NEOCONSERVATIVES

(Neocons)

This is aU.S. political philosophy rooted in cold war anticommunism by which former liberals drifted toward conservatism by favoring an aggressive unilateral foreign policy. Unlike traditional conservatives, however, neocons were comfortable with some elements of the bureaucratic welfare state and thus the nameneocons. Neocons were also very supportive ofIsrael.

After the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States, PresidentGeorge W. Bushadopted most of the basic neocon concepts in response. The resulting Bush Doctrine of preemptive war led to the secondGulf Warin 2003 that overthrewSaddamHussein's regime inIraqand, as a fortuitous side effect for the Iraqi Kurds, the creation of theKurdistan Regional Government(KRG) as a constituent state in a new democraticfederalIraq. Given the horrific civil war that followed in Iraq, however, the neocons became very unpopular in the United States. In many ways the election ofBarack Obamaas the new U.S. president in November 2008 was a repudiation of the neocons. Ironically, however, the neocons and George W. Bush continued to be looked upon very favorably by the Iraqi Kurds.