Hawks And Doves

From his hospital bed, US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, has written an article admitting foreign policy mistakes and assuring the outside world that despite the US invasion of Iraq, the Bush Administration's approach "is not defined by pre-emption."

Powell says pre-emption "was never meant to displace deterrence, only to supplement it." Contrast that with Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's ealier dismissal of the decades-old concept of military deterrence as a theory that "has been overtaken by events".

According to Powell, pre-emptive policy "applies only to the undeterrable threats that come from non-state actors such as terrorist groups." Oh, yeah? Try telling that to the neo-cons, Colin!

Richard Perle, Pentagon insider and "intellectual guru" of the hardline neo-conservative movement, has just published a new manifesto called "An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror" (love that title!). Co-authored by former Bush speechwriter David Frum, the book warns of a faltering of the "will to win" in Washington.

The latest neo-con manifesto backs up their previous "Project For The American Century" ideological blueprint. It demands regime change in Syria and Iran, plus a Cuban-style military blockade of North Korea backed by planning for a pre-emptive strike on its nuclear sites. "With luck" this will encourage the Chinese to overthrow Kim Jong-Il (just like "with luck" the Iraqi peasantry was supposed to rise up against Saddam, greet their invaders as heroes, etc, etc).

Furthermore, Perle and Co. want tough action against France and its dreams of offsetting US power. "We should force European governments to choose between Paris and Washington," they say.

In a dangerously subte piece of innuendo that has the ring of Third Reich propaganda, Perle's manifesto says that State Department ambivalence towards the war on terror may be "actively subversive of representative government."

Say what??? Powell is the head of the State Department. Is Perle saying that Powell is "actively subversive"??? And what is this crap about "representative government"?? Let's not forget that Bush Jnr only "represents" about 21% of the US electorate.

Perhaps Perle is just trying to distract attention from the latest scandal involving neo-con profiteering from the - ahem! - "war on terror".

As the Washington Post reports, Perle "coauthored an opinion piece this summer praising a Pentagon plan to lease tanker aircraft -- which had the potential to steer billions of dollars to Boeing Co. -- 16 months after Boeing committed to invest $20 million with a venture capital firm where Perle was a principal. "

With an election looming soon (happy New Year, readers!), Bush seems to be swinging towards the Doves. The Hawks are clearly pissed by this, albeit they have no sane solutions to the chaos their previous "special plans" have engendered. Colin Powell had better steer clear of dark alleys for the next few months, or he could just become the next victim of the "war on terror".