Friday, March 31, 2006

Confessions Of A Neocon Rabbi by Bruce Dollin

When Jesus comes again, Ted and I will have a long talk about theology. In the meantime, the Evangelicals are pro-Israel, philosemitic and stand for the same religious moral values that we Jews do. The Evangelicals are our friends and we shouldn’t take our friends for granted.

So bring on the neocons; let’s straighten up this world and keep it habitable for free human beings. If that means Kristol, Wolfowitz, Haggart and the Republicans, they have my vote.

I just wonder what I am going to tell my congregation. n

The Lobby Strikes Back by Justin Raimondo

The same trope is continued and expanded on with Max Boot's contribution to the debate, in which he conjures the ghost of Richard Hofstadter, departed neocon scholar of "The Paranoid Style in American Politics," which sought, back in the early 1960s, to show that "right-wing agitation" (i.e., mainstream conservatism) was a psychopathology, rather than a bona fide ideology, consisting of little more than paranoid fantasies brought on by acute "status resentment." Hofstadter, in turn, was simply carrying forward and applying the "social science" of Theodore Adorno, the Marxist sociologist who famously diagnosed opposition to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's policies as evidence of an Oedipal "father complex." So far, it's the same old malarkey, minus the footnotes, until, at the end, Boot bares his teeth:

Public Continues to Sour on Bush's Crusade by Jim Lobe

In an echo of other polls taken over the past year, the latest survey, which was sponsored by Public Agenda, an independent group headed by Yankelovich, found deep skepticism about the administration's efforts to spread democracy abroad, a theme that Bush himself returned to Wednesday in a major policy address to the neoconservative Freedom House here Wednesday.

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Neocon Forever War Plan Creeps Forward by Kurt Nimmo

“The real question is not whether the American military can topple Hussein’s regime, but whether the American public has the stomach for imperial involvement of a kind we have not known since the United States occupied Germany and Japan,” wrote the Straussian neocon Lawrence F. Kaplan prior to Bush’s invasion based on deception. Soon enough, we may be told—as tankers aflame block the crucial Strait of Hormuz, bottlenecking access to the most important substance in the world, oil—that we must donate our children or ourselves and “fight and die” for “God and country,” or at least to preserve our way of life, even as the Straussian neocons work behind the scenes to destroy it and elevate themselves to the status of Machiavellian princes.

Iraq: Neocon Strategy Is One of Civil War by John Walsh

One of the abiding myths about the war on Iraq is that the neocons were too stupid to realize that they would confront an unrelenting, indigenous resistance to their occupation of Iraq. Unwittingly, the story line goes, they led the US into a conflict which has now produced a civil war.

Making the World Safe for Christianity by Ron Paul

The top Neo-Con of the twentieth century was Woodrow Wilson. His supposed idealism, symbolized in the slogan “Make the world safe for democracy,” resulted in untold destruction and death across the world for many decades. His deceit and manipulation of the pre-war intelligence from Europe dragged America into an unnecessary conflict that cost the world and us dearly. Without the disastrous Versailles Treaty, World War II could have been averted – and the rise to power of Communists around the world might have been halted.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Neo-con cabal blocked 2003 nuclear talks by Gareth Porter

The George W Bush administration failed to enter into negotiations with Iran on its nuclear program in May 2003 because neo-conservatives who advocated destabilization and regime change were able to block any serious diplomatic engagement with Tehran, according to former administration officials.

The same neo-conservative veto power also prevented the administration from adopting any official policy statement on Iran, those same officials said.

Fasten Your Seat Belt by Justin Raimondo

Well, now it has been brought on, and in spades – and that's just what the neoconservatives in the administration were hoping for. Phase two of their war to "liberate" the Middle East is about to begin – and it promises to be far bloodier, and to encompass a much bigger battlefield, than the initial stage of what Haney calls the third world war.

Actually, the proponents of launching this twilight struggle call it "World War IV," as Norman Podhoretz and his fellow neocons would have it. World War III was the Cold War, which they wanted to turn hot, and the fourth, they hope, will be a "war of civilizations" – which, in their view, is already in progress.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Israel Lobby driving US foreign policy by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt

The neo-conservatives, too, lost no time in making the case for regime change in Tehran. On 6 May, the AEI co-sponsored an all-day conference on Iran with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and the Hudson Institute, both champions of Israel. The speakers were all strongly pro-Israel, and many called for the US to replace the Iranian regime with a democracy. As usual, a bevy of articles by prominent neo-conservatives made the case for going after Iran. 'The liberation of Iraq was the first great battle for the future of the Middle Eas. But the next great battle not, we hope, a military battle will be for Iran,' William Kristol wrote in the Weekly Standard on 12 May.

Monday, March 27, 2006

Another Prominent Military Figure Denounces NeoCons, Iraq, War on Terror by Steve Watson

Haney also described the climate of fear and repression that the NeoCons have brought down upon America and its people, and the rapid shift into authoritarian governance after 9/11:

For the first thing, our credibility is utterly zero. So we destroyed whatever credibility we had. ... And I say "we," because the American public went along with this. They voted for a second Bush administration out of fear, so fear is what they're going to have from now on... this administration has worked overtime to divert the American public's attention from [Iraq]. Their lies are coming home to roost now, and it's gonna fall apart.

Neocons: Russia in Cahoots with Saddam by Kurt Nimmo

As we know, the Straussian neocons have it out for a large number of nations, most notably in the Islamic Middle East, but also in Latin America. North Korea, China, and Russia also figure prominently on the neocon lit list. According to neocon heavyweight Frank Gaffney (president of the Bush connected Center for Security Policy), China is engaged in “fascistic trade and military policies” and Russia’s Putin is “accelerating authoritarianism at home and aggressiveness toward the former Soviet republics.”

Government of fascist neocons is a danger to the world as well as US citizens by Bob Chapman

As William River Pitt says Bush is deranged, disconnected and dangerous. What can you do with a group of elitist nutcases who create insurgents faster then our forces can kill them?

These elitist neocons are arrogant dictators incapable of debate, because they don’t believe in it or decent. They rely on disinformation, lies and subterfuge. What kind of government is it that relies on torture, murder and illegal spying even on its own citizens?

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Late in the game, a neocon finds disillusionment by ANDY DIAZ

It might seem like an elaborate and ironic joke that talk of Marxism and Leninism has recently been bandied about to frame a schism in the neoconservative ranks. But the characterizations are rather appropriate.

The Leninist camp is reluctantly argued by Bill Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, who, in his support of regime change, essentially believes that the world is what America makes of it, and an active intervention from the ''benevolent hegemony'' is necessary to drive nations toward liberal democracy. Francis Fukuyama, in his new book, picks up the Marxist point that he made in his influential and controversial 1989 essay The End of History?, that democracy ``is likely to expand universally in the long run.''

Neocon ambitions and the spectacular disaster of Iraq by ERIC S MARGOLIS

What was to have been a jolly, self-financing little war promoted by pro-Israeli neocons to ‘liberate’ Iraq’s oil has cost over $500 billion so far. That’s $50 billion more than the Vietnam War’s total cost (in 2006 dollars). Clearly, the US armed forces are too expensive to send to a war lasting longer than a few months.

Francis Fukuyama: The end of history man

A salient fact about the neoconservatives is that they were outsiders. Fukuyama's chapter on the neocon legacy ought to be compulsory reading for every Bush-hater, lucidly explaining how the movement arose among left-wing intellectuals at City College of New York. From working-class immigrant backgrounds, many were excluded from elite universities and many were Jewish. Fukuyama shares elements of that background.

BUSH THE IMPALER: PLEADING WITH THE IMAMS FOR HELP IN IRAQ

My guess, given Washington's stated, and longstanding, desire to overthrow the Iranian government and the mullahs behind it, is that Iran will opt for the status quo, which is keeping U.S. forces bogged down and tied up in Iraq. I suspect that as gutless as the Pentagon brass have been about protesting about the misuse of the military by the Bush neocon whackos, they will rebel at being ordered to add an Iran war to the current list of conflicts that have stretched the military to the breaking point.

Friday, March 24, 2006

Are the neocons losing it? by Pat Buchanan

But it is a March 20 essay in the Wall Street Journal that suggests the neocons may be coming unhinged. Written by Weekly Standard executive editor Fred Barnes, the piece urges Bush to begin the "rejuvenation of his presidency by shocking the media and political community with a sweeping overhaul of his administration."

The purge Barnes recommends would have caused Stalin to recoil.

Why have both the US and the UK have given Iran the materials it needs to go nuclear? by Steve Watson

We have continually warned that the next target on the NeoCon checklist is Iran.

It seems almost inevitable now that the NeoCons will launch targeted military strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities. Whether Israel goes alone or has US support seems beside the point.

However, former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hinted that he could consider a pre-emptive air strike against Iran's nuclear installations if he were to be re-elected.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

"A Model Democracy Is not Emerging in Iraq"

Francis Fukuyama was a life-long neo-conservative prior to the election of the Bush Administration. The Iraq war led him to change his mind. SPIEGEL ONLINE spoke to Fukuyama about the US handling of Iraq, the moral superiority of America and Europe's dangerous addiction to anti-Americanism.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

The War Party in Disarray by Justin Raimondo

It isn't looking so good for the War Party. As things fall apart on the ground in Iraq, a similar process of disintegration is occurring on the home front. It seems as if there are almost daily defections from the ranks, and – as the blame game gets underway – our war birds are turning on each other, with Donald "Super-Stud" Rumsfeld, once hailed as the War Party's answer to George Clooney, now in the neocons' crosshairs. As for our commander in chief, his poll numbers are at an all-time low, and he seems to have retreated so deeply into a world of delusion that not even the outbreak of full-scale civil war in Iraq can shock him out of his mental catatonia.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Mission Improbable by Scott McConnell

But the differences are worth noting. The Iraq War was an intellectuals’ project, and the neoconservatives pushed it vigorously. Republican resistance was minimal. On Iran today, there isn’t the same lockstep momentum. For instance, in early February, the American Enterprise Institute held an event devoted to the Iranian nuclear issue—a packed room, a charismatic right-wing senator (Kansan Sam Brownback) as keynote speaker, panelists who had been championing a hard line against Tehran for years. Representatives of various Iranian exile groups circled the room, while AEI’s resident blonde war goddess, Danielle Pletka, presided. And yet no one on the podium could bring himself to say that an American military solution had much chance of successfully resolving the problem.

Fukuyama's Fantasy:Comments On Kakutani's Review of "Democracy, Power and the Neoconservative Legacy by Thomas Riggins

This book could well be subtitled “Right Wing Hegelian Wakes Up.” Fukuyama [hereafter FF] you might recall authored “The End of History and the Last Man” (1992) in which he elaborated his own version of neoconservatism predicting the final victory of U.S. style “liberal democracy.” He is now a critic of at least three neocon theses which he formerly shared with the likes of Paul Wolfowitz, Allan Bloom, and William Kristol among others according to Kakautani. FF is now questioning “preventive war, benevolent hegemony and unilateral action.” He has written a powerful critique of Bush’s aggressive war in Iraq from a conservative point of view. So, there is dissension in the ranks!

Monday, March 20, 2006

Neocon Advocates Civil War in Iraq as 'Strategic' Policy by David Duke

Now the Neocons are beginning to advocate for civil war in Iraq quite openly. The clearest statement of this strategy as yet comes from pre-eminent Neocon and ardent Zionist Daniel Pipes. In a recent piece in the Jerusalem Post, Pipes spills the beans. He writes:

“The bombing on February 22 of the Askariya shrine in Samarra, Iraq, was a tragedy, but it was not an American or a coalition tragedy. Iraq’s plight is neither a coalition responsibility nor a particular danger to the West. Fixing Iraq is neither the coalition’s responsibility, nor its burden. When Sunni terrorists target Shi’ites and vice versa, non-Muslims are less likely to be hurt. Civil war in Iraq, in short, would be a humanitarian tragedy, but not a strategic one.”

Are You About To Nuke Iran? by Ingmar Lee

The ramp-up rhetoric to an Iran attack now issuing from the White House is reaching an all too familiar fever pitch. Can anybody doubt that BushCo. is preparing to attack Iran? From what we've heard before, the White House Neocon cabal is telling us very clearly that they have planned, and are about to execute an attack on Iran any day now. We've all heard this same rhetoric before, which culminated in the unilateral 2003 attack, invasion, victory declaration, subsequent occupation and ongoing torture and masssacre, and now spiralling descent into the morass of the BushCo forces in Iraq. The history of BushCo. tells us that, having lost its case for multilateral action at the UN Security Council, the USA will proceed, once again without UN sanction, to attack. This attack may well include a nuclear component for which they have been preparing. Two weeks ago, British and American physicists detonated a brand new kind of nuclear blast, "Operation Krakatoa" in Nevada.

The Lobby by Justin Raimondo

The Lobby's efforts to get us into war with Iraq are detailed, and the role played by the neocons within and outside the administration is examined with unusual candor. The central role played by neoconservatives is described, and the timeline of their triumph is explained. While they had some limited success in furthering their agenda of regime change in Iraq during the Clinton years, the authors describe 9/11 as the turning point. Key individuals are named: Dick Cheney and his staff, especially the now-indicted [.pdf] Scooter Libby, and former Undersecretary of State for Policy Douglas J. Feith, a co-author of the notorious "Clean Break" document. Without the Lobby, the authors conclude, the decision to go to war would have been far less likely.

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Horowitz Neocons Push False Left-Right Paradigm by Kurt Nimmo

As an example of how muddy the political waters are these days, consider Ben Johnson, managing editor of David Horowitz’s FrontPage Magazine, writing Paul Craig Roberts off as a conspiracy-mongering UFO-chaser because Roberts stated the obvious—the United States will eventually attack Iran as it attacked Iraq. “The Roberts-Raimondo-Rockwell wing of conservatism has become the nexus where extremist fantasies of Left and Right converge into a toxic mixture of venomous lunacy,” writes Johnson. “The ‘Old Right-New Left Alliance’ dates back to Murray Rothbard’s protests in the Vietnam era but revived during the rise of Pat Buchanan-style protectionism and isolationism; 9/11 has given it a new vibrancy altogether.” In fact, Raimondo and Rockwell are Libertarians and Roberts and Buchanan are paleoconservatives, that is to say real conservatives, not Trotskyite Straussian neocons, as we can only assume Johnson is as the managing editor of an avowed neocon online magazine.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Powerful neocon brotherhood begins unraveling by Jim Lobe

The Washington foreign policy elite finds itself on pins and needles awaiting a response from the neoconservative heavyweights at the Weekly Standard magazine to a scorching denunciation by one of their most venerable fellow travelers, Francis Fukuyama, in Sunday’s New York Times magazine.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Bush Reaffirms Ties With Leading Neocons by Jim Lobe

The staunchly neoconservative Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), one of the most hawkish groups on the "war on terror" since it was created two days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against New York and the Pentagon, has often taken strident positions against Arab and European allies whose cooperation has been sought by the administration itself.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

A Requiem for Gonzoconservatism by Martin Kelly

Perhaps the remaining faitful do not yet realize that Richard Perle, one of the greatest gonzocons of them all, has strayed from the reservation. Richard Breeden called Perle a "faithless fiduciary" to Hollinger Inc.'s stockholders, a term that now describes his role in gonzoconservatism.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Rove Vows Forever War by Kurt Nimmo

Karl Rove, the Donald Segretti understudy of dirty tricks and political sabotage, told the gathered at a Republican fundraiser at Bowling Green State University the administration will not pull American troops out of Iraq until victory is won, the Associated Press reports. It should be obvious the United States will never achieve "victory" in Iraq and the situation grows more dismal with each passing day, but the neocons and their operatives create their own reality and we are here to follow along. Rove is not simply preaching to the faithful in Ohio, and his avowal of "victory" in Iraq is basically a rhetorical device. Karl Rove is telling us what the neocons have in mind—a generational conflict, a Thirty Years’ War, perpetual war for perpetual death merchant profit. Bush’s neocons, followers of the fascist Strauss and Schmitt ideology, fully intend to not only reshape the Middle East, but American society as well.

He combines the commitment of an American neocon with the cultural sensitivity of his Islamic background by Julian Borger

It is easy to see why Mr Khalilzad is essential to the US effort in Iraq. He combines the commitment of a Washington neoconservative with the cultural sensitivity of his foreign roots. He is a Muslim, born in 1951 in Mazar-i-Sharif, where his father was a middle-ranking civil servant married to an illiterate but strong-willed woman who appears to have been a significant influence on his life.

Friday, March 10, 2006

Iraq Invasion: A Straussian Mistake? by Kurt Nimmo

In Stuart Rosenberg’s classic film, Cool Hand Luke, Strother Martin, playing the Captain of Road Prison 36, tells Luke Jackson, played by Paul Newman: “What we have here is… failure to communicate.” As I read the news this morning, I am reminded of the film and this memorable line. Rupert Cornwell, writing for the Independent, tells us “the neo-conservatives who sold the United States on this disastrous war are starting to utter three small words. We were wrong.” Cornwell cites the examples of William Buckley, Andrew Sullivan (described as “an influential commentator and blogmeister”), the “patrician conservative columnist” George Will, Francis Fukuyama, Zalmay Khalilzad, and the disgusting William Kristol, all who apparently have second thoughts about the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

NeoCon allies desert Bush over Iraq

These are the right-wing intellectuals who demanded George Bush invade Iraq. Now they admit they got it wrong. Are you listening, Mr President?

Dubai and Demagoguery by Justin Raimondo

America does a lot of business with Dubai – a fact that La Huffington considers evidence of "corruption." Apparently she'd much rather we just bombed them. After all, if the UAE is the hotbed of terrorism she and her allies in the War Party make it out to be, then why not invade, occupy the country, and root out the bad guys? Huffington will never address these issues, because it would expose her utter hypocrisy and spoil her fun: now that Bush shows signs of wanting to wind down the war in Iraq, and the neocons have turned on him, Arianna and the Weekly Standard can share in the joys of Bush-bashing.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Is the Neocon Dream Dead? by Christopher Orlet

These are hard days for the neocons. There are defections left and right (well, mostly right). Those who remain on board seem as wobbly as Kate Moss after an all-night coke binge. Last month Francis Fukuyama -- always an irresolute neocon -- formally severed all ties: "Neoconservatism, as both a political symbol and a body of thought, has evolved into something I can no longer support." At home the Venerable Buckley pronounced the Iraq War a lost cause. Andrew Sullivan offered a mea culpa to his readers in Time. ("The shock of 9/11 provoked an understandable but still mistaken over-estimation of the risks we faced.") Abroad, the Hamas victory in the Palestinian elections gave critics more ammo. Given the choice in a free and open election, Palestinians opted for a terrorist organization. Iraq, the cliche-mongering press reminded us, "teetered on the brink of civil war." To some it appears the neoconservative moment is over.

Daniel Pipes Finds Comfort in Muslims Killing Muslims by JOHN WALSH

One of the abiding myths about the War on Iraq is that the neocons were too stupid to realize that they would confront an unrelenting, indigenous resistance to their occupation of Iraq. Unwittingly, the story line goes, they led the U.S. into a conflict which has now produced a civil war. But this simply does not fit the facts. The neocons clearly anticipated such an outcome before they launched their war as Stephen Zunes documents in Antiwar.com:

Iran's Deadly EMP Weapon Latest Neo-Con War Fraud by Paul Joseph Watson

From the same snake oil salesmen that brought you 45 minute attack claims, dodgy dossiers and weapons bunkers that were bakeries, comes the shocking new threat that could knock America back into the stone age, Iran's deadly EMP weapons.

Fox, CBN News, World Net Daily and others are running for the hills Y2K style in their madcap efforts to warn the American people that we must strike Iran before they unleash the apocalyptic fury of EMP.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Thomas Jefferson is Rolling Over in His Grave by Kurt Nimmo

Of course, these are simply high profile pretexts, as the Straussian neocons fully intend to go after all enemies, that is to say anybody who criticizes their draconian and fascistic policies.

Since the neocon éminence grise is the ghost of Leo Strauss, who was influenced and mentored by the Nazi jurist and theoretician of dictatorship, Carl Schmitt, none of this should be particularly surprising. For Schmitt, and thus Strauss and eventually the Straussians, “the key to successful prosecution of warfare against such a foe is demonization. The enemy must be seen as absolute. He must be stripped of all legal rights of whatever nature. The Executive must be free to use whatever tools he can find to fight and vanquish this foe,” as Barbara Boyd notes. For Schmitt, the ruler, “not the Constitution, is the sovereign. The most guidance a Constitution can provide is the stipulation of who can act in such a situation.”

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

An Insider's Guide to the NeoCon World: Get ready to meet the wolves of fate by Melinda Pillsbury-Foster

As demonstrated by revelations on the much maligned competence and foresight of Michael Brown and the treatment alloted to Scooter Libby all of you supposed NeoCon Insiders should pause to reflect on the reality you presently face. You may think you are a NeoCon Insider but if you were only brought on board as recently as 2000 you are most probably not.

Monday, March 06, 2006

The neocon temptation by Pat Buchanan

There may be a better description of what is happening in Iraq than the words of Yeats. It does not come to mind.

Before President Bush ordered Gen. Tommy Franks to invade, four forces held Iraq together: Saddam's regime, the Baath Party, the secret police and the army. The conquering Americans, as has been their way from Sherman to LeMay, smashed them all.

Can We Fix Iraq? by Karen Kwiatkowski

Fix Iraq? We cannot do it, we should not do it, and we must not insist upon trying to do it. It’s not our job, and we have no right. Sadly, it’s not even our responsibility. Americans were told nothing but lies before the invasion of Iraq, and still can’t get the truth out of the White House about this never-ending occupation. Neoconservative advisors can’t even agree on why they wanted the war, and now they’re dropping from the team like day-old houseflies over occupation-theory conflicts. Americans have only a single solemn responsibility – to end it.

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Wolfowitz at the World Bank by MOHAMED HAKKI

In an article on the eclipsing fortunes of the neocons vis-à-vis Bush foreign policy, the Wall Street Journal said: "In the past year, the ranks of the neoconservatives within the administration, who moulded the American response to 9/11, have grown thin and their influence has ebbed." It mentioned the departure from key policy-making positions of some of the administration's most prominent neoconservatives. Some of them left in disgrace, others left their jobs for other Bush appointments. Perhaps the most interesting of these career changes involves that of former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who was promoted for his role in the Iraq war to president of the World Bank.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Where are the Reds and Pinks of "Stop the War on Iran" on the Crimes of the IRI Regime? By Shirin Neshat for Persian Journal

Now I freely admit that war between the United States and Iran is frought with risk and potential tragedy beyond human comprehension, including the danger of a mushrooming expansion of such a conflict into a 3rd World War. I also acknowledge that American conservatives like Pat Buchanan and my friend, Mark Dankof, have also sounded the alarm on the dangers of the use of a preemptive military policy against Iran. But it is equally true that the deterioration of the situation between the West and Iran which might end in such a cataclysm is the direct result of a collective policy of wholesale appeasement of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) on the part of Western governments, mass media, and academics.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

The S.O.B. Has to Go - Yeah, But Which One? by Douglas Herman

Okay, let’s ask ourselves one pertinent question. Which Neocon is doing a fine, honorable job for America and deserves accolades? Which BushCo employee has acted honestly like a public servant in the last five years, for the betterment of the good old USA and her Constitution? ANY nominations?

US troops want out of Iraq by Jim Lobe

In anticipation of these desertions, as well as declining public support for the war, neo-conservative activists who led the campaign to invade Iraq have been trying hard over the past two weeks to rally the public with a series of columns - a remarkable number of them from Iraq "with the troops" - extolling their grit, goodness and determination and warning against defeatism at home.

Predicting The Neocon Plan To Nuke America by Douglas Herman

A funny thing has happened with these Neocon slimeballs in power. Every move they now make is completely predictable several moves ahead (Except to the dildos in Congress). They have successfully maneuvered their chess pieces into a corner.

The Neocon king, (Bush), fronts his bishops and rooks, who now cower in purely defensive positions. The pawns and knights, meanwhile, have all been expended in Iraq and, barring a universal draft, are unavailable anymore. Even the average armchair American patriot has grown weary; his car magnets fading, his flags fraying, his justifications for the war faltering.

On the Road to Empire by Justin Raimondo

This is not to say that the U.S. military has been turned into a branch of the American Friends Service Committee. If you look at the breakdown on the specific questions asked of soldiers in the field, a full 53 percent say "the U.S. should double both the number of troops and bombing missions in order to control the insurgency." They are in seeming agreement with the diminutive Napoleon of the neocons, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol, who said the other day that he thought "we have not had a serious three-year effort to fight a war in Iraq."