This is a good review of After the Neocons: America at the Crossroads by Francis Fukuyama.
Khaled Ahmed, one of my favourite writers makes an excellent point here:
“The book says the neocons never thought hard about reconstruction in Iraq, which was the big mistake that brought the invasion down and with it the brief ascension of the neocons in the aftermath of 9/11. He says if hammer is the only weapon you have all problems look like nails. He thinks nation building was more important than the high-tech advantage for which America chose Rumsfeld, only to make him resign and go away, still defiant, after the invasion of Iraq had turned into an American nightmare. One can’t think of any of the intellectually gifted neocons actually raising the white flag of mea culpa and admitting that they had done something greatly defective. Fukuyama’s ex-boss Wolfowitz included. Neoconservatism will not die because it resonates partially with all the four schools of thought on foreign policy in America, and because it is firmly embedded in the philosophical underpinning of the American state.”
