Neo-Conned! Again Read online

  How Technoculture Capitalizes on Democracy

  “If you've been looking for intellectual and political support for your worries about American involvement in Iraq and beyond, look no further. In Neo-CONNED! and Neo-CONNED! Again, you will find two ample volumes of essays that dissect and unmask the underlying neoconservative political and rhetorical machinations behind the War on Iraq. This approach is augmented by a thorough study of Catholic just-war theory, from its earliest roots to the present day. Authors range from big names like Patrick Buchanan and Noam Chomsky to a wide and multi-faceted range of voices from the military, political, and intelligence establishments. Western involvement in Iraq is analyzed from World War I to the present. The vast array of information and perspective would challenge anyone who glibly supports our war efforts as just and noble.”

  —John Norris, Ph.D.

  Assistant Professor of Theology, University of Dallas

  “In the face of continuing administration denials of reality and morality, Neo-CONNED! and its companion volume Neo-CONNED! Again are essential reading on law, just war theory and the catastrophe in Iraq. Current international law on war divides into jus ad bellum and jus in bello and these books show how virtually every aspect of both sets of laws were and are being violated. More important, the critiques from the perspective of just war theory developed through sixteen centuries of Church teaching illuminate what leaders should have known and considered before entering into this tragically misguided enterprise. As is forcefully argued, the Iraq war is both imprudent and immoral. These books are must reading for anyone teaching or writing about the world we live in and moral choice.”

  —Michael T. Corgan, Ph.D.

  Associate Professor, Director of Undergraduate Studies,

  Department of International Relations, Boston University

  “These two crackling volumes will speak to general readers, students, and academics alike. They provide a source of extraordinary scope on the invasion of Iraq, by writers of varied backgrounds ranging from theologians and political analysts to investigative reporters and military experts. Re-examining the facts surrounding the decision to invade and its aftermath is only part of the coverage, which ranges from the war-makers' neoconservatism and other motivations, to just-war critiques, history, the issues of pre-emptive attacks, and reflections on both Christian Zionism and Muslim fundamentalism.”

  —Peter Juviler, Ph.D.

  Professor Emeritus and Special Lecturer, Barnard College of

  Political Science, Columbia University

  “These two volumes don't just make a compelling argument against the morality of the U.S.'s war on Iraq, the essays herein make a convincing one. It's too bad that the men and women in power in D.C. and London don't care for moral arguments that come to conclusions other than their own, especially when those arguments (such as those inside these volumes) include facts the rulers prefer to ignore. Any world citizen who has questions about the justice of the Iraq war should read this collection.”

  —Ron Jacobs

  Member, Burlington Anti-war Coalition, University of

  Vermont; public speaker, Movement History, Civil Liberties,

  U.S. Foreign Policy; and author, The Way the Wind Blew:

  A History of the Weather Underground

  “Neo-CONNED! shocks and awes the sentient reader with Volume I's devastating moral and ethical critiques of the current war in Iraq and Volume II's armor-piercing political and ideological analyses. Books not bombs, indeed.”

  —Wally Goldfrank, Ph.D.

  Professor of Sociology, University of California, Santa Cruz

  “It's all right here. Future historians, seeking to untangle the spaghetti plate of deceit, machinations, and bungling that led to this needless war, will find their work has already been done. It's all right here.”

  —Charles Goyett

  KXXT talk show host, Phoenix, Arizona

  “The two volumes that Light in the Darkness Publications has prepared on the just war and the war in Iraq clearly express that, throughout its long history, the Church has always been aware of the challenge which the world presents. The work of Light in the Darkness Publications is a testimony to this awareness, and it also makes us aware of the necessity to reflect on the reality of world affairs.”

  —Daniela Parisi

  Professor of History of Economic Thought, Faculty of

  Economics

  Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy

  “For those who believe in the sacredness of the universal human family, in international law, in means being consistent with ends, in justice, and only in just wars, Neo-CONNED! and Neo-CONNED! Again are must reads. The neocons conned us once. These volumes will help to ensure they don't get away with it a second time.”

  —Jesse L. Jackson, Jr.

  U.S. Congressman (D-Ill., 2nd district)

  “Light in the Darkness Publications has assembled the most critical collection of Iraq war commentary to date. Clearly assembled and comprehensive, the volume is a central reading for all those who seek to understand the role played by neocon-servatives in rallying the war engines. With hard-hitting contributions from former military officers, scientists, diplomats, journalists, lawyers and other Middle East experts, this book offers something new for all readers. Above all, this provocative collection reminds us of the need to continue to think critically in these deeply troubled times.”

  —Julie Mertus, Ph.D.

  Author of Bait and Switch: Human Rights and U.S. Foreign

  Policy; and Professor of International Relations and Ethics,

  American University

  “The American Congress and people have been 'neoconned' by a group of ideologues who seek to remake the world through the use of force. Though they may masquerade as 'conservatives,' there is nothing conservative about ignoring our Founding Fathers' admonitions against meddling in the affairs of foreign countries and going abroad seeking monsters to slay. This book does a valuable service in reminding American citizens that, if we want to retain our way of life, we must study history and we must repudiate those who seek to destroy our Republic.”

  —Ron Paul, M.D.

  U.S. Congressman (R-Tex., 14th district)

  “The unfortunate thing about this collection of important essays – other than the fact that they had to be written at all – is that those who need to read them, those who blindly support everything the Bush administration does out of ideological fervor, will not. People, for the most part today, are not interested in any opinion that does not buttress their own. What's done is done, but hopefully the writing contained herein can help discredit the philosophy that has wrought so much death, destruction and shame on this great, once good, nation and rid us of it for the next generation.”

  —Andy Prutsok

  Publisher, Suffolk News-Herald

  “The editors of these two volumes have done a prodigious job in collecting essays from a wide range of highly qualified commentators on American policy in Iraq and the Middle East. The essays take us beyond headlines and sound bites, offering thoughtful, thorough and very readable analyses from a variety of points of view. They should be required reading for all Americans.”

  —Tom Morgan, Ph.D.

  Director, Center for the Study of Peace and Justice, College of

  St. Scholastica, Duluth, Minn.

  “Though these books take as their target the neocons, these essays raise issues far more important then whether the neocons are right or wrong about Iraq. Anyone who wants to think seriously about the war on Iraq in terms of the ethical challenge presented by that war needs to read these volumes.”

  —Stanley Hauerwas, Ph.D.

  Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics, Duke Divinity

  School, and TIME Magazine Theologian of the Year, 2001

  “If events since 9/11 could be described as globally paradigmatic, this comprehensive, cutting-edge, twin volume captures the moral essence of these times. Esp
ecially, the text does an excellent job articulating the sorely needed alternative perspective of the Bush Doctrine and the Bush Wars. Certainly, both volumes of Neo-CONNED! are required reading for the dynamic international relations and comparative politics classroom.”

  —Rita Kiki Edozie, Ph.D.

  Assistant Professor, Comparative Politics and International

  Relations, University of Delaware

  “The views represented here are the unwanted side of a policy debate that never took place. It is, in effect, a chronicle of things left unsaid. Mainstream media, given its intellectual bias, has proven itself to be the enemy of rational public policy. Attempting to set the record straight, this book demonstrates the need for open discourse, lest our foreign policy be dictated by interests not our own, It is a must read for every honest mind within our policy making ranks.”

  —Jude P. Dougherty, Ph.D.

  Dean of the School of Philosophy, The Catholic University

  of America, Washington, DC; Editor, Review of Metaphysics;

  and Editor, Studies in Philosophy and History of Philosophy

  “Founded on moral principle, steeped in fact, argued with force, this remarkable collection presents a forceful condemnation of U.S. policy in Iraq. Every American ought to read it.”

  —Joshua Cohen, Ph.D.

  Professor of Political Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of

  Technology, and Editor, Boston Review

  “This lively anthology contains a broad range of criticisms of the Second Gulf War and of the rationales offered by the so-called 'neocon' intellectual movement. These lucid, ideologically diverse, and always passionate essays should provoke fresh thinking in any reader – regardless if a supporter or opponent of the war.”

  —Cyrus Ernesto Zirakzadeh, Ph.D.

  Professor of Comparative Politics and History of Political

  Thought, University of Connecticut, and author of Social

  Movements in Politics: A Comparative Study

  “These books are not about anti-Americanism, but about how all true friends of America need to know and disseminate this indictment of a profoundly unjust and mistaken war.”

  —Anthony Coughlan, Ph.D.

  Senior Lecturer Emeritus in Social Policy, Trinity College,

  Dublin, Ireland

  “This anthology of anti-war materials will quickly become a counterrevolutionary classic. In an age of fifth-rate, pseudo-intellectual resistance literature from self-appointed critics, it is gratifying to see an array of intellectually solid, self-sacrificing idealists set their faces against this rotten System we are all forced to live under. The editors of these volumes deserve the highest intellectual respect and regard for their intuitive good taste. Few who finish these volumes will be able to escape having their political universes reoriented.”

  —M. Raphael Johnson, Ph.D.

  Former lecturer, Political Theory and International Relations,

  University of Nebraska, Lincoln; former Editor, The Barnes

  Review; and Director of Academics, Government Educational

  Foundation

  “This is an extremely valuable collection of commentaries on the War in Iraq, featuring some of our most astute observers of U.S. foreign policy. I recommend it as a treasure trove of information and ideas.”

  —Howard Zinn

  Historian, playwright, social activist; writer, The Progressive

  Magazine; and one-time political scientist and historian,

  Boston University, Spelman College

  “These volumes serve a number of purposes that serve America's national interests. First, the authors included here are among the best in their fields; their essays provide what should be, for Americans, an unnerving dissection of neoconservatism and the dangers towards which it is leading our country. Second, the essays are excellent correctives to the uneducated, distorted, or simply fabricated definitions of the “principles of American foreign policy” that are offered by the neo-Wilsonian and neoconservative theorists. Third, and most important, the volumes show beyond doubt that a person can question the content and application of contemporary U.S. foreign policy and yet remain a loyal American citizen, faithful to the tenets of the nation's founders, and ready at all times to defend the United States. Well Done.”

  —Michael Scheuer

  Former Chief, Bin Laden Unit, Counterterrorist Center, CIA,

  and author (“Anonymous”) of Imperial Hubris: Why the West

  Is Losing the War on Terror and Through Our Enemies' Eyes:

  Osama bin Laden, Radical Islam, and the Future of America

  “Experts already consider President Bush's ill-fated invasion of Iraq as one of history's greatest strategic blunders. In these outstanding collections of essays from Light in the Darkness Publications, authors ranging from professors at U.S. war colleges to theologians to journalists to Middle East experts expose the false claims of neoconservatives, who have deceived Americans and, in a gratuitous act of naked aggression, destroyed the reputation of the United States. Reading these valuable essays is the complete antidote to the propagandistic bombast that flows from the Oval Office.”

  —Paul Craig Roberts

  Former Assistant Secretary to the Treasury in the Reagan

  administration; syndicated columnist; and former Associate

  Editor, Wall Street Journal

  “The U.S. state has a long history of aggressive war, but the neocons add a strain of lunacy missing since Wilson. Congratulations to Light in the Darkness Publications for defending peace at this dangerous time.”

  —Lew Rockwell

  Director, Ludwig von Mises Institute

  “This is a very important collection for at least two reasons. First, it shows that there are limits to the propaganda and deception practiced by the Bush administration. You cannot fool all the people all the time. Most of the world was against this war before it started and they are still against it – and this collection tells us why. The second reason that this collection is important is that it helps to distance Christianity from the war crimes of the Bush administration, which pretends that it is fighting a war for God, Truth, and Justice.”

  —Shadia Drury, Ph.D.

  Canada Research Chair in Social Justice, University of

  Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

  “These cogent essays constitute a devastating moral, legal, and political case against the war in Iraq – the most catastrophic U.S. foreign policy decision since Vietnam. If I had the power to make members of the Bush administration and of Congress read one thing about this abhorrent war of choice, this would be it.”

  —Thomas G. Weiss, Ph.D.

  Presidential Professor and Director, Ralph Bunche Institute

  for International Studies, CUNY Graduate Center

  “The invasion of Iraq in 2003, without the backing of the United Nations, was a disaster whose consequences we will all have to live with for decades. I have not yet seen a more comprehensive collection of sophisticated and detailed critical perspectives, encompassing a very wide range of authoritative arguments against the war and aspects of its aftermath.”

  —Ken Booth, Ph.D.

  E.H. Carr Professor and Head of Department of International

  Politics, University of Wales, and former Chairman and first

  President, British International Studies Association

  “Clearly a monumental but also a timely effort, which must needs be presented to America while the iron is still hot, before events overtake these findings and the guilty are permitted to slide into temporary obscurity.”

  —Col. J. Richard Niemela, USAF (ret.)

  “The books are a collection of important articles on the real nature of the Iraq war, from the lies of the Bush administration to the naked violations of international humanitarian law. Highly recommended to every concerned American!”

  —John H. Kim

  UN NGO Representative, International Fellowship of

  Reconciliation />
  NEOCONNED AGAIN

  The public was told that Saddam posed an imminent threat. If that claim was fraudulent, the selling of the war is arguably the worst scandal in American political history.

  —Paul Krugman

  New York Times, June 2003

  War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

  —Major General Smedly D. Butler, USMC

  War Is a Racket, 1935

  AD DEUM IUSTITIÆ

  To the thousands of Iraqi dead and wounded, to their families, and to the entire Nation at the cradle of civilization – all victims of tragic and diabolical Anglo-American aggression.

  To the British and American widows and orphans whose dear ones have been sacrificed on the vain altar of cynical statecraft.

  And to George Bush, Tony Blair, Dick Cheney, Richard Perle, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and the rest of the ideologues and hypocrites, both famous and obscure, who have orchestrated the unjust and unnecesary war in Iraq. We implore God to have mercy on their souls for the ocean of innocent blood they have spilled in pursuit of their ambitions and nightmares.

  TO THE READER

  The two volumes of Neo-CONNED! have one purpose: to bring together the best minds on the Iraq War and everything pertaining to it. We have, in consequence, assembled an eclectic group, spanning the political, religious, and professional spectrum. We submit that the result is a tremendous intellectual and analytical dynamic, hitherto unavailable in the vitally important debate over war and peace.

  The appearance of a contributor in either of our two volumes implies no endorsement by that contributor of anything beyond the words attributed to him or her; it particularly does not imply endorsement of any other contributor's work, either in these pages or in other fora. Whether the various contributors agree, in whole or part, with any of the pieces contained in this work beyond their own is a matter for each contributor; it should certainly not be assumed. The fact that our authors come from widely divergent philosophical, political, and religious backgrounds ought to make this obvious.