How neoconservatism and the path to genocide converge
In 2019 my life was changed by an act of terrorism perpetrated by Brenton Tarrant in Christchurch, New Zealand, which claimed the lives of 51 civilians, including my close friend Atta Elayyan. Tarrant drew inspiration from Anders Breivik, who carried out a terrorist attack in Oslo eight years prior. Breivik, a self-styled Christian crusader, justified his heinous deeds by citing an “existential conflict” between the West and Islam.
The apocalyptic narrative of a “clash of civilizations” is, unfortunately, not limited to white supremacist extremists. This divisive paradigm has been perpetuated openly since the turn of the century by a faction of bellicose ideologues: the neoconservatives. The illegal invasion of Iraq, which took place exactly 21 years ago this month, stands as a stark testament to their sway.
In the lead-up to the Iraq
War, Patrick Buchanan delivered a meticulous critique of neoconservative agenda. In “Whose War?” Buchanan highlighted the pivotal role of Israel in shaping neoconservative policy. “We charge that a cabal of polemicists seek to ensnare our country in a series of wars that are not in America's interests. We charge them with colluding with Israel to ignite those wars.” Buchanan drew attention to Benjamin Netanyahu, “ubiquitous on American television, calling for us to crush the `Empire of Terror,' including `the Palestinian enclave.'”
In voting for the Iraq War, then-Sen. Joe Biden baselessly claimed that Saddam Hussein “possesses chemical and biological weapons and is seeking nuclear weapons.” Antony Blinken, then Democratic staff director for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was also an ardent champion of the war. Colin Powell falsely claimed ties between Iraq and al Qaeda at the UN, based on information coerced through torture.
“This crusade, this war on terrorism,” a battle between good and an “axis of evil” according to President George W. Bush, resulted in the most disastrous American foreign policy adventure since Vietnam. The neoconservatives' legacy, marred by exploitation of tragedies and dissemination of falsehoods, stands among the most thoroughly discredited political movements in American history. In the words of James Fallows, “they have earned the right not to be listened to.”
Steered by the same neoconservative influences, the genocide in Gaza has once again entangled the U.S. in a web of self-defeating strategies. Netanyahu's proclamation in October, asserting, “We are in a battle of civilization against barbarism,” epitomizes the ideological fervor driving the narrative. Israeli President Isaac Herzog further emphasized Israel's actions as a fight to safeguard Western civilization.
Since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, a barrage of falsehoods have emerged to justify Israel's actions. On Oct. 11, at a Jewish gathering, Biden stated, “I never really thought that I would see and have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children.” The Washington Post, however, reported that the president had not seen such images. The White House was forced to walk back the president's remarks.
Assertions of children executed en masse and baked in ovens, pregnant women having babies cut out of their wombs and mass rapes, initially propagated by the New York Times, have crumbled on closer inspection. Revelations from the Washington Post shed light on Biden's awareness, grounded in U.S. intelligence, of the falsity of his claims linking Hamas to Al
Shifa hospital, and his early understanding that Israeli targets lacked credible intelligence to justify them as military objectives.
After oral arguments concluded at the International
Court of Justice, Netanyahu declared, “No one will stop us, not The Hague, not the axis of evil, and not anyone else.” In the wake of the ICJ ruling, Israel accused UNRWA staff of involvement in the Oct. 7 attack. The U.S. subsequently suspended funding to the vital aid agency.
These sensational narratives have not only inflamed anger and thirst for vengeance but have also led to dire consequences including a man-made famine, accompanied by mass killings of civilians, creating conditions that erode the very fabric of humanity. Starving individuals — especially children — to death can never be justified. Biden's reinforcement of such propaganda serves to amplify the charge of genocide.
“Hate never goes away,” Biden declared condemning white supremacy in May 2023. “It only hides under the rocks. And when it's given oxygen it comes out from under that rock. And that's why we know this truth as well: silence is complicity.”