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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy neoconservatives are never right
Why neoconservatives are never rightBy Stephen M. Walt at Foreign Policy
https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/08/21/neoconservatives-so-wrong-for-so-long-iraq-war-iran-deal/
"SNIP.............
No, the real problem is that the neoconservative worldview one that still informs the thinking of many of the groups and individuals who are most vocal in opposing the Iran deal is fundamentally flawed. Getting Iraq wrong wasnt just an unfortunate miscalculation, it happened because their theories of world politics were dubious and their understanding of how the world works was goofy.
What are the main flaws that consistently lead neoconservatives astray?
For starters, neoconservatives think balance-of-power politics doesnt really work in international affairs and that states are strongly inclined to bandwagon instead. In other words, they think weaker states are easy to bully and never stand up to powerful adversaries. Their faulty logic follows that other states will do whatever Washington dictates provided we demonstrate how strong and tough we are. This belief led them to conclude that toppling Saddam would send a powerful message and cause other states in the Middle East to kowtow to us. If we kept up the pressure, our vast military power would quickly transform the region into a sea of docile pro-American democracies.
What happened, alas, was that the various states we were threatening didnt jump on our bandwagon. Instead, they balanced and then took steps to make sure we faced significant and growing resistance. In particular, Syria and Iran (the next two states on the neocons target list), cooperated even further with each other and helped aid the anti-American insurgency in Iraq itself. Neocons were outraged by this behavior, but it shouldnt have surprised anyone who understood Realism 101. At the same time, long-standing U.S. allies were upset by our actions and distanced themselves from us or else they took advantage of our excesses and free-rode at our expense. In short, the neoconservatives belief that the United States could browbeat and intimidate others into doing our bidding was dead wrong.
..............SNIP"
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Why neoconservatives are never right (Original Post)
applegrove
Aug 2015
OP
They are trapped in ideology and averse to practicality as well as reality.
world wide wally
Aug 2015
#3
-none
(1,884 posts)1. You can see a microcosm of this on DI
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)2. The mindset of a bully
Bullies never think anyone will stand up to them, but if one of their little punk targets does try fighting back, they re-double their efforts to teach their target a good lesson. Until that one day they push a kid too far and get a reaction they weren't expecting. It's an inability, really, to imagine that other people have feelings and will stick up for themselves even in the face of great power.
Bullies know enough not to pick on someone their own size, and they presume that their victims will similarly not resist them, and just take their beating.
world wide wally
(21,744 posts)3. They are trapped in ideology and averse to practicality as well as reality.
One of them even said, "we will create our own reality"
I'm not going to waste the effort of finding which one it was....one of the Bush crime family