One hoped that the neoconservatives would have disappeared after George W. Bush left office and the Iraq War they worked so hard to engineer proved to be a disaster. All those dead, nothing accomplished except the establishment of Iran as the main player in Iraq.
But they are still around and still pushing for a war with Iran, which they want even more than the last one. Everywhere you look there's Elliot Abrams, Richard Perle, John Bolton, John Podhoretz, Douglas Feith, Danielle Pletka, The Washington Post editorial page, Frank Gaffney, Charles Krauthammer, Max Boot, The Wall Street Journal, Daniel Pipes, New Republic, Liz Cheney and a host of others who, undaunted by the Iraq debacle, are gung-ho about taking out Iran. (Then there is AIPAC, which is the war party's headquarters.)
Check out the Commentary website, and you'll see one piece after another urging the United States to allow Israel to attack Iran. (Commentary, once the house organ of the American Jewish Committee, is now neoconservatism's Pravda.)
Until the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, Commentary was a fairly progressive magazine (except on race, Podhoretz admitted to a real problem with African-Americans). After that, it became the mouthpiece of the lobby and the Likud party.
Its editor Norman Podhoretz invented the term "neoconservative" to describe those, like himself, who were liberals on every issue except those related to Israel. But they have evolved into right-wingers on everything, understanding that they would not have real cred with the right on the Middle East unless they pretended to be anti-choice, anti-environment, anti-regulation, anti-poor people, deficit hawks, unsympathetic to minorities, etc). It kills them to have to fake liking Jeff Sessions more than Elana Kagan but it's what they have to do. (Like 1930's Communists and the Soviet Union, they follow a line faithfully and without deviation).
Anyway, Iran is not the only issue the Commentary neocons care about. They also vehemently oppose any pressure on Israel about anything. Basically there are two neocon mottoes: "Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran" and "Settlements R Us."
Here are a few gems from recent Commentary pieces that provide some insight as to what the neocons are all about these days.
My personal favorite comes from lead Commentary writer/blogger, Jennifer Rubin. She provides the intellectual heft at Commentary now that Podhoretz has retired.
[Israel]...will at some point be forced to take military action, War is a horrid prospect, as is the potential for massive loss of life -- but not as horrid as that of a nuclear-armed Iran. unless [the Obama administration] undergo[es] an epiphany and reverse[s] course.
Yes, war is "horrid." And so is "massive loss of life..." But they constitute a price Rubin -- and all her chickenhawk friends -- are willing to pay to prevent an Iranian bomb. (She'll pay, of course, with other peoples' kids, but, hey, whatcha gonna do?) One thing she won't do with Iran is engage in diplomacy.
Here's more from Rubin. In this one she wonders if Israel can "quite literally" survive the Obama presidency:
These are trying times for Israel, and the most seasoned officials find it difficult to both preserve their credibility and avert a blow-up with the Obama administration. [Israeli Ambassador Michael] Oren is plainly striving to walk a very fine line and navigate through the thicket of domestic critics and rivals. He certainly has his work cut out for him, as does the entire Israeli government, which must figure out how (quite literally) the Jewish state is to survive the Obama presidency.
They are also in favor of carving up Jerusalem and lifting the Gaza blockade -- and opposed to sanctions against Iran and statements, however bland, in support of Israel's right of self-defense. But [Jeff] Goldberg doesn't bother with all that. Nor does he address why it is that J Street hosted a confab filled with apologists for the mullahs.
Rubin on missing George W. Bush:
It's not just many Americans who miss him, but Coptic Christians, the Green Movement, ravaged masses in Darfur, brutalized women of the Middle East, Egyptian democracy protesters, and scores of others who no longer have a forceful voice in the White House or an American foreign policy which considers them a high priority.
I don't know about any of that, although, no doubt, Rubin is in closer contact with Coptic Christians, the Green Movement and the ravaged masses in Darfur than I am.
But I do know one group that misses George W. Bush: the neocons. And they miss him primarily for one reason -- he followed their advice about Iraq (their guy, Douglas Feith, was actually the No. 2 in the Pentagon, manipulating the intelligence right there at DoD!) They thought they could railroad Bush into supporting an Israeli bombing attack on Iran.
But they couldn't. Bush actually rebuffed that idea when Vice President Dick Cheney (the ultimate neocon favorite) asked him to let Israel do it just prior to Obama's inauguration. To their deep regret, Bush said no. Having once been pushed into a war by this gang (the war that destroyed his presidency), Bush was not having it.
I mean, even he had to think about US interests sometime.
Will Obama fall for their lies? I doubt it. But one never knows. In a city where absolutely everything is about politics and getting campaign donations, one never knows, does one? But know this: the neocon lobby's #1 priority these days is not preserving the Gaza blockade, or even the occupation, it is getting a shooting/bombing war with Iran going. As Jennifer Rubin says, the "massive loss of life" would be "horrid" but "not as horrid as a nuclear armed Iran."
Funny, she doesn't feel that way about Pakistan or North Korea. And she celebrates Israel's 200 nuclear bombs. But, in the case of Iran, she's ready to have innocent kids die. But that would be "horrid." Indeed.
Neoconservatives, as Keith Olbermann would say, "the WORST people in the world."
FOR the record, the term neoconservatives, although invented by the still-neocon American Jewish Committee by way of its then magazine Commentary does not only apply to Jews. One, there are 6,000,000 Jews in America, 78% voted for Obama, and probably more than that number are anti-war liberals. Neocons and Israel-firsters are not representative of the Jewish community which, according to every poll, is the most liberal community in the United States, with the exception of African-Americans. Foreign policy (i.e,Israel) is not even among Jews' first five voting issues.
At the most, there are 200 neocons. They are not all Jewish although many are, and that number includes the leadership of AIPAC, the American Jewish Committee and some of the other major organizations (which, all together, have memberships representing 5% of all Jews).
What distinguishes neocons from normal people is their relentless dedication to what they perceive (incorrectly) as Israel's best interests, their contempt for Muslims, and their reckless desire to involve America in wars that have little, or nothing, to do with US interests. The archetypal neocon -- and probably the one who did the most damage -- is Douglas Feith, who was recruited by fellow neocon, Richard Perle, to serve as undersecretary of the Department of Defense in the second Bush administration. He used that position exclusively to push war with Iraq, which is why Perle put him there.
But, for the record, it is insulting to Jews to suggest that the neocons represent them. Nobody chose them. Rather they glommed on to the community the way Al Sharpton glommed on to he African-American community.
The truth is that if any political community is to be legitimately connected to American Jews, it is the progressive left, in which Jews have played a wonderfully disproportionate role throughout American history. There is hardly a left or progressive cause that has not been disproportionately Jewish. Why? The combination of the dictates of our faith (see the Prophets, any of them) and the long history of right-wing anti-Semitism (culminating in Nazism) have made Jews fear and understand the chauvinist right more than most others do. The Jewish neocons are outliers, like, say "Jews For Jesus" or "Jews for Palin."
First published in HuffingtonPost.com.
AUTHOR
MJ Rosenberg is Senior Foreign Policy Fellow, Media Matters Action Network.
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Well, the last cowboy in the White house
by Bavafa on Sat Jul 03, 2010 03:26 PM PDThad heard about the cowboy way but since he was just phony one, he reached for the testicle and grab the wrong thing. Once he realized of his blunder, he tried to hid it by sticking to Americans where sun doesn't shine to hide his blunder. Meanwhile, many thousand Americans have paid the ultimate price for that blunder.
That's the story of America's last adventure.
And now mesle khari ke to gel gir meekone, chekonam chekonam oftateh be kooneshon.
Mehrdad
Hello to you too
by Mola Nasredeen on Sat Jul 03, 2010 03:10 PM PDTMr 3 weeks and 4 days old. I wonder where you've been and who you've been 4 weeks ago.
چوب را که برداری گربه دزده......
homo sacerSat Jul 03, 2010 01:57 PM PDT
I wonder why you took it so personally. Are you?
You meant God bless
by Mola Nasredeen on Sat Jul 03, 2010 01:48 PM PDTIsrael didn't you Mr 7 weeks being on iranian dotcom. Where were you 7 weeks ago? I wonder.
Look members of Hezbollah and agents of IRI
by pastor bill rennick on Sat Jul 03, 2010 01:42 PM PDTUS of A went to Afghanistan first and then Iraq for a reason and that was/is to sandwich the Islamic Repubic. In the old language of the cowboy west, grab the bull by the right testicle first and then the left testicle and squeeze until it surrenders and drops on the floor!
The era of free grazing of a bunch of rag-head mullahs and their illegitimately and out-of-the-wedlock borne IR nochehs is over!
Get yourselves ready for the invasion of the Islamic Repubic!
God bless US of A!
I'm glad you're learning your lesson
by Mola Nasredeen on Sat Jul 03, 2010 01:36 PM PDTNext time watch who you'r running to.
P.S. There is more to the
by benross on Sat Jul 03, 2010 01:24 PM PDTP.S. There is more to the American policy toward the Middle East than can be blamed on neo-cons. They only offered a disastrous remedy for a congenital malady that was not much of their own making.
You are welcome too. But I don't think either of us has the power of welcoming or throwing out anybody. We do things to shape ideas.Non-Iranians are welcome
by homo sacer on Sat Jul 03, 2010 01:02 PM PDTStop throwing each other out! This site is not your personal property. You more-catholic-than-popes are all welcome here. It doesn’t matter that much whether you are American, Israeli, or of any other nationality. You are welcome to contribute to this site. You make it more colorful – and more controversial.
In my book the only prerequisite is your ability to pretend that you care about Iran and Iranians. That alone qualifies almost every of you non-Iranians. Professional crocodile tear shedders are assets – even when they demand that Iran be bombed to smithereens.
The more psychopathic your comments are, the more popular you will become. It doesn’t matter that you are helping warmongers and war profiteers. There are a lot of Iranians who were irreparably wounded by the revolution, and thence welcome any insult toward those they hold responsible –it’s their panacea. So, as is said in this part of the world, bring it on!
We may lack the time or desire to dignify every one of your entries. But, be assured that we always value good laughs, and welcome resourceful jokers.
P.S. There is more to the American policy toward the Middle East than can be blamed on neo-cons. They only offered a disastrous remedy for a congenital malady that was not much of their own making.
Niloufar,
by Mola Nasredeen on Sat Jul 03, 2010 10:01 AM PDTYou are the one who has the patience of Yaghoob. Thanks.
mola
by Niloufar Parsi on Sat Jul 03, 2010 09:55 AM PDTwell said! i admire your patient humour with some of these fascists.
Peace
John Bolton attending Maryam Rajavi concert
by MOOSIRvaPIAZ on Sat Jul 03, 2010 09:50 AM PDTCertainly tells you a lot about where neocons stand. They dont give a crap about Iranians. MEK claims to stand for Iranian rights while at the same time attacking NIAC because NIAC is against the two things the neocons and MEK really want, sanctions (and war).
Before its too late Iranians need to wake up and push back. Dont wait for great people like MJ Rosenberg to do your fight for you.
And who are you pretending to be?
by Mola Nasredeen on Sat Jul 03, 2010 10:03 AM PDTThe Savior of Iranian people? (chuckles).
2. And how long you've been on iranian dotcom Mr Johnny Comes lately? 51 weeks that's all. So don't lecture me about who has showed up here lately. You and your ilk are in the back pocket of Israel and Israel is damaging United States standing all over the wrold.
This mola pretends he is
by benross on Sat Jul 03, 2010 09:04 AM PDTThis mola pretends he is American, and American policy is 'his' policy. It doesn't surprise me that he can't even write proper English. Many Americans can't. But it does surprise me that he is showing up in Iranian.com and is lecturing Iranians about his -American- policy. It's non of our concern. We are Iranian. Don't lecture us. Listen, discuss or get lost.
For the Last 60 plus years
by Mola Nasredeen on Sat Jul 03, 2010 08:56 AM PDTWatch: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNQv5YSg_YA
Read: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Israel_Lobby_and_U.S._Foreign_Policy
We need to save America
by benross on Sat Jul 03, 2010 08:44 AM PDTWe need to save America from Israel for dictating our foreign policy
Since when it became our policy?!
...
by Mola Nasredeen on Sat Jul 03, 2010 07:54 AM PDTVery interesting read. We need to save America from Israel for dictating our foreign policy.
In support of the article - power of perception - Dan Fleshler
by Marjaneh on Sat Jul 03, 2010 05:24 AM PDT"Dan Fleshler is a media and public affairs strategist based in New York whose recent book, Transforming America’s Israel Lobby: the Limits of Its Power and the Potential for Change, offers insight into the shifts taking place in the pro-Israel American Jewish community, including growing dissent against what he calls the “conventional Israel lobby.” Former Ambassador to Israel Samuel Lewis has written that Fleshler's book "dispels many myths while facing squarely some perennial dilemmas faced by peace-seeking American Jews, and outlines a pro-peace, pro-Israeli, pro Palestinian and pro-American road forward for them to take." Mr. Fleshler's blog, www.RealisticDove.org, is what he calls "candid, constructive commentary on Israel, the Arab-Israeli conflict, America's Middle East policies and their domestic political context." "
//www.international.ucla.edu/article.asp?pare...
Every fascism is an index of a failed revolution - Walter Benjamin
On the subject of being polar opposite
by comrade on Sat Jul 03, 2010 04:41 AM PDTSome say VF, is the polar opposite of Shia's beliefs, let alone mainstream Islam.
People say things!
READ....//www.tudehpartyiran.org/mardom.asp
Zionism is the polar opposite of Judaism
by Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi on Sat Jul 03, 2010 04:29 AM PDTJudaism is a divine religion of compassion and justice. The Jews have given the world prophets like Yaqoub, Yusuf, Musa, Yahya and Isa.
Zionism is a secular, atheistic and ultra-nationalistic ideology that bears no resemblance to the teaching of Judaism and worships the "state" instead of the Creator. It is the Ba'al of the age.
Good article. Thanks for
by Sargord Pirouz on Sat Jul 03, 2010 03:24 AM PDTGood article. Thanks for posting it.