[Carlhole]

I'm going to have to buy this new book after the excerpt.

Tomgram: Bacevich on the Neocon Revolution and Militarism: On Wednesday, I posted The Normalization of War, the first of two excerpts from a remarkable new book -- Andrew J. Bacevich's The New American Militarism, How Americans Are Seduced by War. In the second excerpt, Bacevitch takes up the subject of neoconservatism, which he terms "a singularly inapt label that suggests an ideological rigor that neocons have never demonstrated nor perhaps even sought." Speaking of the early neocons, including figures like Irving Kristol and Norman Podhoretz, he points out that, "from the outset, the neoconservative identification with the post-Vietnam Right was a marriage of convenience rather than a union of kindred spirits."

Below, in an excerpt adapted from the book and posted with the kind permission both of the author and of his publisher, Oxford University Press, Bacevich takes up the second generation of neocons, the new boys who moved to Washington and, from various think tanks and front groups, laid siege to governmental policy-making. Though the label neocon has increasingly become one of opprobrium, Bacevich suggests that "the heat generated by the term also stands as a backhanded tribute, an acknowledgement that the neoconservative impact has been substantial." As indeed it has – to the misfortune of us all. He suggests as well that "one aspect of the neoconservative legacy has been to foster the intellectual climate necessary for the emergence of the new American militarism." His discussion of that legacy follows. Tom


http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?emx=x&pid=2337

[aldente]

Thanks for the post. As a German I am particular attentive to this topic. It is interesting that nation states and their history can span over generations (I certainly was not involved in WW2 and my father was just an infant during that time). There were headlines about Chinese protests about Japanese history books recently- the same idea- neither of the current generations were actively involved.

Can the USA fall prey to this kind of threat? Who knows, maybe so.

[MicroHydro]

It is not just the neocons see this 1997 book:

The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives -- by Zbigniew Brzezinski (a democrat) Of note he also calls for a new Pearl Harbor type event to build public support for the imperial conquests.

John Kerry embraced the fake war on terrorism/real resource war as did Hillary Clinton. Even Howard Dean is on board for occupation of the oil fields now. The only disagreement within the USA ruling elite is on tactics.

The only major anti-imperialists left are Noam Chomsky on the left and Pat Buchanan on the right. They each might represent 1% of the US population.

I will not attempt to guess what person will be US President in 2009, but I can assure you, he or she will be a war emperor.