Nailing the neocon myth (excerpt from “Neoconservatism” edited by Irwin Stelzer aka “The Neocon Reader”)

The left claims the Bush administration is in the grip of a hawkish cabal. In truth the new right is a divergent group taking ideas from Churchill, Blair and Victorian reformers, writes Irwin Stelzer

…

It is no stretch to say that the views of the American government are a lineal descendant of a Defence Planning Guidance (DPG) prepared in 1992 by Wolfowitz, then undersecretary of defence for policy when Cheney was secretary of defence. 

Wolfowitz’s memorandum was one of a series prepared over the years to provide a geopolitical framework within which key military personnel and civilian policy-makers in the department can set force levels and budgets. The Wolfowitz draft was quickly leaked to the press, portrayed as a dangerous deviation from traditional doctrine and almost immediately withdrawn.

The original document is not available. But we do have rather complete press reports. They reveal that Wolfowitz called for an American military sufficiently powerful to prevent the emergence of any rival in any region of the world; he proposed to encourage the spread of democracy and open economic systems; he argued for the use of military force if necessary to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and “weapons of mass destruction”; and he suggested reliance on “ad hoc assemblies” of nations rather than on the United Nations to cope with crises, with “the United States . . . positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated”.

Related:

The Wolfowitz Doctrine that was leaked to the press: U.S. STRATEGY PLAN CALLS FOR INSURING NO RIVALS DEVELOP

Max Boot’s chapter: Myths About Neoconservatism

Since my copy of “The Neocon Reader” was a poor quality scan, I began searching for a replacement. While I found a couple of excerpts, I couldn’t find a better full ebook, so I ordered a used print version instead.