William Kristol and Louis Rene Beres are
professional intellectuals. Think-tank guys. Pundits. Gamblers with
other people’s money (or lives or futures or survival). Fearless and
outspoken, as long as it’s from behind a desk and their own skins are
not at risk.
William Kristol and Louis Rene Beres are
professional intellectuals. Think-tank guys. Pundits. Gamblers with
other people’s money (or lives or futures or survival). Fearless and
outspoken, as long as it’s from behind a desk and their own skins are
not at risk.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. We are
certainly short on intellectual input and long on gut as America makes its largely disastrous entry into the 21st century.
certainly short on intellectual input and long on gut as America makes its largely disastrous entry into the 21st century.
The difficulty with guys like Kristol and Beres is
that they are more incarnations of Ann Coulter than Bill Buckley, more
loose-horse than midnight rider, far more interested in a world of personal power and
military confrontation than one of solid old diplomacy. Diplomacy, that currently out-of-style substitute for war, has three
common definitions,
1) Negotiation between nations,
2) Subtle and skillful
handling of a situation and
handling of a situation and
3) Wisdom in the management of public affairs.
That’s not quick enough for these fast-draw pundits. Each fancies
himself a solver of international problems by applying other people’s
children in force of arms. Each posits solutions from the
comfort of a desk, either at a university (Kristol at Harvard; Beres at
Purdue) or
a think-tank. Wild Bill Kristol is a founder of the Project For the New American Century
(PNAC) and Beres a board-member of the Freeman Center for Strategic Studies
(nothing to do with this Freeman).
War, which is sometimes defined as the ultimate
failure of diplomacy, doesn’t even wait
for diplomacy with those who elect themselves to control public dialog.
They have elevated it, turned it into (with Dick Cheney’s approval)
the George Bush preference for
preemptive attack against those who argue with American or Israeli
policy.
The Bush Doctrine.
Kristol and PNAC were prime movers behind the disastrous Iraq policy
and Beres continually pimps for a preemptive attack on Iran, hailing it
as the solution to Israel’s perceived annihilation.
We are up to our eyeballs in Iraq and regretting
every moment, with nearly 3,600 and counting American dead, having stirred
up a veritable hornet’s nest in the Middle East and the larger world of Muslim
radicals. Kristol was a leading voice, daring and misleading us into a death-trap for which
the best minds in America have no working solution.
If
Kristol ran an American
corporation the way he runs his mouth, he’d have been fired for
incompetence years ago. But this is an administration that prizes
incompetence.
Kristol ran an American
corporation the way he runs his mouth, he’d have been fired for
incompetence years ago. But this is an administration that prizes
incompetence.
In a Statement of Principles undersigned by the
likes of Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz (and after a long
diatribe about lost American greatness), Kristol’s PNAC, on its web site, states;
likes of Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz (and after a long
diatribe about lost American greatness), Kristol’s PNAC, on its web site, states;
Our
aim is to remind Americans of these lessons and to draw their consequences for
today. Here are four consequences:
- we need to increase defense
spending significantly if we are to carry out our global responsibilities today
and modernize our armed forces for the future;- we need to strengthen our ties to
democratic allies and to challenge regimes hostile to our interests and value;- we need to promote the cause of
political and economic freedom abroad;- we need to accept responsibility
for America’s unique role in preserving and extending an international order
friendly to our security, our prosperity, and our principles.Such
a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity may not be
fashionable today. But it is necessary if the United States is to build on the
successes of this past century and to ensure our security and our greatness in
the next.
Worked pretty well, didn’t it, Bill? Your (and PNAC’s)
aims have thus far
aims have thus far
- broken
our military, - resulted
in unprecedented fraud and theft, - made
a revolving door of general officers, - destroyed
our relationship with allies, - wrecked
the cause of political and economic freedoms in the world, - turned
us away from America’s centuries-long commitment to international order and - deeply
compromised our security, prosperity and future as a world leader. - destroyed a Republican presidency
· T That’s quite a record for a self-described pundit,
oracle and savior of the nation.
oracle and savior of the nation.
The liability does not stop there. Just as, once upon a time ‘loose lips sank ships,’ the subversive power of an unprecedented explosion of think-tank punditry threatens the Executive ability to govern.
Currently rumbling around
in the press, denied by Secretary of State Rice and attributed by those who
speak only on denial of attribution, is the threat of a Cheney-supported move
to mount preemptive strikes against Iran. Cheney’s presumably diminished
power is not to be ignored.
in the press, denied by Secretary of State Rice and attributed by those who
speak only on denial of attribution, is the threat of a Cheney-supported move
to mount preemptive strikes against Iran. Cheney’s presumably diminished
power is not to be ignored.
There are no indications from the president
that Cheney is in any way less powerful than he has been throughout this
administration.
that Cheney is in any way less powerful than he has been throughout this
administration.
It would not be necessary for America to directly
attack Iran to achieve the Cheney-Kristol-Beres goal. The United States has a
mutual defense agreement with Israel that would presumptively commit us to
backing an Israeli strike against Iran. Cheney has been rumored to
support such a role for Israel, sucking us, unwittingly, into a setup of his own promotion.
attack Iran to achieve the Cheney-Kristol-Beres goal. The United States has a
mutual defense agreement with Israel that would presumptively commit us to
backing an Israeli strike against Iran. Cheney has been rumored to
support such a role for Israel, sucking us, unwittingly, into a setup of his own promotion.
Israel might think twice after their disastrous invasion of Lebanon–the much more brief equivalent of our Iraq experience.
Enter Louis Rene Beres, the ‘dragon of Purdue
University’ and Chairman of a warmongering Israeli organization named Project
Daniel, that reported directly to the then Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon. A
quote or two from Beres would not be amiss;
University’ and Chairman of a warmongering Israeli organization named Project
Daniel, that reported directly to the then Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon. A
quote or two from Beres would not be amiss;
We must act very quickly on Iran. Many critics
will argue that the expected consequences of any prompt preemptive strike would
be overwhelming, including greatly expanded terror attacks against assorted Western
targets, and perhaps regional or even global war. Although such dire prospects
should not be dismissed, there is certainly no reason to believe that an
American or Israeli preemption would make them more likely.
No reason to believe, Louis? Let me advise you about
something that you and Bill Kristol, both of you Jews and both of you deep into
Israeli intrigues, may have failed to notice.
something that you and Bill Kristol, both of you Jews and both of you deep into
Israeli intrigues, may have failed to notice.
Non-Jewish America was not amused
by the Lebanon gambit (nor, presumably, was Israel). They are bone-tired of
Israelis and Palestinians shitting all over 25 years of American mediation, they are
overwhelmingly unsupportive of the present Iraqi debacle and unlikely by even a
trifling percentage to back a U.S. military adventure against Iran.
Against the denied background of those truths, the best you can muster is
The “doomsday clock” continues its
advance to “midnight.” Existential atomic danger is most immediate to
Israel. Iran poses the greatest problem.In the United Nations, both crime and folly remain
the official order of the day . . . it is plain that the world of diplomacy and
international statecraft is now a relentlessly preposterous world . . . as
everywhere a dizzying unreason triumphs boldly over both rational thought and
palpable compassion . . . should it face the prospect of a nuclear Iran, or
even of any Arab state or movement with nuclear or even certain biological
weapons, Israel would likely have no rational choice but to act preemptively.
This, from a man who, like Bill Kristol, has the ear
of the vice-president of the United States and the Prime Minister of Israel. A dispassionate
intellectual, a morbidly focused Jew, a professor and think-tank dreamer of
partisan dreams, Beres would have America bear any burden, pay any price to
march against his perceived enemy.
of the vice-president of the United States and the Prime Minister of Israel. A dispassionate
intellectual, a morbidly focused Jew, a professor and think-tank dreamer of
partisan dreams, Beres would have America bear any burden, pay any price to
march against his perceived enemy.
The dizzying unreason that triumphs boldly over both rational thought and
palpable compassion, comes directly from the vicious half-truths you and Kristol have extolled in The Jewish Press and
The Weekly Standard. You each have blood on your hands and not a single personal asset at stake. Americans have already borne too many burdens and
paid way too large a price for carrying your and Bill Kristol’s water.
Those who see the 21st century in terms
of American dominance have entirely missed the point of what this country
stands for. Rummy and his Star Wars, Wolfowitz and Kristol with their regime
change, Cheney and the president with their preemptive war have been exposed
as the voices of fools.
of American dominance have entirely missed the point of what this country
stands for. Rummy and his Star Wars, Wolfowitz and Kristol with their regime
change, Cheney and the president with their preemptive war have been exposed
as the voices of fools.
We are not yet a nation of fools. Nor will we be
again led there by partisan intellectuals who deal away our strengths as a
nation for their own warped perceptions.
again led there by partisan intellectuals who deal away our strengths as a
nation for their own warped perceptions.
I hope.
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Media comment;
- International Herald Tribune-Talking to Iran
- Baltimore Chronicle-Killing Time: Countdown Quickens for Bush War on Iran
- Parameters-Final Report, Project Daniel
- Christian Science Monitor-Louis Rene Beres-The case for strikes against Iran
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