The end of Rumsfeld and Neo-Conservatism

Prior to the midterm elections, George W Bush gave his defense secretary unequivocal backing. Donald Rumsfeld became the symbol for anger from both Democrat and Republican quarters looming large as the figure responsible for the debacle that is modern day Iraq. The Democrats saw through him an easy way to discredit George W Bush, despite the fact that they were as complicit in sounding the drums of war.

The Democrats did not need to frame the midterm elections as a referendum on the president’s handling of Iraq, it was plain for all to see. After years of bipartisanship and lack of media scrutiny, the previous year has read like a litany of failure for this administration.

The result is still emerging, what is certain is a Democrat controlled House of Representatives and the scalp of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld.

Although very little has been proffered in terms of insight into the mistaken belief that the Iraq invasion would be a ‘cakewalk’, surely the present backlash signifies the death knell of Neo-conservatism.

The Neoconservatives that littered the Republican administration believed in, influenced and enacted an aggressive stance towards the world and in particular the Muslim world. In terms reminiscent of Kipling’s ‘white man’s burden’, they felt they had a god-given right to export their way of life in order to ‘civilise the natives’ and more importantly to secure their political, strategic and economic interests.

The appetite for physical invasions and a prolonged military presence abroad did not exist in the US prior to the terrorist attacks of September 11. The justifications allowed the Neocons to push for ‘regime change’, ‘values change’ as well as unilateralism. They argued the US should not be tied down by international institutions or less still foreign governments. Instead, the US should be allowed to invade and plant US friendly individuals as well as tying these countries in perpetuity to the US. This was the blueprint enacted in Iraq and Afghanistan and the people in those lands are bearing the brunt of this imperial hubris and US and UK soldiers are dying as a result.

There is no better time than the present – at the end of a disastrous period for the world – for there to be a sober re-thinking of the policies of propping up dictators throughout the Muslim world; turning a blind eye to their oppression and sending soldiers to their deaths in order to prop up Western companies. It is a time for disengagement from the Muslim world so that its inhabitants can chart their own future free of any interference.