PBS Frontline – In his recent book Rise of the Vulcans – The History of Bush’s War Cabinet, James Mann detailed the intertwined relationships and intellectual disputes of six advisers to George W. Bush who have shaped the administration’s foreign policy: Rumsfeld, Rice, Powell, Wolfowitz, Cheney and Armitage. Here in this interview, Mann details who they are, how they think and operate, and the larger context to their story: the ideology and idealism of the neo-conservatives in the Bush administration up against the “realists” more moderate views on war and foreign policy. Commenting on the latest turn taken in their battle, Mann says, “After September 11, all through the war with Iraq, the neo-conservatives won the argument. But with the violence, with the chaos, Iraq didn’t turn out the way they expected. And the result is that the neo-conservatives who were really ascendant on Iraq policy are now in decline.”
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