The end of the Bush era also signals the end of the neocons, those swaggering gut-busting corporate/intellectual Rambos who encouraged the highly impressionable president to invade Iraq. As American taxpayers can ascertain by now, neoconservative philosophy influenced the Bush administration’s foreign policy. The neocon species was first sighted during the Reagan years. For some strange reason, it mutated into a more destructive force in the mid-1990s.

The neocon emerged after the Cold War when the US confirmed and validated its global military dominance. This was the neocons’ “unipolar moment.” The neocon view of the world is like that of a computer game: good vs. evil. Like characters in a video game, they are quick to use military force. They think the US can solve all problems and, thus, have little faith on multilateral organizations. They have a special dislike for diplomacy. And perhaps because many of the neocons are Jews, they have a special focus on the Middle East.

The neocons’ dream is to make the entire region of the Middle East into a flourishing democracy, even if it is a known hotbed of radical Islamism. And they want the US to spread this democracy. They somehow equate the spread of democracy with the use of military might because the neocons are known to be fond of deploying US military troops. They thought that eliminating Saddam Hussein by using the propaganda of Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) will give the democratic dream a huge push in the region, as Saddam’s fall will showcase the seriousness of the US on the matter.

9/11 was the centerpiece of the neocon movement. Because of 9/11, they were able to popularize their plan that US response to ‘terrorism’ shall go beyond Afghanistan. Hence, Iraq had to happen. The neocons are now considered the “intellectual godfathers of the Iraq war.” People hated the US invasion of Iraq and its interference in the domestic squabbles of that country. American taxpayers, themselves, have been vocal against the interventionist strategy of the Bush administration. This was the clarion call for the end of the neocon.

Now, the neocons have set their sights on a new target: Iran. Unfortunately, Bush and Cheney will no longer be around, Obama isn’t too trigger-happy, and Hillary is a huge talker. So, while the neocons are strong, ambitious, and bold, they might – just might – soon go the way of the African polka-dotted flying weevil.

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Via BBC