Bush Pulls Neocons Out of the Shadows (Nixon Center pres: extremist in WH)

[DeepModem Mom]

Los Angeles Times

Bush Pulls 'Neocons' Out of the Shadows
By Doyle McManus, Times Staff Writer


WASHINGTON — In the unending struggle over American foreign policy that consumes much of official Washington, one side claimed a victory this week: the neoconservatives, that determined band of hawkish idealists who promoted the U.S. invasion of Iraq and now seek to bring democracy to the rest of the Middle East.

For more than a year, since the occupation of Iraq turned into the Bush administration's biggest headache, many of the "neocons" have lowered their profiles and muted their rhetoric. During President Bush's reelection campaign, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz, one of the leading voices for invading Iraq, virtually disappeared from public view.

But on Thursday, Bush proclaimed in his inaugural address that the central purpose of his second term would be the promotion of democracy "in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world" — a key neoconservative goal. Suddenly, the neocons were ascendant again....

***

"If Bush means it literally, then it means we have an extremist in the White House," said Dimitri Simes, president of the Nixon Center, a conservative think tank that reveres the less idealistic policies of Richard Nixon. "I hope and pray that he didn't mean it … that it was merely an inspirational speech, not practical guidance for the conduct of foreign policy."...


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-neocons22jan22,0,1039680.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[mordarlar]

1. DAMN : /

[LynnTheDem]

2. When a conservative from Nixon Center think tank calls bush an "extremist"

then we know beyond any & all doubt that we are all in very seriously deep shit.

To hear Nixon Center conservatives say they're PRAYING that bush is just spewing more bullshit...

Buh-bye, America. You were grand, once.

[TomClash]

11. Amazing

Dimitri Simes, when at SAIS, was once a pretty conservative voice in the national security establishment, to the right of Brzezinski. Now he's center-left.

It's 1984.

[psychopomp]

59. SAIS=Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (Johns Hopkins U.)

I did not know that about Simes being right of Brzezinski. It is incredible that we look for voices of reason from these people today!

Mr. Simes picked up on the same thing I did: that the inaugural speech, if taken for its words, was the most fascistic bit of oratory ever to come out of DC. A vipers nest of lies, obfuscations and appeals to a spiritually and ideologically justified military advance on the world.

[UL_Approved]

3. Nixon was corrupt, not insane

This is why many Republicans I know are turning away from Bush. The man is an unrepentant Imperialist. And he will sacrifice the majority of people in this world to have his way. :nuke:

Just like the days of Hitler, we have a national leader gaining unlimited centralized control by building on a platform of restoring "Christian" morals that never existed and which contradict the Bible and by claiming to "free the world" just like Hitler claimed to be freeing Europe from long-standing monarchies. This similarity should have all historians up in arms, as well as any other rational and educated people. Its time to campaign. This all needs to be brought to the light of day.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. Excellent post, ULA!

[Solly Mack]

9. Nixon had a persecution complex. Bush has a messiah complex

[Lizzie Borden]

53. Too true!

[bunkerbuster1]

15. The Nixon center's remarks don't surprise me. Consider, too this MM quote

from Dude, where's my country?

"Nixon was more liberal than the last five presidents we've had. His administration opened up a dialogue with China. He was instrumental in establishing affirmative action in hiring and protecting the rights of women. He was the first president to sign agreements on nuclear weapons control. Nixon was responsible for the 1970 Clean Air Act and created the EPA. ...

"Nixon still should have been run out of office, and the millions of dead in Southeast Asia will haunt him throughout eternity. But to think that he was the last "liberal" in office just makes me want to puke."

[VirginiaDem]

17. It depends on how you define "liberal"

Nixon was a conservative using the traditional meaning--don't muck around with fixing things that ain't broken. He and Kissinger wanted to realign Amer. foreign policy away from the Wilsonian/Kennedy "Liberal" focus on making the world a better place. Kennedy's inaugural speech shows how much he believed in messing about in the world to create democracy at any cost. He changed after the Cuban Missile Crisis--went to the brink, peered over and did not like what he saw. Kissiner/Nixon wanted a more traditional realist European focus--only mess around overseas when you know you can get away with it or you really, really need to. Don't do anything for the sake of ideology. They kept us in Vietnam (and got us into Cambodia) because they viewed a humiliating early pullout as against US interests. Bush is the "Liberal" as all "Neocons" are. They want to take militaristic stands in the name of ideological perfection. This highlights a very interesting split in conservative land between what we are currently calling the "conservatives" or "neocons" and the "paleoconservatives". Anyone associated with Nixon is a paleo by definition.

[salin]

20. That would be true... IF

the reasons behind their moves were honestly about "liberating" peoples and making the world a better place.

However, much of the rhetoric with PNAC and other related documents are about how to maintain status as sole super power by maintaining constant instability around the world. Ironically they seem to creating a situation which is akin to the Soviet Union in the 1980s... drain so much money out of the economy and into the military (esp the hugely expensive arms race) that eventually, combined with a long ongoing strain on their on the ground military (Afghanistan) that the slow moving economy began to crumble upon itself. We aren't there yet, but if they continue on the course they are pushing... their efforts to maintain dominance through maintaining instability (and believing we can continue to dominate through all of those areas of instability) is starting to appear to be the quickest way to ensure our decline in dominance.

[leveymg]

22. Subversion from above? The Neocons learned a lot from Mussolini about

using state power to overturn the old regimes. Unfortunately, they'll have to destroy the world in order to remake it in their own image. Your obseration about the strategic use of instability is right on target. The Italian Neofascists were experts at keeping the Right-wing party in power by creating an environment of fear and chao. You've probably heard abot the P-2 Lodge. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Italian intelligence services used police agents provocateur within pseudo-Leftist groups to carry out terrorist bombings and assassinations. This was termed the "strategy of tension".)

W's tactics of instability owe a lot to the Italian Fascist movement.

[salin]

23. I am not familiar with P-2 Lodge

and the actions of the Italian intel services... would be interested in hearing more... thanks.

[leveymg]

38. A good introduction/overview of P-2 available at:

http://www.constitution.org/ocbpt/ocbpt_14.htm

<SNIP>

The bombing also dovetailed perfectly with the policy of blaming pre-arranged groups, developed in early 1980s by the CIA's Vince Cannistraro working in tandem with Oliver North to develop the policy that was used to divert attention onto Libya in the Lockerbie bombing.

The CIA had established a precedent for such policies more than forty years ago in Italy and Greece, when the OSS intervened in those countries' elections by supporting fascist collaborators who would attack the population and disrupt political proceedings. Through Operation SHEEPSKIN, the CIA worked with former Nazi collaborators in Greece to institute a campaign of black propaganda, terrorist bombings and other provocations to be blamed on the Left, resulting in a fascist coup and the murder and repression of thousands.

The CIA helped create a "Strategy of Tension" in Italy through collaboration with the Mafia, corrupt Italian secret services, and fascists working through Masonic Mafia-linked societies such as Licio Gelli's Propaganda Due (P2 Lodge). Gelli (AKA: the "Puppet Master") had been friends with fascists such as Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini, Croatia's Dr Pavlic, and Juan Peron of Argentina, and had also fought with the fascist Italian Blackshirt division during the Spanish Civil War.

<SNIP>

On behalf of democracy, the Mafia enlisted as their agent Salvatore Giuliano. He and his cousin Gaspere Pisciotta led their men into Portella della Ginestra. Without prejudice, they shot and killed a dozen people and wounded more than fifty others. New elections were held, and the Christian Democratic party won a resounding victory. Later, at the orders of the Mafia, Pisciotta murdered Salvatore Giuliano. At his trial, Gaspere Pisciotta said of the massacre, "We were a single body: bandits, police, and Mafia, like the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost."<1295>

P2 — essentially a Right-wing parallel government, was aligned with a super-secret Italian organization called Il Gladio — set up in 1956 with the help of British Intelligence and the CIA. Gladio was part and parcel of MI5 and the CIA's 1948 efforts to establish a European "Stay Behind" network of guerrilla fighters who would conduct covert operations after a Soviet invasion — using arms and explosives which had been previously cached.

This network was conceived by the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, and organized by the NSC, which set up the Office of Policy Co-ordination to run it, staffed and funded by the CIA. Like Operation SHEEPSKIN, most of the so-called "freedom fighters" it recruited were little more than fascist collaborators from WWII. And like the Nazi organization ODESSA with which it often collaborated, its tentacles extended throughout Europe and Latin America, and even the United States.<1296>

While the main focus of Gladio was to resist a potential Soviet invasion, its fascist roots and violent history indicate it has served mainly as a policy instrument to resist internal subversion — through terrorist means. This goal was revealed in a briefing minute of June 1, 1959, which stated Gladio's concern with "internal subversion" and it's determination to play a role in the "politics of emergency." This emergency would come about during the 1960s and 1970s with the emergence of the anti-Capitalist movement, and the shift from the Center to the Left by the ruling Christian Democratic Party.<1297>

<SNIP>

[rustydad]

37. Motives, yes

Assuming that the team is not irrationally insane one must look for motives, actions, and their perceived end game. I personally believe that the team is highly influenced by two somewhat competing interests. First is the neo Zionist long held position of keeping the ME and the Arab world in constant chaos. In this they have been successful to date. Unfortunately for them demographics is working against them as Jewish birthrates in Israel are falling far behind their Arab neighbors. The solution is either nuclear war or some form of biological war. Culling the Arabs.

The other issue driving the Bush's is oil, fossil fuel. Demand around the world is up and supply is at 'peak' or very close. He who controls the ME oil deposits can effectively control the world. Unfortunately Iraq is proving that controlling an Arab country is not the same as controlling a country like France during WW2. To effectively control the ME it will have to be de-populated. Here the Zionists and the Bush oil team are in convergence. I predict a growing war in the ME which will include the use of nuclear weapons.

The BIG question then is what will Russia, China, India, and the EU do in response. If they were smart they might take pre-emptive action on the economic front and de-stabilize the dollar bringing our economy into the toilet. But then Hitler used the falling economy of Germany in the 30's to get the Germans to ramp up for WW2.

Interesting but extremely dangerous times. And Bush is insane. Bob

[AndyTiedye]

54. But If They Use Nukes, They'll Make All That Nice Oil Radioactive

That may be the only thing that stops them. They obviously don't give
a damn how many people they kill there.

[AndyTiedye]

55. We Must Not Forget Nixon's "Secret Plan" to End the War

by attacking North Vietnam with :nuke::nuke::nuke:

[UL_Approved]

26. He was responsible for the Reagan-era stuff with Communism

Reagan rode in on the coattails of Nixon, Ford, and Carter in terms of dealing with the U.S.S.R. Reagan was a professional actor and he used that skill to steal the past accomplishment of our nation.

Nixon was not the greatest man, but he is responsible for getting things handled with the former Soviet bloc.

[CoffeeCat]

24. Great post...I agree...

...we need to start "campaigns" that communicate what a fascist Bush is.

We need to "campaign" as if this were an election.

We can't wait any longer. Someone must design a full-blown campaign (tv/print ads, demonstrations) that cogently and effectively communicates how dangerous Bush is.

[Trajan]

27. IF SO many republicans have turned away from Bush ....

Then he would have lost the election ....

Either they turned too late, were too lazy to vote, or simply dont exist in great numbers ....

FUCK: I wish it were true ...

[AndyTiedye]

32. Or The Election Was STOLEN

The Fundies count the votes, and they want this Crusade more than anything.

[Piperay]

46. Nixon was also intelligent

he wasn't an ignorant morAn.

[cornermouse]

5. "I hope and pray that he didn't mean it "

All I can say is that I think he, as well as the rest of us, are out of luck on that one. Bush has repeatedly emphasized that he means what he says and says what he means.

I would like to know why it took so long for Mr. Simes to realize that Bush is an extremist, though. Did he really need to have the inaugural speech to figure that out?

[Skidmore]

10. That hoping and praying that the paleocons have been doing has

contributed to the power grab of this megalomaniac. I, for one, don't have much tolerance for their whining or for the willful turning of blind eyes to the blatant lies and machinations of this administration, as they have done for the past four years.

[cornermouse]

13. I think for them its partly a state of denial and partly a

"determined stupidity" kind of mindset. But the bottom line continues to be disaster for all of us.

[reprobate]

48. Well said, Skidmore. They, as much as anyone, are responsible.

They are responsible for the destruction of this nation. I have always respected the true republicans such as the Nixons and Goldwaters. But for them to lay down for this maniac of a Northeastern Texan is unconscionable.

They can prey all they want. It will do no good, and they'll be just as up shit creek as everyone else.

[ixion]

6. isn't it funny how

they spew forth all this talk of being forward-looking, bold, and blah blah blah, but they won't even give their name.

Wow, pretty bold. :eyes:


And I think there is some pretty telling stuff in this graf:

The definition of neoconservatism has been hotly debated in recent years as the neocon camp has grown in numbers and influence. One of the movement's fathers, Irving Kristol, once defined it — in contrast to traditional conservatism — as "forward-looking, not nostalgic … cheerful, not grim." In domestic affairs, he wrote, neocons tend to accept the need for a strong federal government, not a weak one.


... cheerful, in a psychotic way. :evilgrin:

And the part about accepting a need for a strong central government. This is the key point that you'll never hear the Mad Chimp say. That's the deal breaker for many, because strong central governments tend to be tyrannical.

I swear, these idiots will truly bring on an apocalypse. :-(

[VirginiaDem]

18. The Paleos will get louder and louder

as the Iraq war worsens and we move deeper and deeper into the bowels of this second term. Both parties have these splits in them--the last couple elections people have focused on the Dem splits because they've been more obvious. I predict that the next couple elections will highlight the Republican splits between the social conservatives and the big business establishment and also between the neocons and the paleos.

[reprobate]

49. And what makes you believe that there'll be another election? Ever.

[VirginiaDem]

57. I'm not on that bandwagon.

Democracy is not dead. There will be a presidential election in 2008. The Republicans will have to find another candidate and we will be favored, everything else equal.

[Cooley Hurd]

7. I keep hearing Sy Hersh's warning to Jon Stewart on the Daily Show:

"If Bush is reelected, we're in deep trouble."

Sy knows - the Chimp is unbalanced and a danger to humanity.

[annabanana]

8. Dear Dimitri:

"I hope and pray that he didn't mean it … that it was merely an inspirational speech, not practical guidance for the conduct of foreign policy."...

We have been "hoping he didn't really mean it" for a long long time.
Trust me, he means it.

I just emailed the Nixon Center and told him so, very nicely. I have been wondering where the sane voices on the Right have been.

http://www.nixoncenter.org/contactinfo.htm

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. George Orwell, eat your heart out

On Friday, the senior official who briefed reporters said the administration also would be pressing friendly regimes to institute democratic reforms; he mentioned Russia, China, Pakistan and Egypt "as illustrations." Much of the pressure, he said, would be private rather than public, and the administration would be careful to avoid undermining a leader like Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, whom it counts as a democratic reformer.

Musharraf, a democratic reformer? He took power in a coup, and is hanging on to it by any means possible - except an election, which is always a couple of years off.

[aquart]

43. "Democratic leader"=dictator

Bushspeak.

[charlie]

14. Still pushing the bullshit

The president has not always been as much of a neocon as his speech Thursday suggested...

But after Sept. 11, the invasion of Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq, Bush was drawn progressively toward the neoconservative view that the only way to stop terrorism in the long run was to bring democracy, first to the Middle East, and in Thursday's speech, to the entire world.

So the early appointments of Perle, Wolfowitz, Feith, Libby, and Abrams in the administration was what, open-mindedness to contrarian points of view? "Thanks for your input Wolfie, but we'll have none of that crazy nation-building talk around here."

Tell that to Paul O'Neill, who watched the Bushies hash out plans to whomp Iraq their first month in office.

And coincidence of coincidences, the website for the PNAC was registered in December of 2000, just a few weeks after the Supreme Court installed Dubya.

http://www.betterwhois.com/bwhois.cgi?domain=newamericancentury.org

[EFerrari]

21. That's right. They endless say "post 9/11 world" when their

their policy preceeded 9/11. Mendacity.

[suegeo]

16. Elliot Abrams should be in jail

Instead, he is up for promotion.

I thought the last four years were bad. This is going to get REALLY bad.

Oh, and the neocons mostly refused to use their names in this article.

Chickenshits.

[lanlady]

19. OMG! Dmitri Slimes

He was a rising star in the 80s among the Reaganauts. Egomaniacal douchebag.

Well, despite everything Nixon did have numerous foreign policy successes while Dubya is just a long litany of disasters and the Busheviks are even more arrogant and corrupt.

[Just Me]

25. He means it. They're going all the way. World war on the march.

Our poor children. :cry:

[mahina]

28. Not mine.

Don't give up your power. That is what they want, if we do, they win.
NO.
Organizing, 06. How many neighbors and friends do you know now are democrats that you didn't know prior to 00? Five? Ten? On my street it's about 95%.
All we have to do is reach out and organize, and each change one mind.
He won't have four years, he may have two. If we earn the Senate back we can impeach this man.
He makes me embarassed to be a human being. Are we going to let him get away with this shit?

[AndyTiedye]

34. We Can Never Get The Senate Back As Long as They Own the Voting Machinez!

Our votes don't count anymore. We have "faith-based" voting now,
so only Fundie votes are counted, and they want * to bring on the "rapture".

We have to end their control of vote counting or nothing else we do will matter.

[mahina]

39. So....here we are working on a paper trail law.

I like the last sentance in your post because you are thinking about action.
What will you do in your community?

[AndyTiedye]

42. We Already Have a Paper Trail In Our County

and the DRE's elsewhere in California will be getting one by the next election.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

44. WE HAVE ONE ISSUE NOW: ELECTRONIC VOTING..PERIOD.

We mustn't be distracted by the latest atrocities and watching psychopaths 'create their own reality.'

If we can't vote them out, it..is..for..fucking..ever. FOREVER.

Convincing Dems to have backbone and getting popular opinion solidified is pounding sand unless people can VOTE AGAINST WAR CRIMINALS.

WE MUST ALL BE BEV HARRIS IN 'CODE PINK'-MODE EVERY DAY!
(since Bev is MIA, maybe she'll surface again with evidence...)

[kskiska]

29. Bill Kristol helped * with his inaugural address

then went on to write a column on how wonderful it was.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27672-2005Jan21.html

(snip)

The planning of Bush's second inaugural address began a few days after the Nov. 2 election with the president telling advisers he wanted a speech about "freedom" and "liberty." That led to the broadly ambitious speech that has ignited a vigorous debate. The process included consultation with a number of outside experts, Kristol among them.

One meeting, arranged by Peter Wehner, director of the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives, included military historian Victor Davis Hanson, columnist Charles Krauthammer…

[coreystone]

31. Do you mean to say William Kristol, Co-Founder of PNAC!...

:-)

[leftchick]

33. omg! Kristol is an expert? At What???

being a PNAC neo-con??? Wake up ameriKa! :puke:

[cosmicdot]

40. Charles Krauthammer sits on the Nixon Center's Advisory Council

interestingly enough

maybe Dimitri Simes and Charles K. should talk to coordinate things and exchange notes

http://www.nixoncenter.org/boardac.htm

[alfredo]

30. He did, because Condi used the same rhetoric during

her confirmation hearings.

All hail the new Caeser,

[MisterP]

35. ooh, it's Kagan--Mr. "we keep Yurp a safe postmodern silly society

by our MIGHT at keeping the threats of Argentina, Iraq, Indonesia, and Zaire at bay with our dictators."

[VegasWolf]

36. Just HOW does awol plan to do this? With what army? He already

has to ask China for money to keep our struggling economy
afloat? We have already outsourced a significant part of
our manufacturing base to ensure that the deficit will continue
long after bush is gone. How much further will the dollar
collaspe to fund these adventures. I don't buy it. Bush
is clearly insane, but he has sqaundered his where withall.
We still have the nukes, but the world damn sure won't sit
idly by while we use them. The rest of the world is making
alliances that don't include us. bush is an impotent little
man sitting in his fantasy world.

[AndyTiedye]

56. Doesn't It Feel A Bit Drafty These Days?

Just HOW does awol plan to do this? With what army?

The one he is going to DRAFT, starting very soon.

We have already outsourced a significant part of our manufacturing base

and he continues to provide tax incentives for companies to
outsource even more. Why? He wants as many Americans as possible
to be available for the Crusade!

[bobthedrummer]

41. Our DU community is an infowar counterforce to those traitorous pigs.

Believe it.

[DeepModem Mom]

45. I believe, bob --

Maybe one day the truth will set us free.

[anaxarchos]

47. There is a very long history to this rivalry.

The first neocon target was Kissinger and Nixon/Kissinger/Rockefeller Foreign Policy.

Talk about bizarre-speak, they call it a battle between "realism" and "idealism" (unrepentant aggressiveness).

The final straw is that Kissinger earlier became famous for advocating the possibility of "limited nuclear war" and was the historical model on which Peter Sellars based his character in Dr. Strangelove.....(he says shaking his head).

Sometimes I wonder if there is ANY limit to how far these characters can go.

[don954]

50. i cant belive this hit the mainstream press. I just cant belive it.

is someone finaly waking up?

[don954]

51. Here is the YAHOO version, rate it up!!!

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/latimests/20050122/ts_latimes/bushpullsneoconsoutoftheshadows

please click 5 to get this back on the front page. Also email it to people, that also helps

[Carolab]

52. This just makes me mad. Using "democracy" for imperialism. n/t

[olddad56]

58. Bush making George Orwell seem like a prophet.

[yorkiemommie1]

60. i'm re-reading 1984

but can't read too much at one time. it all seems so...close; scarily so.

i gave a copy to my daughter too.

[bobthedrummer]

61. Kick.

:dem::kick: