Leo Strauss' Philosophy of Deception

[Octafish]

As we run up to more war for profit, some things to remember from almost 12 years ago:

Leo Strauss' Philosophy of Deception

Many neoconservatives like Paul Wolfowitz are disciples of a philosopher who believed that the elite should use deception, religious fervor and perpetual war to control the ignorant masses.

By Jim Lobe / AlterNet May 18, 2003

What would you do if you wanted to topple Saddam Hussein, but your intelligence agencies couldn't find the evidence to justify a war?

A follower of Leo Strauss may just hire the "right" kind of men to get the job done – people with the intellect, acuity, and, if necessary, the political commitment, polemical skills, and, above all, the imagination to find the evidence that career intelligence officers could not detect.

The "right" man for Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, suggests Seymour Hersh in his recent New Yorker article entitled 'Selective Intelligence,' was Abram Shulsky, director of the Office of Special Plans (OSP) – an agency created specifically to find the evidence of WMDs and/or links with Al Qaeda, piece it together, and clinch the case for the invasion of Iraq.

Like Wolfowitz, Shulsky is a student of an obscure German Jewish political philosopher named Leo Strauss who arrived in the United States in 1938. Strauss taught at several major universities, including Wolfowitz and Shulsky's alma mater, the University of Chicago, before his death in 1973.

Strauss is a popular figure among the neoconservatives. Adherents of his ideas include prominent figures both within and outside the administration. They include 'Weekly Standard' editor William Kristol; his father and indeed the godfather of the neoconservative movement, Irving Kristol; the new Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, Stephen Cambone, a number of senior fellows at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) (home to former Defense Policy Board chairman Richard Perle and Lynne Cheney), and Gary Schmitt, the director of the influential Project for the New American Century (PNAC), which is chaired by Kristol the Younger.

Strauss' philosophy is hardly incidental to the strategy and mindset adopted by these men – as is obvious in Shulsky's 1999 essay titled "Leo Strauss and the World of Intelligence (By Which We Do Not Mean Nous)" (in Greek philosophy the term nous denotes the highest form of rationality). As Hersh notes in his article, Shulsky and his co-author Schmitt "criticize America's intelligence community for its failure to appreciate the duplicitous nature of the regimes it deals with, its susceptibility to social-science notions of proof, and its inability to cope with deliberate concealment." They argued that Strauss's idea of hidden meaning, "alerts one to the possibility that political life may be closely linked to deception. Indeed, it suggests that deception is the norm in political life, and the hope, to say nothing of the expectation, of establishing a politics that can dispense with it is the exception."

CONTINUED...

http://www.alternet.org/story/15935/leo_strauss%27_philosophy_of_deception

Not that this time won't be any different, but watch out for it.

[hifiguy]

1. Strauss is an interesting case study.

A prominent Jewish academic who flees the Nazis and comes to the US to avoid persecution.

He then spends literally the rest of his life creating a philosophy that can plausibly be called a form of fascism differing from its German cousin primarily in that the anti-Semitism was stripped out while the lying, power politics, imperialism and anti-democratic elements were retained.

Freud would have had a field day with Strauss.

[Octafish]

3. Guy's writings were so hot CIA reclassified Scoop Jackson's papers retroactively in 2005.

The guy was the Democratic Senator from Boeing, I mean Washington.

CIA reclassifies Scoop Jackson's records.

byThistimeFollow
TUE FEB 15, 2005 AT 05:18 PM PST

Strange indeed. What in the world could Scoop Jackson have in his records that needs to be scrubbed today? It must have to do with someone currently in the administration, but we're talking about 22 year old records so whatever it is, it must be huge even by today's nonaccountability standards.

CIA seizes Sen. Jackson papers

skip

Last week the federal document security team spent three days in the special collections division of the UW Suzzallo-Allen library. The officials, which also included people from the Department of Defense and Department of Energy, combed through 1,200 boxes of material using a five-binder index to find the targeted papers.

Carla Rickerson, head of special collections, said the team removed up to 10 documents.

She would not disclose the exact number or subject matter of the documents because of the university's privacy policies.

Rickerson said the papers, now considered classified, are being held in a secure location on campus until federal authorities declassify them.

more below....

skip

They cover a range of policy matters with a significant amount in Jackson's areas of expertise: national defense, foreign policy and the environment.

Since the documents were made available to the public, hundreds of researchers have reviewed them to gain insight about Jackson's role as a public servant.

SOURCE: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/02/15/92856/-CIA-reclassifies-Scoop-Jackson-s-records#

Scoop gave us a forerunner of today's kabuki: the Coalition for a Democratic Majority

Coalition for a Democratic Majority

According to GroupWatch.org (last updated September 1989), Coalition for a Democratic Majority (CDM) "was formed in 1972 by the late Senator Henry M. Scoop Jackson (D-WA) who headed the conservative wing of the Democratic Party. Jackson and his coalition favored a strong military and promoted the concept of 'peace through strength.' The CDM has its roots in the intellectual movement of neo-conservatism--intellectual and pragmatic, with an emphasis on democracy, anticommunism, and globalism. By the mid-1970s, the Vietnam war had cooled the ardor of the American public for the policy of interventionism, a philosophy of great importance to the CDM. The election of President Jimmy Carter pushed the 'hardliners' into action and, in 1976, the CDM helped to found the Committee on the Present Danger (CPD), a lobby group for containment militarism. The CPD developed and implemented a new 'Soviet Threat' campaign. The broader goal of CDM, however, was to reinstate containment militarism as the central theme of U.S. foreign policy.

"The CDM argued that the U.S. must have a strong national defense and a foreign policy of active resistance to what it calls 'totalitarianism and repression.' Further it urges strong support for 'foreign allies who share America's democratic values--whether it is the government of Israel in the Middle East or the government of El Salvador's Jose Napoleon Duarte in Central America.'"

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Coalition_for_a_Democratic_Majority

Scoop's papers may have concerned some proteges, people like Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, and Frank Gaffney Jr.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5686573 (2005ish background, old and bad links)

[Zorra]

2. K&R nt

[Octafish]

19. Leo Strauss' followers are now targeting Ukraine.

Robert Kagan, who co-founded PNAC with William Kristol, is married to former Cheney advisor and now State Department big shot Victoria "Eff the EU" Nuland.

http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/kagan_robert

Where all this looks to be heading is war to balkanize Ukraine, followed by war to balkanize Russia.

It's logical for the money-trumps-peace set.

[rhett o rick]

4. k&r. Thanks for posting. nm

[Octafish]

23. Helps explain how Richard Cheney never really leaves Washington.

His followers remain in various federal offices to keep the fires for war burning.

[rhett o rick]

25. I personally believe that Cheney was a tool as was George.

I did believe Cheney was the one in control but the way he and George left Washington the DC convinced me that someone else was/is in charge. I think if it was up to Cheney, they would have declared a national emergency and extended George's reign "temporarily" until the terrorist threat was over. The SCOTUS would have backed them up. What made me suspicious was their behavior at the end of 2007. Both men brash and outspoken, suddenly shut their mouths, bowed their heads, and slinked out of Washington the DC. I think someone with a higher pay rate gave then that direction. So who is the number one deep state leader? Or who is the "think tank" that determines what happens.

You are most likely familiar with Michael J. Glennon's book, "National Security and the Double Government".
I haven't read it yet but intend to.

http://crooksandliars.com/2014/11/double-government-secret-gets-out

http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/10/18/vote-all-you-want-the-secret-government-won-change/jVSkXrENQlu8vNcBfMn9sL/story.html

[HereSince1628]

5. It's a shame that "The Power of Nightmares" never made US Broadcast tv

The world as viewed by Leo Strauss and how his philosophy bent the NeoCons is a major theme of the first episode

[Octafish]

7. Transcript of Part the First

Professor HARVEY MANSFIELD, Straussian Philosopher, Harvard University: He didn't give interviews, or write political essays, or appear on the radio—there wasn't TV yet—or things like that. But he did want to get a school of students to see what he had seen: that Western liberalism led to nihilism, and had undergone a development at the end of which it could no longer define itself or defend itself. A development which took everything praiseworthy and admirable out of human beings, and made us into dwarf animals. Made us into herd animals—sick little dwarves, satisfied with a dangerous life in which nothing is true and everything is permitted.

VO: Strauss believed that the liberal idea of individual freedom led people to question everything—all values, all moral truths. Instead, people were led by their own selfish desires. And this threatened to tear apart the shared values which held society together. But there was a way to stop this, Strauss believed. It was for politicians to assert powerful and inspiring myths that everyone could believe in. They might not be true, but they were necessary illusions. One of these was religion; the other was the myth of the nation. And in America, that was the idea that the country had a unique destiny to battle the forces of evil throughout the world. This myth was epitomized, Strauss told his students, in his favorite television program: Gunsmoke.

Professor STANLEY ROSEN, Pupil of Leo Strauss 1949: Strauss was a great fan of American television. Gunsmoke was his great favorite, and he would hurry home from the seminar, which would end at, you know, 5:30 or so, and have a quick dinner so he could be at his seat before the television set when Gunsmoke came on. And he felt that this was good, this show. This had a salutary effect on the American public, because it showed the conflict between good and evil in a way that would be immediately intelligible to everyone.

BAD MAN on Gunsmoke: Let's see what happens!

JAMES ARNESS: No! [ SHOOTS bad man; bad man DROPS to the ground ]

ROSEN: The hero has a white hat; he's faster on the draw than the bad man; the good guy wins. And it's not just that the good guy wins, but that values are clear. That's America! We're gonna triumph over the evils of… of… that are trying to destroy us and the virtues of the Western frontier. Good and evil.

VO: Leo Strauss' other favorite program was Perry Mason. And this, he told his students, epitomized the role that they, the elite, had to play. In public, they should promote the myths necessary to rescue America from decay. But in private, they didn't have to believe in them.

ROSEN: Perry Mason was different from Gunsmoke. The extremely cunning man who, as far as we can see, is very virtuous and uses his great intelligence and quickness of mind to rescue his clients from dangers, but who could be fooling us—because he's cleverer than we are. Is he really telling the truth? Maybe his client is guilty!

SOURCE: http://www.wanttoknow.info/war/power_of_nightmares_transcript_1

Wow! Thank you, Heresince1628!

More on the BBC series: http://www.wanttoknow.info/powerofnightmares

[HereSince1628]

8. Thank you! I didn't know there was a transcript to refer people to...

[stillwaiting]

12. I love how Strauss calls liberals selfish.

[snagglepuss]

16. to read later

thanks for posting. bkmd

[JDPriestly]

6. K&Rl

[Octafish]

24. Remember these words of advice from Leo Strauss, the PNAC Godfather

from DUer KlatooBNikto from 2004:

when you want to believe Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice.

1. Only a certain Elite are equipped mentally and physically to rule. They are the people without any illusions and are capable of being merciless when circumstances call for it. They do not need other people's approval and are essentailly seekers of power.

2. These Elite, by force of necessity, will be rquired to lie to the Masses to create a make believe situation that will pacify the masses.They should not be swayed by any advice that they are required to tell the truth.

3. Use of violence and other tactics will be necessary to contain the masses. Propaganda and lies are part of the arsenal of the rulers.

Along with these words of wisdom, this man, a jewish escapee from Nazi Germany thought we in America have too many people who are unfit to be considered equal citizens.He advised tolerance with contempt for these people.

It goes without saying that among his disciples he had some of the worthies of this administration: Wolfowitz,Kristol,Ashcroft come to mind.

If you did not read the title of his works, you would think you are reading the pages of Mein Kampf.

That is the bible of our current rulers.Keep this in mind when some
liar gets up and makes an announcement.

OP: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2811019

[ReRe]

9. K&R

Thanks again, Octafish. You always come through with the history and the truth. I hope all who know nothing of this man, go to their libraries and check him out. I had a book on him for years, but I have misplaced it. Yes, he is one of the Godfather's of the dishonesty and evil that permeates the Republican Party. History tells a story.

[Cary]

10. This is why we must vote

They are indeed fascists.

[cheapdate]

11. I picked up a book from Strauss a long time ago at a used book store.

It's title suggested it was about high ideals: justice, liberty, etc. I vaguely remember reading some of it then putting it away as unimaginative claptrap.

[QC]

13. Thanks for this blast from the DU past.

DU is where I found out about Strauss, thanks to a link to The Power of Nightmares. I ended up reading a book on Strauss--can't remember which one--and those he influenced, like Alan Bloom.

This used to be a place to get a real education.

Thanks for reminding me of that.

[Cary]

15. It did

And a comaradarie that I was surprised to lose. I learned that stuff here too but so many lost sight of who their friends are.

[historylovr]

14. K & R

[hifiguy]

17. Kick

This is important intellectual history.

[WillowTree]

18. Why is it that every time I see that man's name in a title.......

.......I think it's going to be a thread about dungarees? Could it be wishful thinking?

[WorseBeforeBetter]

20. K&R

[wildbilln864]

21. k & freaking r! n/t

[mother earth]

22. K & R nt

[2naSalit]

26. Very interesting...

and hardly surprising. Thanks for posting, we need to keep this info front and center so we won't forget.