The Lefty thesis that the Neocons had
disappeared because their Iraq Invasion strategy had gone awry turns
out to be wrong. Inversely wrong.
The Neocons are the small group of people who designed the "surge" and sold it to the White House and Congress. The development of the surge plan and the sales work occurred from October through December of last year (2006), completely ignoring the Congressional mid-term election. The decision to implement the plan was made in January of this year. Key Neocon thinkers involved were Feith, Kristol, Boot and Wolfowitz.
There are three reasons that the Neocons continue to be so successful: (1) they are the only original political ideas on the horizon in the Anglo-European world. (2) They are honest. "Honest" means that Neocon ideas and policies are defended on the basis of empirical evidence a test that Lefty ideas are never required to approach, much less pass. (3) The basis for Neocon ideas are deeply rooted in the American experience and American values.