“None of us stands outside humanity’s black collective shadow.” - Carl G. Jung

Being a Neocon means having never to say you’re sorry! (1) To qualify, you need to be a repulsive ideologue, who also has paid no price for recklessly cheerleading over 3,900 U.S. troops to their deaths in the illegal Iraq War. (2) It also helps to have a significant media platform and not to give a good hoot about how many Iraqis have died via the invasion and/or the occupation of that country. (Try an estimated 1.2 million!) This is you! William Kristol, warmonger extraordinaire. For years, we’ve heard him on the TV/Cable shows making outrageous statements, like: “The war in Iraq could have terrifically good effects throughout the Middle East.” (09/18/2001). Now, incredibly, Kristol’s career has “failed upward” to the Op Ed Page of the New York Times! (3)

On Friday, Jan. 11, 2008, I witnessed a spirited protest action directed at the War Hawk Kristol and at the NY Times for its bizarre decision to hire him. The site was the sidewalk in front of the NYT’s Washington, D.C. office. Russell Mokhiber, who’s the editor of the “Corporate Crime Reporter,” led the demonstration. It centered on severely wounded Iraq War veteran, Tomas Young, a former U.S. Army Specialist. On April 4, 2004, in Sadr City, a bullet shattered his spine and paralyzed him “from the waist down.” Mr. Young is featured in Phil Donahue’s film, “Body of War.” In a very moving article for “Counterpunch,” on Jan. 9, 2008, Mr. Mokhiber, after reviewing the movie, underscored the need to protest the NYT and the creepy Kristol. He described Kristol as a pusher of the wars in Iraq, Lebanon “and now with Iran.” (4)

At the rally, Mr. Mokhiber told me: “I spoke with Tomas [Young] a couple days ago and he’s willing to meet with Kristol. Sit down and give his experience about what happened and give his point of view...So, we’re trying to arrange a meeting...Our view is that The Times has got enough war columnists. It’s got [David] Brooks. It’s got Michael Gordon. He’s not a columnist, he’s a reporter. It’s got [Thomas] Friedman. He’s been pushing for war for years. So, how about a peace columnist? How about an overtly peace columnist?...We want someone to go after the ‘Military-Industrial Complex’ and question this ‘Military Machine.’” (5)

The first time I laid eyes on the cunning Neocon Kristol was at a pro-Iraq War rally, held on the National Mall, on April 12, 2003, in D.C. G. Gordon Liddy and ex-US Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN) were there, along with some other Right Wing types. What was really weird about the whole affair was that comedian Ben Stein showed up on a huge TV screen endorsing the war. Ben Stein--what was he doing there? I recall a lady in the modest crowd at that event saying of Kristol: “Oh, look how small he is!” She was right. Kristol is, indeed, on the very short side. I’d say that he comes in at about 5 ft. 6 inches. And, it seems that, as a result of his tiny body frame, his head appears more massive than it really is. In a way, Kristol reminded me, in a physical sense only, of actor/director Mel Brooks. Whether Kristol has a “Small Man Complex,” or not, I will leave to the experts in the field. All I know for sure is that he’s a relentlessly angry, unrepentant warmonger.

Here is another gem from Kristol: “The first two battles of this new era are now over. The battles of Afghanistan and Iraq have been won decisively and honorably.” (April 28, 2003) And, then there is this whopper from the slippery Neocon: “The Iraqi elections of Jan. 30, 2005...could be a key moment...perhaps the key moment so far...in vindicating the ‘Bush Doctrine’ as the right response to 9/11.” (March 7, 2005) Of course, it wouldn’t be fair to leave out this one from Kristol: “It is much more likely that the situation in Iraq will stay more or less the same, or improve, in either case, Republicans will benefit from being the party of victory.” (Nov. 30, 2005) (3) As a result of an onslaught of Kristol’s articles and media appearances in support of the Iraq invasion, the Washington Post’s Richard Cohen dubbed the conflict: “Kristol’s War.” (6)

Between the date of the announcement of Kristol’s sinecure at the NYT, Dec. 29, 2007, and the Jan. 11, 2008’s demonstration, 18 more U.S. troops died in combat. This bring the exact total of U.S. casualties to 3923. Of that number, 920 have perished since the Neocon-Lite Democrats took control of the U.S. Congress. The estimates of the cost of the war, to date, runs from a low of $485.5 billion to a high of around $2.3 trillion. The number of severely wounded U.S. troops is put at over 30,000, and rising.

If Kristol has any regrets with respect to his amoral advocacy for the Iraq War (which was launched based on a pack of rotten lies) and/or about the staggering U.S. casualties in Iraq, I have never heard him express them. (2) If he has any empathy for the innocent Iraqi dead and wounded; the women and children who have suffered and are continuing to suffer in that conflict; and, the fact that tens of thousands of Iraqi homes have been destroyed, and also for those 3.8 million Iraqis made into refugees, then he’s kept those kinds of feelings to himself. It makes one wonder -- given that two of the five attributes of a psychopathic personality are (1) an inability to show remorse and to accept responsibility for one’s actions, and (2) the failure to express empathy towards a party or parties that you have had a causative role in victimizing -- what we should call Kristol? In any event, when the name of William Kristol, the Neocon, is mentioned, think: callous indifference to human life!

Finally, many American know about Kristol’s fanatical concern for the security of Israel. But, as for our Republic, there has been little or nothing from him or from other zealots like him. (Richard Perle comes to mind). The next time Kristol visits the Walter Reed Army Medical Center to pay respect to the severely wounded veterans of the Iraq conflict, or to the Arlington National Cemetery to honor our heroic war dead, it will be his first! Despite all of the above, he continues to argue for a U.S. led attack on Iran. Kristol insists: “Invading Iran is not a bad idea!” (1, 3 and 7)

Notes:

1. batr.net/neoconwatch/
2. www.afterdowningstreet.org/
3. See, Tom Tomorrow’s “This Modern World,” 01/08/2008, at: action.credomobile.com/comics/2008/01/failing_upward.html. (Tom Tomorrow is Dan Perkins’ alter ego.)
4. www.counterpunch.org/mokhiber01092008.html
5. www.youtube.com/watch
6. www.thenation.com/doc/20040830/sherman
7. www.irmep.org/Defaults.asp and www.youtube.com/watch and www.dissidentvoice.org/June05/Nimmo0614.htm and thinkprogress.org/2007/10/14/iran-williams-kristol/

©2008, William Hughes, All Rights Reserved.

William Hughes is a video and print journalist. His videos can be found at: www.youtube.com/profile.
Email Contact: liamhughes-AT-comcast.net.