The NY Times Op-Ed Page: Neo-con Central

My head hurts.  Today's NY Times Week in Review has a distinguished symposium titled How to See This Mission Accomplished.

Wow, I thought naively.  A diverse group of opinions on what to do about Iraq on the fifth anniversary of the most shameful, bitterly ironic "celebration" in US military history.

Then I looked at the distinguished conspirators [oh, I mean contributors]: Fred Kagan, Daniel Perle, Danielle Pletka, Ken Pollack, Paul fucking Bremer, for chrissake!  Yes, NY Times.  The Mission will finally be "accomplished" by taking the advice of the rogues and criminals who engineered the initial "Mission Accomplished."

Not a single "dirty fucking hippie" [n. phrase: someone who had the sense to oppose the war before it started] (unless you consider Nathaniel Fick, a Marine infantry officer in Iraq and Afghanistan and a fellow at the Center for a New American Security, to perhaps be a dirty fucking hippie).

<

In fact, these were the very same people gathered in March for the anniversary of the beginning of the war that they started -- the "experts on military affairs" and the "very serious" people gathered for this occasion.  The introduction solemnly intones:

For the fifth anniversary of President Bush’s declaration of the end of "major combat operations" in Iraq, the Op-Ed page asked nine experts on military affairs to identify a significant challenge facing the American and Iraqi leadership today and to propose one specific step to help overcome that challenge.

I guess Al Gore, Howard Dean, Morton Halperin, Scott Ritter, Hans Blix, Mohamed El Baradei and a couple of hundred others were busy.

•  Hiring Bill Kristol

  was not an anomaly.

  by Upper West on Sun May 04, 2008 at 07:24:02 PM PDT

  •  Oh, and no.

    Frank Rich does not make up for this.

    (And don't get me started on Dowd.)

    by Upper West on Sun May 04, 2008 at 07:27:22 PM PDT

  •  seriously--what has that pampered bubble boy

    done to define him as an expert on anything other than buying a 3 piece suit?

    by el vasco on Sun May 04, 2008 at 07:36:55 PM PDT

•  I had the same response.

  I mean, WTF? Why on earth does the NYT, the "liberal paper of record", have to turn to this steaming pile of neocon excrement to write their assessment of Mission Accomplished?

  I mean, what about those progressive (and to be fair a few conservative) writers who knew this was going to be a fiasco from the start? Why not ask them? I'd love to hear from James Fallows, who very accurately predicted the catastrophe before it played out? Why on earth should such evil troglodytes as Richard Perle get any exposure at all? When they've been wrong about absolutely everything? WTF?

  Excuse me while I wipe my grey matter off the computer screen.

  by Ralphdog on Sun May 04, 2008 at 07:30:15 PM PDT

  •  Well, you expect better from the NYT

    I mean, ok, if you must include Perle and Kagan, include at least someone like Fallows.  But there is not even a pretense of balance.

    I mean CNN hires Frances ("catching Osama is a 'success that has not yet happened'") Townsend and Tony Snow.  Why should the NYT be different?

    by Upper West on Sun May 04, 2008 at 07:38:06 PM PDT

•  The Neocon Mideast War Program is NYT Policy

  Has been all along.

  They're not its only supporters.

  by Gooserock on Sun May 04, 2008 at 07:33:37 PM PDT

  •  NY Times is small time compared to WashPost

    The words "Neocon house organ" describe the Post perfectly.

    by Bronx59 on Mon May 05, 2008 at 07:13:21 PM PDT

•  How It Goes

  Bill Kristol is not only on the NYTimes OpEd page.  He is also teaching at Harvard's Kennedy School.  It is my observation that the Kennedy School is receiving a lot of refugees from the W administration and is becoming more and more conservative.  It was never, in my experience, in any sense of the term,  "liberal."

  This is how the game is played:  you get voted out of office or lose your job at a prestigious media organization and, if you are high enough on the food chain, Harvard or some other institution offers you a fellowship or visiting professorship.  Doug Feith goes to Georgetown.  Bill Kristol goes to Harvard.  Once you are part of the club, you are always protected.  

  There are going to be a lot of "distinguished" neo-con, Republican "statemen" who will be coming to your editorial pages and universities very soon.

  by gmoke on Sun May 04, 2008 at 07:58:09 PM PDT