neocons Category

The list of America at war starting in 1775 is based on data from the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Technically the U.S. is still at war with North Korea because that war officially has never ended. But that is not included in this chart.

About the debate between the neocons, who are always in favor of attacking any enemy of Israel, on the one side , and real experts on the other side, Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times:

I wonder if we in the news media aren’t inadvertently leaving the impression that there is a genuine debate among experts about whether an Israeli military strike on Iran makes sense this year.

There really isn’t such a debate. Or rather, it’s the same kind of debate as the one about climate change — credible experts are overwhelmingly on one side.

How is that brave man doing who so gladly send hundreds of thousands of American soldiers into useless battles? The brains behind the Bushmen... Dick Cheney.

Former vice-president Cheney canceled a trip to Canada yesterday where he was to speak about the awful state of American politics. Sadly now even Canada is too dangerous for the battle-hardened Republican.

Cheney feared "for his personal safety” because of possible demonstrations, said the event promoter.

President Obama spoke to neoconservative magazine The Atlantic. In that interview the winner of the Nobelprize for Peace issued his most unambiguous and inflexible threat to Iran till now. If that country appears to be developing a nuclear bomb the U.S. will attack it.
The warning could also be explained as a warning to Israel that it should not attack Iran. This is a comment in the Washington Post:

David Ignatius: The other point that struck me was Obama’s clarity about establishing a “red line” between an Iranian civilian nuclear program (acceptable) and a weapons program (unacceptable). His message to Israel: If the Iranians cross this red line, the United States will attack. Is Obama bluffing? Who can say, but if you’re an Iranian decision maker (or, perhaps more important, Netanyahu) you have to weigh a bit more heavily the possibility that the president really does mean what he says.

In Bangkok a supposed Iranian man had his legs blown of by his own bomb. He also slighty injured a taxi driver and passersby with a grenade. According to Israel this was directed at Israeli officials and the work of the Iranian government. In India and Georgia there were attacks on Israeli diplomats.

This was the headline in The Washington Post: “Israel blames Iran for India and Georgia bombing attempts; Tehran denies role.”

As American professor Juan Cole points out, investigators in India do not believe Iran was responsible. Still it is clear who, according to the coordinated propaganda campaign in the American and Israeli media, is the scary agressor in the Middle East: Iran.

We don't know at this moment who is responsible, but what is clear is that the attacks are being instantly exploited by Israel-devoted neocons to further depict Iran as the gravest threat to world peace. 
Neocon Jennifer Rubin: “one more piece of data that Iran is growing ever bolder and more aggressive.”
And Alan Dershowitz warns for "Iranian attacks on American synagogues."

Remember just how dangerous Iraq was in the days leading up to...

It takes one to know one: an asshole. Republican frontrunner Newt Gingrich says he will name rightwing neocon John Bolton, one of the favorites of President George W. Bush, Secretary of State in his administration.

Some weeks ago Glenn Greenwald wrote a post about Rachel Abrams, a distinguished member of the neocon family. The neocons are the people who urged George W. Bush to attack Iraq, the most western oriented country in the Middle East. At least it was then. Neocons want to keep the American army in Afghanistan. Neocons want the U.S. to attack Iran.
This is what Rachel Abrams, member of the Emergency Committee for Israel, wrote at the release by the Palestinians of the American soldier Gilad Shalit. A hatefilled piece that has been retweeted by Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin:

The policy of the United States in the Middle East will be made by Israel when Republican Mitt Romney will be president. No reason for America to think and decide for itselve. The interest of the American people apparently is exactly the same as the interest of the people of Israel. Also Romney will not initiate anything to get Palestinians and Israelis together to bring peace to that sad place on earth .
Does that mean that when Israel decides that it is in their interest to attack another country in the Middle East, let's say Iran, the U.S. under President Romney will follow orders and attack?

ROMNEY: The actions that I will take will be actions recommended and supported by Israeli leaders. I don’t seek to take actions independent of what our allies think is best, and if Israel’s leaders thought that a move of that nature would be helpful to their efforts, then that’s something I’ll be inclined to do. But again, that’s a decision which I would look to the Israeli leadership to help guide. I don’t think America should play the role of the leader of the peace process, instead we should stand by our ally. Again, my...

Of course we are all very interested in what Frank Gaffney thoughts are on the attack in Norway.
Apparently this respected neoconservative thinks it's possible that Breivik’s manifesto may actually be a hoax planted by the Muslim Brotherhood. The President of the Center for Security Policy said he could “absolutely” see the Muslim Brotherhood perpetrating this kind of fraud. 

GAFFNEY: I think there’s a lot yet to be determined about who this individual was and what exactly his agenda was. What’s very peculiar to me is the nature of this so-called manifesto, which seems about as unrelated to anything having to do with Norway or Norwegian nationalism as you can imagine. It’s basically entirely made up of, it’s a pastiche, a very eclectic pastiche at that, of American writers and some non-American writers but of a similar mind. It cries out for a thorough investigation as to whether it was in fact an authentic piece of his own creation, whether it’s a false flag operation, whether it actually was meant to do anything other than to contribute to Sharia’s efforts to suppress criticism and awareness of its agenda. Until we...

This is a tweet from Joshua Treviño, former Bush administration speechwriter and vice president for communications at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

How angry are the American Jews with President Obama for calling on Israel and the Palestinians to make peace based on the 1967 borders. Despite Republican fearmongering there are still some Jewish Obama supporters:

 Conservatives predicted that Obama’s position — which they widely distorted as a call for a return to pre-1967 borders — would cost him the support of top Jewish donors. But The New York Observer talked to the donors themselves, and found that the whole thing is totally bogus:

Conversations with nearly a dozen of the top Jewish fund-raisers in New York reveal a much different reality, as rainmakers say they continue to back the president they overwhelmingly supported three years ago. 

Neoconservative America reacted predictable to Obama's speech on the Israel/Palestine conflict, in which the American president said the 1967 UN-borders would be a good start for negociations for peace.
Neocons were outraged: 'disrespectful', 'throwing Israel under the bus', 'betraying Israel', 'siding with the Palestinians'.
This is what Glenn Greenwald thinks of the respons.

De voorvader van de broers Charles en David Koch trok in 1888 vanuit Nederland naar Ouanah in Texas. Daar werkte Harrie zich op van krantenjongen tot miljonair. De krant bestaat nog. Zijn zoon Fred ging in de olie en stichtte Koch Industries waarvan de huidige Koch broers de steenrijke eigenaars zijn. Met hun miljarden financieren de Kochs allerlei goede doelen zoals de extreem rechtse Tea Party en organisaties die anti-global warming, anti-groene energie en anti-vakbond zijn. Ook gaan er uiteraard miljoenen naar de verkiezingscampagnes van rechtse kandidaten voor politieke functies in de VS. Zelfs rechters van het Hooggerechtshof worden regelmatig verwend met geld van de Koch Bros. Om dat allemaal uit te leggen gaven de broers dit weekeinde een interview aan het neoconservatieve tijdschrift Weekly Standard. Glenn Greenwald kreeg er hoogte van en beschrijft het narcistische geklaag en gejammer van de biljonairs. Want ze hebben het maar moeilijk. Glenn Greenwald noemt de Kochs symbolisch voor het einde van de echte democratie in de VS, waar het grote geld een aanzienlijk deel van het politieke proces bepaald. Wat de Kochs...

Het boodschappenlijstje van de Amerikaan John Bolton en Bil Kristol en andere neoconservatieven.

Attack Afghanistan: done!
Attack Iraq: done!
Attack Libya: done!
Attack Iran … urgent!

Voor de VN-ambassadeur onder George W. Bush, John Bolton, is dit een uitgelezen moment om ook Iran aan te vallen. We zitten toch in de buurt.

For former UN Ambassador John Bolton, who is weighing a run for the Republican presidential nomination, bombing countries in the Middel East is like chewing gum. Despite current military engagements in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, Bolton is urging the U.S. to also keep its focus on Iran. With that he really means the U.S.A. should start bombng Iran as soon as possible. Bolton said: “I think a president’s got to walk and chew gum at the same time”: [read on]

KEYES: You’ve been a real leader on engaging in confrontation with Iran. Do you think the situation in Libya makes that more or less pressing to engage and potentially attack Iran?

BOLTON: I think Iran is currently taking advantage of the turmoil in the Middle East to advance its own hegemonic aspirations in the region....

Al die vergezochte complottheorien over de Amerikaanse CIA die in allerlei landen bommen zou hebben gelegd, mensen zou hebben vermoord, regeringen zou hebben omvergeworpen, en dat alles zonder enige controle van de Amerikaanse volksvertegenwoordiging en meer van die flauwekul… wel het is allemaal waar.
Hieronder een video waarin de uiterst intelligente man die het allemaal regelde voor Amerikaanse presidenten aan het woord komt.
Duane Clarridge defends the American empire.

[2:15] JP: What right have you, when I mean “you”, the CIA, the US government or any foreign power, what right do you have, to do what you do in other countries?
DC: It’s a security interest.
JP: But, that’s a divine right, isn’t it? Because the people that you do it to have no say in it.
DC: Well, and that’s just tough. We are gonna protect ourselves. And we’re gonna go on protecting ourselves cause we end up protecting all a you. And let’s not forget that.
JP: Right. Right. No I won’t.
DC: We’ll intervene whoever we decide it’s in our national security interest to intervene. And if you don’t like it, lump it. Get used to it, world....

Neo conservatives urged President Obama in a letter to take military action against Libya. Forty so called analysts, including a dozen former officials of the George W. Bush administration (the people who fabricated the lies for the Iraq war) are not happy with the way things are going in the Middle East.
They want the U.S. to start bombing before it’s to late and all Arab dictators are gone.
Also Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman urged President Obama to start selling arms to the opposition before it’s to late and no more money can be made of the upheaval in the Arab world. Neocons forgot to remind Obama how well that worked out with Osama Bin Laden and the Taleban.

IPS News - While neo-conservatives were among the first to call for military action against Gaddafi in the past week, some prominent liberals and rights activists have rallied to the call, including three of the letter’s signatories: Neil Hicks of Human Rights First; Bill Clinton’s human rights chief, John Shattuck; and Leon Wieseltier of The New Republic, who also signed the [neo-conservative Progress for a New American Century] Iraq letter 10...

by arend van dam  

Bush UN-ambassador John Bolton a strong defender of the Mubarak regime in Egypt was on Fox News host Sean Hannity’s radio program yesterday. Neoconservative Bolton said that the dictator’s downfall would “speed” the timetable up for what he views as an inevitable war with Iran:
[read on]

HANNITY: Do you think that the Israelis are going to have to strike — they are going to have to take action. … As you pointed out, El Baradei, you know, ran cover for the Iranians for all those years that he was with the IAEA. And, I just don’t think the Israelis have much longer to wait…they’re going to have to act in fairly short order.

BOLTON: I think that’s right. I don’t think there’s much time to act. And I think the fall of a Egyptian government committed to the peace agreement will almost certainly speed that timetable up.

Bolton has long been an advocate of bombing Iran, exploiting any convenient development in international relations as further cause to fuel up the bombers. Of course, any military action against Iran by Israel would likely drag in the U.S. as well, as Bolton himself has pointed out. On Friday, a...

The same peope who wanted the U.S. to invade and occupy Iraq to bring it democracy, killing hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi’s on the way, want America to stand with the Arab despot, Hosni Mubarak. The president of Egypt who was preparing his son to take over the reign. Is anyone surprised?

Throughout his tenure as U.N. ambassador for the Bush-administration neocon John Bolton - a strong defender of the attack on Iraq - repeatedly insisted that one of his top priorities was helping spread freedom and democracy throughout the world.
Yet during an interview with right-wing radio host Mark Levin yesterday, Bolton attacked the pro-democracy protest movement currently underway in Egypt. After Levin postulated that “every Jihadi nutjob is probably pouring into Egypt right now,” Bolton followed up by saying this is the “big opportunity” for jihadists and mocked the calls of the international community to restore internet services, saying that the “Muslim Brotherhood knows how to use Twitter just like naive college students do.”

Also see this statement of Republican Conference Chair Rep.Thaddeus McCotter - a strong...

Street protests toppled Tunisia’s autocratic leader President Zine El Abadine Ben Ali last week, marking the first time in modern history that an autocratic Arab leader was forced to step down following pro-democracy protests. Some commentators believe that this could be the start of a wave of pro-democracy revolutions across the region.
And no American bombs needed!
Yet as the world celebrates the downfall of an autocratic leader, it’s important to remember that just a few years ago, the Bush Administration expressed their friendship with the Hussein Ben Ali government. As Al Jazeera’s Imran Garda notes, Secretary of State Colin Powell said that Bush Administration officials are “admirers” ofSaddam Ben Ali, and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld said the country provided “constructive leadership in the world“:
[read on]

It is worth rewinding and noting some choice words that former US secretary of state Colin Powell had to say about the country when he visited in December 2003. “Our bilateral relationship is very, very strong,” said Powell. “We are great admirers of Tunisia and the progress that has been achieved under...