Monday, August 23, 2004
More problems for Camp W
The necons are infighting.
Earlier this month, Francis Fukuyama, author of "The End of History" and one of the most influential thinkers associated with the movement, surprised many by delivering a lengthy attack on the neoconservatives' longstanding arguments in support of the war in Iraq, including their confidence in building a democracy there and their assessment of the threat from Islamic radicalism.
In the clubby world of neoconservative intellectuals, many of whom are longtime friends and allies, Mr. Fukuyama's repudiation of the case for war, which appeared in The National Interest, was all the more startling because he presented it as an attack on a recent speech by his friend, the columnist Charles Krauthammer of The Washington Post.
Somebody went after that pugnacious prevaricator of pusillanimous pomposity known as Charles Krauthammer?
Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
Krauthammer and Fukuyama are considered the "intellectual heavyweights" of neoconservatism...if such a thing can exist.
What I found most gratifying is the fact that Fukuyama echoed many of the criticisms of Iraq that those of us who didn't support the invasion and occupation have said:
"One gets the impression that the Iraq war," Mr. Fukuyama continued, "has been an unqualified success, with all of the assumptions and expectations on which the war had been based vindicated."
Like many other critics of the war, he argued that Mr. Krauthammer and other neoconservatives were overconfident about turning Iraq into a democracy, too quick to dismiss arguments of longtime allies, and too willing to give up the practical advantages of partnership with other nations.
Most of all, though, he argued that Mr. Krauthammer and other supporters of the war mischaracterized Iraq and Islamic radicals as an immediate threat to the existence of the United States, a claim that justified immediate intervention. The Soviet Union arguably threatened the existence of the United States, Mr. Fukuyama argues, but Iraq never did.
This single set of admissions from Fukuyama is stunning in the face of Bush unable to think of a mistake he's made..and Krauthammer continuing his silly defense of Bush's policies in the face of such an obvious mess. It's a definite splinter away from a group that has been traditionally a very tight clique.
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Earlier this month, Francis Fukuyama, author of "The End of History" and one of the most influential thinkers associated with the movement, surprised many by delivering a lengthy attack on the neoconservatives' longstanding arguments in support of the war in Iraq, including their confidence in building a democracy there and their assessment of the threat from Islamic radicalism.
In the clubby world of neoconservative intellectuals, many of whom are longtime friends and allies, Mr. Fukuyama's repudiation of the case for war, which appeared in The National Interest, was all the more startling because he presented it as an attack on a recent speech by his friend, the columnist Charles Krauthammer of The Washington Post.
Somebody went after that pugnacious prevaricator of pusillanimous pomposity known as Charles Krauthammer?
Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
Krauthammer and Fukuyama are considered the "intellectual heavyweights" of neoconservatism...if such a thing can exist.
What I found most gratifying is the fact that Fukuyama echoed many of the criticisms of Iraq that those of us who didn't support the invasion and occupation have said:
"One gets the impression that the Iraq war," Mr. Fukuyama continued, "has been an unqualified success, with all of the assumptions and expectations on which the war had been based vindicated."
Like many other critics of the war, he argued that Mr. Krauthammer and other neoconservatives were overconfident about turning Iraq into a democracy, too quick to dismiss arguments of longtime allies, and too willing to give up the practical advantages of partnership with other nations.
Most of all, though, he argued that Mr. Krauthammer and other supporters of the war mischaracterized Iraq and Islamic radicals as an immediate threat to the existence of the United States, a claim that justified immediate intervention. The Soviet Union arguably threatened the existence of the United States, Mr. Fukuyama argues, but Iraq never did.
This single set of admissions from Fukuyama is stunning in the face of Bush unable to think of a mistake he's made..and Krauthammer continuing his silly defense of Bush's policies in the face of such an obvious mess. It's a definite splinter away from a group that has been traditionally a very tight clique.
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