What is the biggest misconception about neoconservatism?
That neoconservatives want to impose American views and values on people who don’t want them. Q: I.e., the Iraq war? A: Yeah, but the Iraq war was U.N.-sponsored. There were weapons of mass destruction — poison gas is officially a weapon of mass destruction. There were lots of factors. People say they went to war for oil. … It’s like getting married. You get married for a lot of different reasons. I don’t know how the war in Iraq is going to turn out. It’s looking a lot better now than it did. The Arab world is beginning to loosen up a little bit. But right now, it’s the most dangerous movement in the world. A guy at one of the think tanks here has called it World War IV. The idea is that neocons are just about foreign policy and just about idealism, but the most commonsensical thing we can do is to try to establish democratic views. That’s what makes for a stable world. Q: Why did you think it was time to write this book? A: Look, if you call “neoconservatism” “potato” and you call
