George Will Takes on the Neo-Cons

JUST WHEN YOU think George Will is going to give you a outside slider, he comes up-and-in with a fastball. Will's record as a conservative is virtually unblemished, but his take on Iraq is one of skeptisism at best. In today's Post he ratchets-up his criticism of the Neo-Cons to a new level.

Here's a sample:

The administration, justly criticized for its Iraq premises and their execution, is suddenly receiving some criticism so untethered from reality as to defy caricature. The national, ethnic and religious dynamics of the Middle East are opaque to most people, but to the Weekly Standard - voice of a spectacularly misnamed radicalism, "neoconservatism" -- everything is crystal clear: Iran is the key to everything...

So, the Weekly Standard says: "We might consider countering this act of Iranian aggression with a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. Why wait?" ... "Why wait?" Perhaps because the U.S. military has enough on its plate in the deteriorating wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which both border Iran. And perhaps because containment, although of uncertain success, did work against Stalin and his successors, and might be preferable to a war against a nation much larger and more formidable than Iraq. And if Bashar Assad's regime does not fall after the Weekly Standard's hoped-for third war, with Iran, does the magazine hope for a fourth?

Or a fifth, or a sixth? When does it stop for the Neo-Cons. But Will isn't done yet:

...it is not perverse to wonder whether the spectacle of America, currently learning a lesson - one that conservatives should not have to learn on the job - about the limits of power to subdue an unruly world, has emboldened many enemies.

This isn't some liberal blogger talking, it's George freakin' Will. But just incase you didn't know it was George Will writing, he throws in this baseball reference at the end:

Neoconservatives have much to learn, even from Buddy Bell, manager of the Kansas City Royals. After his team lost its 10th consecutive game in April, Bell said, "I never say it can't get worse." In their next game, the Royals extended their losing streak to 11 and in May lost 13 in a row.

Now that's vintage George Will.