Iraq III
Francis Fukuyama--once the intellectual wonderkind of the neoconservative movement--writes about international involvement in Iraq in the Guardian. Refering to the Democrats pandering over the ports deal and the Danish cartoon incident, Fukuyama writes:

We have, then, the makings of a perfect storm. Bush's red-state conservative base tends towards a pugnacious nationalism that opposed humanitarian intervention during the Clinton years. These voters were mobilised by September 11 to support two wars in short order; while they remain loyal to the president, perceived failure in Iraq will turn them in a more openly isolationist direction. Democratic voters, meanwhile, have been moving in an economically nationalist direction and are gearing up for a big fight with America's leading trading partners in Asia. Voters in both parties have become more sympathetic to calls for closing America's borders and reducing immigration. Many in Europe are eagerly awaiting the end of the Bush years, but it is not clear that a Democratic administration will be more broadmindedly internationalist.

By invading Iraq, the Bush administration allowed what should have been characterised as a fight with a narrow extremist ideology to escalate into something the Islamists could claim was a clash of civilisations. But that clash will play itself out in large measure in Europe, the breeding ground for Mohammed Atta, Mohammed Bouyeri and the July 7 bombers. The controversy over the cartoons underlines the fact that the US and Europe have more in common in the struggle with radical Islamism than either side would like to admit. Cooperation to prevent this escalating into a broader civilisational struggle, and to maintain a generally open, integrated international order, will require solidarity. Neither European indulgence in feelgood anti-Americanism nor a bipartisan rise in US nationalism and populism brought about by perceived failure in Iraq will help.

Fukuyama, who once possessed a moral certitutde that democratic capitalism was the final act of human civilization--has now given that up for what appears to be wishful thinking or a Stalinist sense of mainfest destiny.
- posted by Base10 @ 10:22 AM