Posted under Interventionism & NeoCons
Whoa. David Horowitz, not a favorite of this blog, makes a remarkable confession about the Neocon Wars and the notion of “spreading democracy”:
The reality is that a totalitarian Islam is the vibrant and increasingly dominant movement in the Arab world. Any elections likely to take place will be on the order of one man, one vote, one time. Neo-conservatives are now cheering on the Obama administration’s reckless intervention in Libya, as though the past ten years have taught them nothing. The nation building effort in Iraq led to a squandering of American resources and a weakening of American power.
I’m still blinking in shock. If reality can blast its way through David Horowitz’ ideological blinders, there’s hope for just about anyone.
Hat tip to Americaneocon!
James on 25 Mar 2011 at 5:28 pm #
Take a look at Lawrence Auster’s demolition of Horowtiz after this ‘confession’ on his blog View from the Right. Horowitiz was utterly slavish of Bush and the neoconservative war lust. Horowitz is either (1) telling the truth, which means he has no intellectual foundation as he lacks any true guiding principles and basically floats in the ideological wind; or (2) is lying because he sees the tides turning and pursues the ideological wind for his own professional advantage. This, of course, makes him an opportunist. To be blunt, I am profoundly suspicious of any and all so called “conservatives” who so blindly and utterly supported the Bush regime and its foreign policy. That is a litmus test for me. The chips were down between 2001 and 2008 and true colors were exposed. Unfortunately, what got exposed was how shallow and compromised “conservatism” had become and how few true conservatives were left. The truth of that, however, has to be faced if there is to be hope for the future and the path to that future must include a genuine battle of ideas within the conservative movement. I hope to see such a battle as we approch the election.
RonL on 25 Mar 2011 at 5:54 pm #
Auster has a point. However, I am seeing more and more neoconservatives become utterly disillusioned with the lunacy of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and our military aid to Al Qaeda in the Maghreb’s war on Qaddafi.
HarrisonBergeron2 on 25 Mar 2011 at 6:19 pm #
RonL,
I’d say the contradictions of “Neo-conservatism” are clashing. The very notion of imposing freedom is self-contradictory.
HarrisonBergeron2 on 25 Mar 2011 at 6:22 pm #
James,
Of course, so-called “neo-conservatism” is just a mish-mash. Its ideological founder, Leo Strauss, argued that the ruling elite should use the “noble lie” to manipulate the unwashed mashes for their own good. The idea that US forces were bringing democracy to the oppressed was just a good cover for a war of aggression.
RedPhillips on 25 Mar 2011 at 7:02 pm #
I really don’t doubt that Horowitz harbored doubts about democracy promotion because I think his Muslim phobia has always been greater than his enthusiasm for democracy. But Auster is correct that Horowitz seems to be misremembering the timeline. Also as Auster insinuates, Horowitz is reinforcing the perception that he is a ruthless orthodoxy enforcer. He enforced orthodoxy even when he himself harbored doubts.
Kirt Higdon on 25 Mar 2011 at 10:40 pm #
So Horowitz used to be in favor of slaughtering Arabs in the name of democracy, but will now be content just to do so in the name of Zionism. What’s the big change? Within the neo-con big tent, this is just a minor family argument. Full disclosure – I have a certain personal animosity toward Horowitz as one of my daughters was once his secretary and had to endure a lot of his bullying and dishonest dealings. Happily she moved on to bigger and much better things and gained some valuable, if negative, life experience from the time she spent in that viper’s nest.
Americaneocon on 26 Mar 2011 at 12:00 am #
Linked, FWIW to you dolts: ‘Botched Neocon Wars? Hardly’.
HarrisonBergeron2 on 26 Mar 2011 at 2:37 pm #
Americaneocon,
Dolts, eh? So — what does that make Horowitz?
Americaneocon on 26 Mar 2011 at 5:16 pm #
Horowitz is the man!
Sean Scallon on 26 Mar 2011 at 5:53 pm #
“(1) telling the truth, which means he has no intellectual foundation as he lacks any true guiding principles and basically floats in the ideological wind; or (2) is lying because he sees the tides turning and pursues the ideological wind for his own professional advantage. This, of course, makes him an opportunist.”
I think this sums up David Horowitz in a nutshell.
HarrisonBergeron2 on 26 Mar 2011 at 7:59 pm #
Americaneocon,
So — Horowitz denounces the Neocons — he admits the Neocon goal of spreading democracy is an illusion that’s weakened America — and he’s the man?
Did you always wear a helmet when you were skateboarding?
HarrisonBergeron2 on 26 Mar 2011 at 8:22 pm #
Only Neocon foreign policy could have gotten us into this mess:
Evidence is emerging that United States forces are waging war in Libya on behalf of rebels whose ranks include jihadis who fought against the U.S. in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Britain’s Daily Telegraph reports that Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, a leader of U.S.-supported rebel forces in the fighting around Adjabiya, went to Afghanistan in 2002 to fight against the “foreign invasion” — that is, U.S. troops who invaded Afghanistan in retaliation for the September 11 attacks.
Makes perfect sense.
Kirt Higdon on 27 Mar 2011 at 12:32 pm #
This is comparable to destroying a secular anti-Iranian regime in Bagdad and replacing it with a religious pro-Iranian regime even while proclaiming that Iran is the greatest threat to world peace. One always hears the comment “Never attribute to malicious planning (conspiracy) what can be explained by stupidy or incompetence”, but this assumes they are mutually exclusive. I always figure our globalist rulers are both malicious and incompetent. Al Qaeda will be around for awhile – wherever the regime needs it.
roho on 28 Mar 2011 at 3:42 pm #
Arms sales, civil wars, invasions, etc, are simply tools to advance placing nations in debt to International Banking. President Jackson knew that well, when he sent the “Rothschild’s agents” packing.
They had already broken Europe in the Napoleanic Wars, and needed the war of 1812 to drain us……Creating debt is the end goal.
Libya’s Rebels? «ScrollPost.com on 28 Mar 2011 at 4:37 pm #
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Matt on 02 Apr 2011 at 7:08 pm #
This makes perfect sense. Horowitz is just saying that fealty to Israel is more important to his brand of neoconservatism than democracy promotion is. You can debate the ethics of this, but at least he’s being intellectually honest.
What needs to be remembered is that Israel and Libya are allies. Unlikely allies, but allies nonetheless. When Horowitz sees one of his allies being attacked, he drops democracy promotion and sticks to the real script, which is Isreal Uber Alles.