Letters to the Editor
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Now who cleans up the NeoCons' mess?
The neocons first made a mess of the rhetoric, and then made a mess of the world. Was the phrase "police action" -- which is what the so-called War on Terror is and was -- really so radioactive a phrase that they couldn't call a spade a spade? The terrorists are international criminals who happen to have an ideology, and should have been pursued as such. Calling this a "war" not only validated and united the "enemy," but it brought the fog of war, and unsurprisingly huge mistakes were made. Now who's accountable? What's sad is that it doesn't really matter. The mess still has to be cleaned up, and those of us who were horrified and spoke out from the beginning have little satisfaction and lots of work to do.
And so we get to watch the neocons walk sheepishly away, some with tail firmly between legs.
Wolfowitz, possibly the smartest, got out early and took his high-profile/low-impact position as beggar-in-chief of the World Bank. Karl Rove's name will be forever linked to Scooter Libby's. Discredited Daniel Perle has allegations of impropriety to refute and his "Who's next?" comment to live down. Doug Feith stands accused of using the military for partisan political ends and is too visibly close to the Israel lobby. Aside from Cheney, who never took direct responsibility for anything, Ashcroft might be sitting the prettiest of this group, perhaps because he was taken the least seriously from the start.
And this leaves Bush, the man-child, adrift and realizing that father knew best.