Engaging talk (neocons facing increasing opposition from realists)

[atommom]

WASHINGTON - Hawks in the administration of President George W Bush may think they are tough, but their dreams of "regime change" in Iran and North Korea are increasingly deluded, not to say dangerous, according to their hard-edged realist rivals, who have become increasingly outspoken in recent weeks.

Their latest broadside comes in the form of an article by Richard Haass, president of the influential Council on Foreign Relations, in the forthcoming edition of the journal Foreign Affairs titled "The Limits of Regime Change".

Haass, who served under Bush in a top State Department position, also has just published a new book, The Opportunity: America's Moment to Alter History's Course, one of the central themes of which is that the hawks have over-estimated Washington's ability to change the world.

The realist offensive comes amid a growing sense that the intra-administration fights between hawks led by Vice President Dick Cheney and realists led by then-secretary of state Colin Powell have continued unabated nearly six months into Bush's second term, albeit more recently without Powell and fewer leaks from unhappy State Department and intelligence officers who generally lined up with the realists.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GF04Ak01.html

[orwell]

1. Thanks n/t