From Seattle writer and consultant Matt Rosenberg...: The Neo-Cons Are Right, Dammit!

� Yo, It's Not About 'Stupid White Men' | Main | Lament of a Cafeteria Democrat �

The Neo-Cons Are Right, Dammit!

June 16, 2004

Gutsy, dead-on piece by Michael Brandon McClellan today at Tech Central Station. It's titled, "Why Neo-Conservatism Best Defends America."

The neo-conservative strategic paradigm has become the rhetorical punching bag of pundits across the political spectrum...With each setback in Iraq, they have professed their alleged vindication. With each mounting casualty toll, they have demanded an expedited withdrawal from the Bush administration. They are wrong.
Criticism without advocacy of a sufficient alternative contributes nothing to US national security. Wars are not won through deconstructionist paradigms, and in the context of the War on Terror, the United States cannot afford a meandering foreign policy. Catch phrases like "multilateralism" and "soft-power" are sound-bites intended to poll well.

...The Middle Eastern problem is quite simply that, as it currently exists, the region exports radical Islamic terrorism that directly threatens the safety of the United States....Jihadist terrorism must be engaged and vanquished. Successfully engaging and ultimately defeating such terrorists is a multi-faceted long-term endeavor, necessitating far more than augmenting homeland security and pursuing al Qaeda fugitives. Winning the War on Terror mandates an offensive thrust into the wellspring of Islamic terrorism, the Middle East itself.

...what Charles Krauthammer has more aptly titled "democratic realism" -- prescribes a two part strategy for addressing the Middle Eastern problem. First, selective regime change... (Second:).....building democracy means building constitutional liberal democracy, a free economy, and the rule of law.

Read the whole thing.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at June 16, 2004 06:07 AM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.rosenblog.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/383

Comments:

Neo-Conservative, or the more sinister sounding "neo-con" has become the newest form of Europoean Anti-Semitism. This is substantiated by the fact that Classic Anti-Semitism rests on a belief that the Jews secretly control the world. Similarily, "neo-cons," are percieved by Europeans and American Leftists to control the Bush Administration from behind closed doors. Some even believe they magically convince Bush to do the direct bidding of Likud in Israel. Howerver, a quick review of top Bush administration posts reveals NO neo-conservatives in senior positions. Thus this belief is false and confirms its anti-semetic conotations.

Once regulated to leftist publications like Mother Jones, recent events in the media have made it clear that the new and twisted understanding of "neo-con" has entered the mainstream Left in America. Al Gore was recently pounding the pulpit blathering about Jews in the Bush Administration, who happen to be associated with the Neo-Conservative movement. General Zini was also recently speaking about "neo-conservatives" who run the Bush Administration's foreign policy. And two weeks ago, a cartoon in the Sunday Comics sinisterly portrayed "neo-cons" as men in the shadows running the American politics.

An increase of Anti-semitism, in any form, is a sign of bad things to come.

Posted by: Jeff Norris at June 17, 2004 08:52 AM

Because ours is an open society, there can never be perfect passive defensive measures against terrorism. One attempt at destruction will inevitably get through. In fact, more than a few might over the long run.

Martin van Creveld (of Hebrew University) once called the novel "1984" "an end to terrorism, but at what cost?" This is, of course, if we try to rely on purely passive defensive measures to deal with terrorism.

If we are to preserve our freedom and foil terrorism at the same time, we must resort to offensive measures to root out terrorists and exact prohibitive costs on those nation-states and organizations that aid the terrorists.

If we, instead, fall back to defensive measures only, we will inevitably make van Creveld's observation come true.

Posted by: James J. Na at June 17, 2004 11:53 PM

Post a comment