After having believed that the speech of the “Neoconservatives” had gone with the wind and was buried in the war of Iraq, the military approach, which promoted using power in the US foreign policy, has reappeared in the 2016 Presidential Campaign.

 

During the last decade, the “Neoconservatives”, who were represented by the former Vice-President Dick Cheney and Minister of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, walked out of the political arena and became “old fashioned”. However, the 2016 Presidential Campaign witnessed the return of the Republican candidates relying on advisors whose names were linked to the disasters of the “Preemptive War” that George Bush launched against Iraq.

 

During the debates held between Republicans candidates last week, 17 stressed that Barack Obama is a “weak president”, and promised to adopt a more powerful approach in terms of the foreign policy of their country.

 

The Republican candidates thought that “the caution and realism”, adopted by Obama, were considered to be “misbalances” in the American leadership. This created a space that allowed Russia, Iran, China and Takfiri organizations to spread chaos in the world.

 

If that speech seemed familiar, then the “faces” were familiar as well; the candidate Jeb Bush, George Bush’s brother, tapped Paul Wolfowitz, one of the most significant figures who called for the invasion of Iraq, when the latter was an assistant to Rumsfeld, to become his advisor.

 

As to Senator Marco Rubio, one of his top assistants is Jamie Fly, who worked on Mr. Bush’s US National Security team. Of the most controversial declarations made by Fly was in 2013, when he called on the United States to adopt the policy of changing the regime in Iran through launching a massive campaign of intensive airstrikes on governmental targets/ positions.

 

And it is not surprising that Republican candidates resort to people who worked during Bush’s two administrations; this is due to their experience in the field of foreign policy. Since government work is quite politicized, they (the figures above mentioned) have worked in the research institutions in the private sectors for the past seven years. But some Republicans believe in more systematic reasons to return to the past.

 

Lawrence Wilkerson, the Republican who was a rival for the “Neoconservatives” when he was in chief of Colin Powell's staff during Bush’s administration, believes that the party policies and lack of willingness to accept a power competing America in the world, all pushed the candidates to embrace the “neoconservative” ideas. He said, “I have found that it is impossible for them to win the presidential election without 12% of insane Americans”, referring to the conservative and religious extremist voters who seek to co-opt the candidates in order to win the Republican nomination for the presidential race. He adds, “Republicans need their votes, and they vote… And they hate the President a lot. Some of them are fanatic racists”. Wilkerson sees that “the United States is losing its power”. Therefore, the Republican candidates want to tell the voters that “we are an indispensable nation; we are exceptional; we have to get back to the top again”.  From his point of view, they forgot the role of George Bush and Cheney in the deterioration of the United States’ position; and they say, “By the way, the man in the White House, and who happened to be black, made all his efforts to accelerate that”.

 

It is believed that if people like Jeb Bush or Rubio win the presidency, it is most likely that they won’t apply/ implement much of what they say “once they realize the truth and have time to internalize the information.”