SMRs and AMRs

Tuesday, February 05, 2013

The Winter of the Neocons’ Discontent


Chuck Hagel testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Like Richard III, the hawks fear that Obama, Hagel, and Brennan will make all the wars go away.

By Michael Hirsh, National Journal
Updated: February 4, 2013 | 2:00 p.m.
February 4, 2013 | 1:44 p.m.
“Why, I in this weak piping time of peace
Have no delight to pass away the time,
Unless to spy my shadow in the sun
And descant on mine own deformity.”

— William Shakespeare, Richard III
The unearthing of King Richard III’s bones from a parking lot in Leicester, England, ranks as one of the most titillating archaeological discoveries ever, especially considering the super-cool way it was confirmed: with DNA fingerprinting from a male descendant of his sister Anne. But the find was also a reminder that history is a fluid thing, and it's invariably the winning side that writes it. Sure, now we can say these are King Richard's bones, curved spine and all, but we still know little else about him. The victorious Tudors killed King Richard in 1485—apparently with an ax through the head at the Battle of Bosworth Field—and then induced a first-rate spinmeister, William Shakespeare, to paint him as one of history’s worst villains. What we don't know is whether that is true.

That got me to thinking: Which history are we to believe coming out of last week’s brutal Chuck Hagel hearing, and which will dominate in the next four years? Because this is what the current conflict over America’s next Defense secretary—and the future direction of the administration’s foreign policy—is really about: two different readings of history. It is what Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., an erstwhile Hagel friend who turned into a caustic critic, was referring to when he said that "fundamental” differences remained between him and President Obama's nominee to run the Pentagon.

On one side are fierce Hagel critics such as McCain and Bill Kristol, Washington's neocon-in-chief, who refuse to back down from their belief that the Iraq invasion of nearly a decade ago was just, and who continue to support the aggressive projection of U.S. military power abroad, especially in Syria. On the other side are Obama, Hagel, and others who warned—quite presciently—of the pitfalls of that policy, and who are running away from military intervention abroad at full speed, even as they ratchet up the "small footprint" use of drones.

(More here.)

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