[USMA:29362] RE: Neo-cons, was Canadian metric muddle evident

[Carleton MacDonald]

Don't forget:

Grover Norquist

Sen. Istook

Tom DeLay

Wall Street Journal Editorial Board

Karl Rove

 

cm

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Bill Potts
Sent: Monday, March 29, 2004 11:45
To: U.S. Metric Association
Subject: [USMA:29350] Neo-cons, was Canadian metric muddle evident

Bill Hooper wrote: "Will someone please define for me the term "neo-con" that has been used in several recent posts?

Beware what you ask for. You may get more than you were expecting. 

 

Neo-con, or neocon, is short for neoconservative. Here's the definition from a book I'm writing (see http://bushopedia.com):

 

neoconservative: Literally, new conservative, so called because neoconservatives are all former liberals. However, defining them by their former status is not very instructive. In a special feature, called Empire Builders: Neoconservatives and their blueprint for U.S. Power,[1] the Christian Science Monitor, one of the world�s most respected newspapers, has the following implicit and scary definition of neoconservatives:[2]

Neoconservatives �

�    Want the US to be the world's unchallenged superpower

�    Share unwavering support for Israel

�    Support American unilateral action

�    Support preemptive strikes to remove perceived threats to US security

�    Promote the development of an American empire

�    Equate American power with the potential for world peace

�    Seek to democratize the Arab world

�    Push regime change in states deemed threats to the US or its allies

Some of today�s most influential neoconservatives and some the positions they hold or have held[3] are:

�    Irving Kristol, sometimes known as the Godfather of the neoconservative movement, who started out as a Trotskyite and moved, over the years, all the way to the right.

�    Norman Podhoretz, member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

�    Paul Wolfwitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense, military analyst in the Reagan Administration, and a leading participant in the Project for the New American Century.

�    Richard Perle, former chairman and now former member of the Defense Policy Board.

�    Douglas J. Feith, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy and prot�g� of Richard Perle.

�    I. Lewis (�Scooter�) Libby, Assistant to the President and Vice President Cheney�s Chief of Staff.

�    John Bolton, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security.

�    Elliott Abrams, member of George Bush�s National Security Council, former Assistant Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan, and one of the signers of the Project for the New American Century letter that was sent to President Clinton.

�    Robert Kagan, cofounder, with William Kristol, of the Project for the New American Century, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and, in the Reagan administration, Deputy for Policy in the State Department's Bureau of Inter-American Affairs.

�    Michael Ledeen, fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and former employee of the Pentagon, the State Department and the National Security Council.

�    William Kristol, Editor of the Weekly Standard, son of Irving Kristol, and founder of the Project for the New American Century.

�    Frank Gaffney, Jr., founder and president of the Center for Security Policy, columnist for the Washington Times, and contributor or columnist for several other mostly-conservative papers.

See, also, Abrams, Elliott; Bolton, John; and Libby, I. Lewis.

neocon: Abbreviated form of neoconservative.

---

[1] http://www.csmonitor.com/specials/neocon

[2] http://www.csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/neoConQuiz.pl.

[3] Most hold or have held more positions than are listed here.

 

 

Bill Potts, CMS
Roseville, CA
http://metric1.org [SI Navigator]