Reply #45: Neoconservative clout seen in U.S. Iraq policy-Milwaukee Journal Sentinal

[Stephanie]

http://www.jsonline.com/news/gen/apr03/131523.asp

Neoconservative clout seen in U.S. Iraq policy
By BRUCE MURPHY
[email protected]
April 6, 2003

Question: Why are we in Iraq?

Answer: The neoconservatives made us do it.

The buzz in Washington and beyond has been that President Bush's attack on Iraq came straight from the playbook of the neoconservatives, a group of mostly Republican strategists, many of whom have gotten funding from Milwaukee's Bradley Foundation. The neoconservatives differ from traditional conservatives in favoring a more activist role for government and a more aggressive foreign policy.

Led by Weekly Standard editor William Kristol, the neoconservatives have offered a sweeping new vision for U.S. foreign policy: to restructure the Middle East and supplant dictators around the world, using pre-emptive attacks when necessary against any countries seen as potential threats. Traditional conservatives, such as Heritage Foundation fellow John C. Hulsman, suggest that this will lead to "endless war," while Jessica Mathews of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has charged that "announcing a global crusade on behalf of democracy is arrogant." <more>