain and Richard Perle. The Project clearly was a fan of regime change.

If all of this is new to you, then maybe it will now be a little clearer to you why so many vested interests come down hard on Ron Paul, the one man running for president who is willing to take a hard-line stand against the neocon crowd. The neocon base is wide, powerful, and well funded. It is the lead horse for the entire military/industrial complex that has allowed America to get embroiled in one life-costing military boondoggle after another, from South Korea to Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan. None was a good idea beforehand, and all were or are disasters upon historical review.

You may be aware that Afghan leader Karzai has now stated (as reported by Reuters) that Afghanistan would support Pakistan in the case of military conflict with America. Are you the least bit surprised? You should not be, as this is how things have historically gone in Afghanistan. Alexander the Great found out. The British found out. And the Soviets found out. Each found out the hard way. History is abundantly clear in all cases. And yet, due to foolish and reckless positions taken by George Bush and Barack Obama, Americans have followed a mistaken course. America has had 10 years to read Afghan history, but has learned little. And still the neocons push forth, and American presidents follow.

Now we have Libya and a temporary victory lap for President Obama, who, bypassing the Constitution and Congress, moved unilaterally on Libya. I urge you to read Michael Hastings’ report, Inside Obama’s War Room. I clearly was not at the White House on Friday, March 18, to corroborate Mr. Hastings’ findings, but in a nutshell here is the core of the issue. The president at this point had not gotten constitutional authority from Congress for aggression in Libya. So congressional leaders were summoned to the White House to converse. Well not much conversing was done. Mr. Hastings reports that, after reading off some prepared talking points, the president exited, telling the assembled congressional leaders to check with his advisors should they have any questions. Well Clinton and Gates were both present and offered little. The Pentagon and Gates, in fact, were not enthusiastic about the mission, questioning among many things the political road map moving forward. Later, Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich asked, “Is this an impeachable offense?” Americans have a chance in 2012 to put our country back on course to a constitutionally strong Federal Republic. We shall see.