I finished a 17 page paper on the neocons tonight.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

This was for my American Governement class.
I'm exhausted and my head hurts.
FYI: Did you know that the White House has a staffer who gets 30 issues of Kristol's "Weekly Standard" every Monday? (March 11, 2003, NYTimes)
Kristol uses that magazine as a club whenever Bush gets out of line. What influence!
Did you know that Charles Krauthammer denied that Bush ever said anything about Hussein being a threat to the US after the war started to go badly?
Those people are crazy as hell. Wolfowitz is the key to the neocons in the Bush WH.

[PA Mamma]

1. I want more

Tell us some more -- if you can -- You did say that your head hurts.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

5. Okay, here's my thesis and a few points.

Okay. I'm copying and pasting from a PDF I made. This includes my MLA citations.

Thesis:
The neoconservative movement, a combination of Wilsonian ideals of democracy and
the power of Theodore Roosevelt’s “big stick”, has had a profound influence on the direction of Bush administration foreign policy, specifically regarding Iraq. This direction, helped along by a sympathetic media, may determine America’s global role in the 21st century. Already, it’s rigidity has caused rifts among Bush’s cabinet during his first term and has been a cause of concern among our traditional allies and their citizens. A consequence of adopting the neoconservative strategy may have the opposite effect of its intended one—a weakening of America’s “soft power”, alliances, and global standing.

Points (It's about OIL):
Paul Wolfowitz, whom James Mann describes as “where conservative theory meets the
practice of American foreign policy” (22), is the key neoconservative in the Bush administration. A man of enormous intellect and talents, Wolfowitz, who once studied under Leo Strauss, has enjoyed a long career in government beginning in 1973 when he went to work in the Pentagon. His views have tended to be hawkish while concentrating his efforts on military and armament issues. One of his duties was to speculate on possible problematic scenarios and prepare detailed reports on dealing with these problems. Over time Wolfowitz came to believe that the United
States was neglecting the Middle East and that the Soviet Union was an imminent threat to that area. A key reason for looking closely at the Middle East was its vast oil reserves. Wolfowitz worked on the Limited Contingency Study while at the Pentagon. The study stated, “we and our major industrialized allies have a vital and growing stake in the Persian Gulf region because of our need for Persian Gulf oil.” (Mann, 80)

Clinton (I thought this was a little interesting)
President Clinton, to some neoconservative writers and scholars, was an acceptable alternative to George H.W. Bush as long as he pursued an acceptable agenda in foreign policy. Wattenberg said that “I’d love to vote for a Democrat...Clinton’s got to show he’s not just going to talk the talk, he’ll walk the walk.” (Halper & Clarke, 84) Bill Clinton even made some overtures to woo the neoconservatives but by the end of his first year in office, they were against him.

Early Bush years:
In Bush’s first few months in office, a neoconservative report that suggested how to
rebuild America’s defenses said that what was needed was a “New Pearl Harbor” to provide an “opportunity of ages” for America to dominate the world. (Pilger, 13) That opportunity presented itself on September 11, 2001.

The National Security Strategy of 2002:
This document, which writer Max Boot called a “quintessentially neo-conservative document” (qtd: Dorrien, 18), greatly alarmed our European allies, who just a year earlier had given the U.S. unprecedented sympathy and support. It became an issue in the 2002 German elections and on the floor of the British House of Commons. (Halper & Clarke, 143-144) The leftist French newspaper Le Monde Diplomatique compared the document to “Hitler’s disastrous decision to attack the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941.” (Valasek)

[PA Mamma]

9. Very Cool !

Thanks -- I'll look for the PDF.
Now, go rest yer head :boring:

[Frederik]

2. sounds like you've

done a thorough job there! Didn't know that little detail about the Weekly Standard - interesting.

[G_j]

3. thoughts on Wolfowitz as WB president?

pretty scary

[BlackVelvetElvis]

6. I haven't had time to think about this...

I've been busy working on this paper. That's someting to do in my spare time. Another project!

[Elwood P Dowd]

4. I want a copy of the paper

Maybe put it PDF form using Adobe so anybody with any computer or operating system can open and read it. I will send it out to every brainwashed, Weekly Standard reading idiot I know.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

7. I have it in PDF form. nt

[Elwood P Dowd]

8. Can you post a link where we can get a copy?

<nm>

[DIKB]

10. I too would be interested.

If you get the time or space to post it somewhere.

[Dancing_Dave]

11. Did you say how the neo-con's said they needed a "New Peal Harbor"

To attack Iraq and so on...then on the night of 9/11/2001 Bush said this day had been the Pearl Harbor of the 21st century.

There's plenty of evidence it was no coincidence it happened that way.

As Franklin Roosevelt said, "In politics, there are no accidents. If something happened, you can be sure somebody planned it that way."

But maybe that's a topic for a whole new paper!

[TomClash]

12. If you get less than an A

your professor will be DUed!

[BlackVelvetElvis]

22. My professor is wonderful.

He's an expert on the neocons. I showed him my outline and he kept adding to it. He told me "they'll all be gone soon, don't worry" (he's more of a political realist)
I wish I felt like he does.

[TomClash]

13. Did you trace Neo-conservatism to its beginnings? eom

[BlackVelvetElvis]

15. Yes.

I spent about 2 pages on it but didn't go into depth.

[fujiyama]

14. I'd be interested in reading it

Please let me know if and when you are comfortable in releasing this essay for others to read.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

16. Since so many are interested.

I'll make a few minor corrections and a new PDF.
I'll post it online so you can read it. I'll link it here to my site.

[Eloriel]

20. Great

did you see all Stephanie's PNAC as well as my collection of Neocon/Straussian links?

[BlackVelvetElvis]

21. No.

Are those links in the PNAC group?
My sources were mixed on the influence of Strauss. I'd be interested in learning more about this.

[DesEtoiles]

17. Do you know when PNAC sent its first letter to President Clinton

advising (requesting, demanding) an invasion of Iraq? Was it 1998?

[BlackVelvetElvis]

18. 1997.

They were pretty much demanding.
Also the neoconservatives had a "shadow government" in place during the Clinton years.

[DesEtoiles]

23. who were the members of this "shadow government" and

what did they do?

[BlackVelvetElvis]

24. My sources didn't say.

But wonder if one of them was the "Congressional Advisory Board" set up during the Clinton years. I wasn't sure exactly what their purpose was so I didn't link them to the "shadow establisment" that Gary Dorrien spoke about in his book "Imperial Designs".
Members inclueded: Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Perle.
I wish I had more time to research that because that really fascinated me.

[Roland99]

29. Ever come across these?

http://www.newshounds.us/2004/08/31/ap_reports_dod_infiltrated_by_spy.php


Serving Two Flags
Neo-Cons, Israel and the Bush Administration
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5788.htm

[BlackVelvetElvis]

31. I havent. That's very interesting. Thanks! nt

[Lexingtonian]

27. there's stuff about it in David Brock's book

"Blinded by the Right"

He says it was a grotesque failure. But it filled the time and they got their shot at the real thing when Bush became Pres.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

32. I have that book too!

<kicking myself>

[FreedomAngel82]

19. I think

it was '97?

[Lexingtonian]

25. What's the Israel angle?

And is/was John Deutsch one of them?

[BlackVelvetElvis]

26. I don't remember that name in my research.

I read 6 books, 14 articles and about 20 reliable websites.
I stayed away from that angle mostly because it was opinion and because I only had two months to write it.
Who is he anyway?

[Lexingtonian]

33. too bad

"Commentary" magazine is very much a Jewish neocon forum for every bad idea that comes down the pike about handling the Palestinians and Arab Middle East and liberal American Jews and dovish Israelis. I believe I've seen articles by Feith, Wolfowitz, and Perle in it, and some of the names of the people Charlie Rose used to interview- Rose was such a willing tool for them, gave them incredible air time during the runup to the Iraq war and in the aftermath, up to about Abu Ghraib and evidence that the whole detention/torture/drive-em-to-suicide system centered at Guantanamo was/is a facsimile of the Israeli system for dealing with Palestinian militants.

Deutsch was CIA director under Clinton and professor/administrator at MIT. He resigned after they found "pornography" on his laptop or some kind of "security risk", the details of which are undiscoverable. He was a trustee or something of Lincoln Laboratory, the MIT affiliate that does DoD aerospace and avionics development. MIT people suspect he got busted for leaks or contacts to Mossad or something related.

[ClassWarrior]

28. They're crazy like foxes.

They're not crazy - they're brilliant criminals who know how to run a helluva scam. And they'll rot in hell.

NGU.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

30. Scam no, the scary thing is...

they really believe this stuff. Their arguements are naive. They don't take into account human nature: division in Iraq, governmental corruption or POOR PLANNING by an invading country. They dont' believe in the US policing an area either. That doesn't lead to democracy transplanted, just a big mess that they have to beg others to clean up-which we tried to do with the UN.
I countered the neocons arguements by quoting from Joseph Nye and Zbigniew Brezinski's beliefs in multilateralism/stronge alliances and how it historically does work.