KHarblog: Paleoconservatives

Patrick J. Buchanan

Chuck Hagel

Justin Raimondo

Paul Craig Roberts

Patrick J. Buchanan

First, a highly critical article about Buchanan from the National Review,
then a selection from his columns:

1999-10-11 A Conservative No More
The tribal politics of Pat Buchanan.
[This is not by Patrick Buchanan, but rather is about him.
It is by Ramesh Ponnuru.]

Now for selected Buchanan columns:

2002-12-16 The Democracy Worshipers

2003-04-21 To Baghdad and Beyond
After victory, our troubles will have only just begun.

2003-12-15 Stand Up to Sharon

2004-04-26 The Passion and Its Enemies

2004-12-06 The Mirage of Mideast Peace

2005-02-28 The Anti-Conservatives
Who convinced the president that our democracy depends
on a worldwide crusade?

2006-01-16 Might the Arabs Have a Point?

2006-06-05 The Persecution of the Palestinians
No wonder they hate us.

2006-06-23 An Idea Whose Time Has Come?

2006-07-03 Time for an “Agonizing Reappraisal”
Gazing across what Zbigniew Brzezinski once called the “arc of crisis,”
U.S. foreign policy appears to be disintegrating.

2006-07-11 The End of the Cowboy Era

[T]he neocon bombast about our being "the unipolar power," the "indispensable nation," "the benevolent global hegemon" was always fatuous...
[w]e are simply not omnipotent – indeed, far from it, as always.

...

As one reviews the ledgers of his foreign policy, Bush seems to have alienated or antagonized just about everyone on earth, with precious little to compensate us for our war losses. And if we are about to jettison his cowboy diplomacy, perhaps it is time to look again at the successful policies Bush and the neocons dismissed and deplore. For, unlike theirs, these policies never failed America.

What are they? The anti-interventionism of the Founding Fathers from Washington to Wilson, and the conservative policy of containment and deterrence pursued by Eisenhower and Reagan.

Both deserve a hearing in the politics of 2008 –
one that neither McCain nor Hillary will give them.

2006-12-20 Broken Army, Broken Empire

While our armed forces are more than adequate to defend us,
they are insufficient to defend an empire.
Rather than bleed and bankrupt the nation endlessly,
we should let go of the empire.

Americans must learn how to mind our own business
and cease to meddle in other nation's quarrels.
Iraq was never a threat to the United States.
Only our mindless intervention has made it so.

Chuck Hagel

The following is from pages 398–400 of Bob Woodward’s
State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III,
published in 2006.
It does not entirely deal with Hagel,
but the other parts are sufficiently interesting and context-setting
that I have included them as well.

Senator Chuck Hagel, 58, a short, serious-minded Nebraska Republican,
didn’t get a lot of invitations to the Bush White House.
Though he had voted for the resolution authorizing the war,
he had become an out-spoken critic of the handling of the postwar phase.
The White House had to include him in the invitation for all Senate Republicans to have their weekly Tuesday policy lunch at the White House June 21, 2005.

Hagel had been a decorated Army sergeant during the Vietnam War
and he understood that the use of military force
was the most important, defining decision for a president and for a nation.
Months before the Iraq invasion he had publicly asked questions such as
“Who governs after Saddam?”
[NBC News transcript, Meet the Press, 2002-07-07]
and
“Have we calculated the consequences?”
[David S. Broder, “The Hagel Doctrine,” Washington Post, 2002-09-18]
In his speech on 2002-10-09, favoring the war resolution,
he said he recognized the solemn obligation involved and added,
“We cannot do it alone….
How many of us really know and understand Iraq,
its country, history, people, and role in the Arab world.
I approach the issue of a post-Saddam Iraq
and the future of democracy and stability in the Middle East
with more caution, realism and humility.”
A month before the war he said,
“First, a post-Saddam transition in Iraq must focus on
security, economic stability and creating the conditions for democratic change.
We should put aside the mistaken delusion
that democracy is just around the corner.”
[Landon Lecture at Kansas State University, 2003-02-20]

Bused to the White house before the luncheon on June 21,
the senators went through the buffet line at noon, and Bush arrived at 12:30.

The president spoke for about 25 minutes on Social Security, spending, deficits—everything except the big elephant in the room

Senator John Warner, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, took the floor,
said some nice things about Bush, and addressed the elephant.
“I had dinner with my former boss when I was secretary of the navy,”
Warner said, referring to former Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger.
“My former boss is very concerned about Iraq because
he sees some very eerie parallels developing with Vietnam.”

Bush then launched into his defense—
9/11, the continuing threat of terrorism,
his conviction that Saddam was a threat.
Nothing new.

Senator Ted Stevens, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, then said,
“I want to echo part of what John Warner has just said.
I think there are some serious issues here.”

Bush fell back on his standard rhetorical flourish
that it was the right thing to do, that they had to stick it out.

After the lunch Hagel walked out with Bush and they went off to a corner.

“Mr. President,” Hagel said, “let me ask you a question.
I believe that you are getting really bubbled in here in the White House on Iraq.
Do you ever reach outside your inner circle of people,
outside your national security council?”
Then he added the obligatory softening.
“This is not a reflection on, in any way, or an assertion of inadequacy.
That’s not my point here.
I think it’s important for presidents, especially in a time of war,
to get some other opinions—
of people that maybe don’t agree with you, or you don’t agree with.
Call them in. Sit them down. Listen to them.
Do you ever do that?”

“Well, I kind of leave that to Hadley.”

“I know that your national security adviser talks to people,
but do you talk to people?”

“Well, maybe I should talk to Hadley about that.”

“I think this is very important, Mr. President,
that you get some outside opinions here.
Just to test your theories and how you’re doing.”
Hagel mentioned themes from histories and biographies he had read.
“When a nation’s at war, the president is under tremendous pressure.
You go deeper into that bunker, and I don’t think it’s good for you.”
There, he had said it.

“That’s good advice,” Bush said.

Hagel went back to the Senate.
About two hours later Hadley called.

“The president told me about the conversation,” Hadley said.
“Do you want to come talk to me?”

“That really wasn’t the conversation, Steve,” Hagel said.
The issue was new or dissenting voices.
“You know what I’m talking about.”

“I know what you’re talking about,” Hadley said.

Hagel offered to provide lists of people the president should talk with
and said it didn’t have to include him.
Nonetheless, Hadley invited him down to the White House several days later.
Hagel, who is an earnest student of foreign policy,
sent Hadley copies of several long memos he had given to Rice.
When he got to Hadley’s office it was crowded with NSC staffers.
“Do we really need everyone here?” Hagel asked.
Apparently so.
For an hour, Hagel made his pitch that
Iraq was a much bigger mess than they were acknowledging,
and the administration should be doing more on
security, training, governance and infrastructure.

He left unsatisfied and gave an interview to U.S. News & World Report saying,
“Things aren’t getting better; they’re getting worse.
The White House is completely disconnected from reality.”

Hadley and others at the White House were angry,
but Hagel thought it was one of the clearest things he had ever said.
His private assessment was worse:
The administration had no strategic thinker.
Rice was weak.
The military was being emasculated
and severely damaged by uniformed sycophants.

[End of excerpt from State of Denial.]

2007-01-11-Hagel-Senate-Foreign-Relations-Committee

Here is a roughly five minute video clip
of Hagel’s statement regarding Iraq.

Justin Raimondo

Our purpose is simply to list a few of his columns at antiwar.com
that I have found of greatest interest,
mainly dealing with neoconservatism and
its efforts to entangle America in a permanent state of war with the Muslim world.

His latest column is always available here,
while a little biographical information is here.

2006-01-02 Beware the New Year
A threat assessment

2006-01-11 Abramoff and the Israeli Connection
Washington sleazebag funneled money to Israel’s “settler” movement

2006-01-16 World War IV
A realistic scenario

2006-01-25 Spy With a Heart of Gold?
Was an American spy for Israel trying to “help” his country?

2006-02-03 A Treasonous Camarilla
AIPAC espionage case points to larger spy scandal
[An excerpt (emphasis added):]

The Larry Franklin-AIPAC-WINEP connection strongly suggests that
what we are dealing with here is not simply a domestic group
that had somehow seized control of U.S. foreign policy
in order to pursue their interventionist agenda, but
a foreign-directed and assisted covert operation
designed to subvert the institutional foundations
of various key government agencies
and hijack U.S. military might
in order to serve the interests of a foreign power, i.e., Israel.
This suspicion is particularly strong when it comes to Feith,
who had his security clearance revoked in 1982.
The charge: leaking information to the Israeli embassy.
...
Come to think of it,
an inordinately large number of neoconservatives working in government
have had their security clearances revoked,
and all for the same reason: passing classified information to Israel.
The Franklin case underscores the vital role played by AIPAC
as a conduit for funneling U.S. secrets to Tel Aviv...

2006-02-06 Prepare for Perpetual War
The real State of the Union

2006-02-10 Scooter's Choice
The ‘Samson defense’: if Libby goes down, will he drag the GOP down with him?

2006-02-15 Masters of Deception
And now for the real news...

2006-02-17 Espionage and the First Amendment
Spycraft, free speech, and the AIPAC espionage case

2006-02-20 The Provocateurs
How to enrage Muslims worldwide

2006-02-27 Moment of Truth
Neocons jump ship

2006-03-06 Another War for Israel
The amen corner howls for war with Iran

2006-03-17 American Megalomania
Our ‘national security strategy’ is crazed nonsense

2006-03-20 The Lobby
Why is American policy in the Middle East skewered in favor of Israel?
[The Lobby, Part 1]

2006-03-22 The War Party in Disarray
[The Lobby, Part 2]

2006-03-31 The Lobby Strikes Back
Harvard study of Israeli lobby's influence
costs the dean of the Kennedy School his job
[The Lobby, Part 3]

2006-04-03 Israel and Moral Blackmail
The Israel lobby is bringing out the big guns
[The Lobby, Part 4]

2006-04-10 Smear and Fear
That's how Israel's lobby operates
[The Lobby, Part 5]

2006-04-17 The Revolt of the Generals

2006-04-28 Steppingstone to War
House passes ‘Iran Freedom Support Act’

2006-05-03 War With Iran?

2006-05-08 The Next World War
A turning point is reached

2006-05-24 Fake but Accurate
The War Party fabrication factory is revving up its motor again.
Destination: Tehran

2006-05-26 Enough Is Enough
People have had it up to here with The Lobby
[The Lobby, Part 6]
(Latest update here.)

2006-06-05 Our Terrorism, and Theirs
Liberal apologetics for American atrocities

2006-06-14 Eating Crow
A War Party defector gets it half right

2006-06-19 The Assassins
From character assassination to physical assassination,
the Lobby and its agents ruthlessly pursue their agenda
[The Lobby, Part 7]

2006-06-23 A Plague on Both Their Houses
The congressional “debate” over the war shows that
there are two wings of the War Party: Democrats and Republicans

2006-06-28 The Cabal, Outed
The spies who lied us into war are at it again

2006-07-14 Israel Crosses the Line
[Mideast crisis, Part 1]

2006-07-17 Will We Go to War for Israel?
Israel says "Jump!"
Americans ask: "How high?"
[Mideast crisis, Part 2]

For more of Raimondo's articles on the Israeli-Hezbollah-Lebanese war of 2006,
see my post Mideast crisis 2006.

2006-08-04 War: The Great Clarifier
War in the Middle East is rearranging the political landscape on the home front

2006-08-28 Right Hook
Conservatives rebel against the War Party

2006-09-18 In Defense of Pope Benedict
The Catholic Church is an enemy of the War Party

2006-12-22 An Anniversary
Antiwar.com is 11 years old (as of yesterday)

2007-06-04 Back to the Future
For the War Party, it's always 1940