The neocon machine

Washington is setting up the same path all over again. As if nothing has been learned. The neocon propaganda organs are very much in place. The war talk is similar, especially the depiction of Iran’s leaders as irrational zealots, impervious to reason. Many of the key players are the same: Bill Kristol, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, “mainstream” Jeffrey Goldberg, Elliott Abrams. AIPAC drafting congressional resolutions designed to tie the administration’s hands, which Congress rubber stamps with all the careful debate one would expect from an assembly in Pyongyang. To an extent which seems even greater than 2002, the bulk of the Republican Party seems to have fallen in line.

Some important differences remain, however. The entire Israel lobby is not on board for an Iran war, and there are major national security figures in Israel itself saying it would be a bad error. The U.S. military seems more vocally opposed. The Obama administration, despite rhetorical hedging, seems to recognize that war is neither necessary nor wise.