The real dispute within GOP ranks on foreign policy is not over Cuba. Instead, it is whether the neoconservative policy favored by the likes of Bill Kristol (quoted in this article) continues to be the dominant voice among Republican insiders in the next election as it was during the first George W. Bush term when Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, et al, ran US foreign policy. That neocon policy sought to use US military force to impose democracy throughout the Middle East, beginning with the War in Iraq and continuing with attempted regime change in Egypt which briefly led to the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood to power. The neocons supported regime change in Libya which has resulted in increased radical Islamic influence in that nation. Neocons want to replace the secular dictator in Syria with what is sure to be a more radicalized Islamic regime in that nation, if successful. Neocons like Kristol have been repeatedly wrong in their predictions of what would happen if we follow their policy prescriptions in the Middle East. Why potential GOP presidential candidates still have prominent neocons like John Bolton, who is a foreign policy adviser to Bobby Jindal, in influential policy positions is beyond me. I knew Bolton from Reagan administration days when he was part of the neocon network. I later learned that, while many of us were serving in the military in Vietnam, Bolton bragged about how he avoided serving there. But he is very cavalier these days in support of putting American soldiers in harms way by advocating policies to constantly intervene militarily aboard. I cant think of one neocon who actually served in Vietnam or more recent wars. Yet, they are quick to send our soldiers into questionable wars like Iraq. We dont need a policy of isolationism. But, Republican candidates for President are ill served if they continue to drink the neocon kool-aid. If Bill Kristol is right (and neocons continue to control the foreign policy agenda of the next Republican President), then the GOP return to power will be short-lived. The times call for a realistic strategy to address the serious threat of radical Islam, and a President with the vision of a Dwight Eisenhower or Ronald Reagan to recruit the kind of advisers to execute it. It is time to end the neoconservative dominance of foreign policy in the GOP.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 17:14:05 +0000
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