Has the Neoconservative Moment Passed? - James Woolsey

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/01/14/Uncommon_Knowledge_James_Woolsey

Former CIA director James Woolsey rejects the notion that the invasion of Iraq has triggered the end of neoconservativism in American politics, and argues the Iraq War was not a mistake.

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James Woolsey discusses the failure of the intelligence community in the run-up to the Iraq war and considers Barack Obama's selection of Leon Panetta to head the CIA in light of the historical relationship between the president and the CIA director.

He outlines the challenges the intelligent community faces in what he calls America's war against "theocratic totalitarianism."

Finally, he asserts that it is imperative for us to destroy oil as a strategic commodity -- not only for our security but also for the good of the planet - Hoover Institution

Robert James Woolsey is vice president of the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton and an officer in its global resilience practice.

Previously, Woolsey served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency and delegate-at-large to the US-Soviet Strategic Arms Reduction Talks and Nuclear and Space Arms Talks. He has also been a partner in the law firm of Shea & Gardner in Washington, DC.

Woolsey is currently co-chairman (with former Secretary of State George Shultz) of the Committee on the Present Danger, as well as chairman of the advisory boards of the Clean Fuels Foundation and the New Uses Council and a trustee of the Center for Strategic & International Studies and the Center for Strategic & Budgetary Assessments. He also serves on the National Commission on Energy Policy.

Peter M. Robinson is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he writes about business and politics, edits Hoover's quarterly journal, the Hoover Digest, and hosts Hoover's television program, Uncommon Knowledge. Robinson is also the author of three books: How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life; It's My Party: A Republican's Messy Love Affair with the GOP; and the best-selling business book Snapshots from Hell: The Making of an MB.

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[FattKidd]

I believe Iraq would be better off under Hussein. So do most Iraqis.

[eirefrance]

The problem with Woolsey's assertion that the neo-con position is still politically legitimate is that its hard to argue that it ever was. Support for the war in 2003 was not a product of neo-conservative spreading of freedom but of the imagined fear of an imminent attack. Considering Bush won in 2000 on a foreign policy platform that was anything but neo-con, where does Woolsey imagine public support coming from?

[mendelbot]

@FattKidd We wouldn't have had all those WWII casualties if we let hitler reign over europe. Peaceful surrender to tyrants is the path to lasting submis.. erm, peace.

[macsm]

These neocons are are like Nazis in spirit.

[nfusionlabs]

Neo-Conservatism is the child of Zionism

[LuckyPierre78]

It makes sense. Neoconservative philosophy is entirely Wilsonian in that respect.

[Zzozze]

For most Iraqis it was a better place under Saddam Hussein.before Gulf War I

They had materialy an higher life standard as today: good hospitals, good universities, good roads, and a good food supply. Although he was a dictator, today is everything worse for them.

[christo930]

We are in iraq for oil purposes. Bush gave Matt Simmons a 1/2 meeting early in Bush's presidency and he was therefor well informed on peak oil. Many of these bozo's think they can use Iraq to make up for production shortfalls in the rest of the world. I don't even think that being there for oil is a bad thing, but at least be up front about it.

[LuckyPierre78]

Ron Paul and Pat Buchanan have RECORDED HISTORIES of anti-semitic vitriol. Paleoconservative lunatic Alex Jones believes everything is a Jewish conspiracy. THEY are the anti-semites. They use words like "neocon" and "banker" as codewords for 'Jew'.

I'M a gentile, Republican supporter of Israel, always have been.

By independentfreethinkingJewishA­mericans you seem to refer to the new generation of American hipster Jews who care little for preserving their culture or following their religion.

[jayhawk2680]

See Luckypierre78, you are totally full of s**t. You stated TWO times, that Ron Paul and most classic conservatives are "Jew-hating conspiracy theorists".

I want to tell you something you Communist sack of s**t, I'm JEWISH motherf**er. My family was slaughtered in the Holocaust and I stillhave tons of relatives in Israel TODAY. It is Communist radicals like you whothe MAJORITY of independentfreethinking JewishAmericans HATE. You inject antisemitism because your argument is WEAK. YOUR a RADICAL

[random0815]

well sorry, you demonstrate what i said about neocons, big opinions, no knowledge or reflection behind it, the neo-cons are much closer to marx than anything chomsky has ever written, his professed ideal is anarchy,

read him! you can very well ignore his conclusions because 90 percent of his writing is factual data and direct quotes - mostly by the people he critizises, for the most part he just gives you the sources with a little commentary attached which usually is not even necessary

[LuckyPierre78]

He's a bum. I've read his stuff. Not impressed. He's never supported any American endeavor in history. He certainly doesn't support liberal democracy.

Neocons don't do any intellectual work? I'm guessing you've never read anything they've actually written. If their output seems "unscientific", that's because we don't hire scientists for the business of politics and government any more than we would hire politicians for the business of scientific research.