The Rise and Decline of the Neoconservatives:
A Right Web Special Report
By Jim Lobe and Michael Flynn | November 17, 2006
Shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States, an influential neoconservative-led pressure group called the Project for the New American Century issued a letter to the president calling for a dramatic reshaping of the Middle East as part of the war on terror. Although many of the items on the neoconservatives' agenda, including ousting Saddam Hussein, were eventually adopted by the George W. Bush administration, the group's remarkable string of successes has gradually given way to a steady decline, culminating most recently in the president's decision after the November midterm elections to replace Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, an important erstwhile ally of the neocons, with Robert Gates. This special, in-depth report examines the rise and decline of the neoconservatives and their post-Cold War agenda. The authors conclude that although the neoconservatives and their allied aggressive nationalists like Vice President Dick Cheney retain sufficient weight to hamper efforts to push through major reversals in U.S. foreign policy, the increasing isolation of this political faction coupled with recent political events in the United States point to the potential emergence of a more cautious, realist-inspired agenda during the final two years of the Bush presidency. Read full report.
Rumors of a Neocon Death Are Highly Exaggerated
By Leon Hadar | November 15, 2006
It's a new day dawning for neoconservatives. Yesterday's power players and today's apparent losers, the ideological band of brothers is making a desperate attempt to stay on top, as evidenced by their efforts to blame everyone but themselves. Read full story.
ALSO NEW THIS WEEK ON RIGHT WEB
Changing of the Guard
By Jim Lobe | November 13, 2006
The abrupt replacement of Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld by former Central Intelligence Agency Director Robert Gates, combined with the Democratic sweep in last Tuesday's midterm elections, appears to signal major changes in U.S. foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East. Read full story.
Right Web Profile: Donald Rumsfeld
Rumsfeld, who steered the United States to war with Iraq, is leaving his helm at the Pentagon under a cloud of public criticism.
ODDS AND ENDS
In this week's Right Web News, Leon Hadar, a scholar based at the Cato Institute, argues (in “Rumors of a Neocon Death Are Highly Exaggerated”) that while the neoconservatives' inside-the-beltway influence may have reached a nadir, it would be a mistake to write them off just yet. “After all,” writes Hadar, “they have suffered similar losses in the past, including in clashes with the Bush 41 realists, and eventually came out as at least temporary winners, living to advise another president and leading the way to the Iraq War. They are probably already outlining plans and generating goals for the next generation of neocons.”
With the likes of Richard Perle and Joshua Muravchik loudly proclaiming in high-profile magazines that the real fault for the current debacle in U.S. foreign policy lies not at their feet but with the so-called realists, it is clear that neoconservatives do not plan to depart quietly. But if many observers do place a lot of the blame on the neoconservatives' shoulders, it seems some influential power players remain deaf to the criticism. This past week, the neoconservative Foundation for the Defense of Democracies announced on its website that its director, Clifford May, has been named by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to serve on her newly created Advisory Board on Democracy Promotion. And on Wednesday, the Washington Post, in an article about the new Al Jazeera–English channel, cited the hardline, pro-Likud Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) as one of the “moderate voices” critical of Al Jazeera. Yet “moderate” seems an inaccurate characterization; MEMRI is repeatedly accused of cherry-picking its coverage of Middle East news and of mistranslating Arab texts to skew them as anti-Semitic. As former CIA counterintelligence official Vincent Cannistraro describes the group: “They are selective and act as propagandists for their political point of view, which is the extreme-right of Likud.”
—The Editors
[Editor's Note: Right Web News will not be published the week of November 20, 2006.]
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