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Neocons divided, except in denial
WASHINGTON: Neoconservatives, who laid out the intellectual underpinnings for US President George W. Bush's foreign policy, are in disarray following the Republicans' mid-term election defeat.
Already battling with each other over continuing US military setbacks in Iraq, "neocons" are more divided than ever following Tuesday's election nightmare, in which Republicans lost control of both houses of Congress.
Neoconservatives essentially believe in the US's ability to shape the world in its own image and see the nation as a "benevolent hegemony" with the power to compel other countries to adopt liberal democracy.
That ideology was extended to Iraq, which was supposed to ultimately become a bastion of democracy in the Middle East.
But following the Republicans' steep election losses, as bloodshed and chaos in Iraq continue, defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld -- who executed the administration's Iraq policy -- was ousted from power.
Some neocon proponents -- especially those who believe that their vision for Iraq was on target, but poorly executed by the administration -- believe his departure was necessary.
"Huge mistakes were made, and I want to be very clear on this -- they were not made by neoconservatives, who had almost no voice in what happened, and certainly almost no voice in what happened after the downfall of the regime in Baghdad," noted neocon Richard Perle said in aninterview with Vanity Fair magazine.
Another top neocon, Ken Adelman, had assured the administration in February 2002 that "liberating" Iraq would be a "cakewalk", but yesterday disavowed all responsibility with how the venture had turned out.
"I just presumed that what I considered to be the most competent national security team since (president Harry) Truman was indeed going to be competent. They turned out to be among the most incompetent teams in the post-war era," he said in the same Vanity Fair piece.
David Frum, a former Bush speechwriter who coined the term "axis of evil" to describe North Korea, Iran and Iraq in an address by the President before the war, downplayed the significance of neocons in the Government.
Even well-known proponents are beginning to back away from the neocon label, most notably Francis Fukuyama in his recently published book America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power and the Neoconservative Legacy.
"Neoconservatism has now become irreversibly identified with the policies of the administration of George W. Bush in his first term and any effort to reclaim the label at this point is likely to be futile," he writes.
AFP
