http://www.buzzfeed.com/mhastings/team-obama-drops-the-neocon-bomb

Team Obama Drops The “Neocon” Bomb

John Bolton wants to bomb Iran, but Obama would rather remind voters of Iraq. An Obama aide blasts Romney for “reckless neoconservative thinking.”

Michael Hastings
BuzzFeed Staff

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On Tuesday night, the re-election effort enlisted one of its heavyweight foreign policy surrogates, Michele Flournoy, to go nuclear on Romney in response to an Op-Ed Bolton, the combative Bush Administration Ambassador to the United Nations, published in the Washington Times. (Flournoy was one of the most senior officials in the Pentagon. Her name is regularly mentioned as possibly being the first female defense secretary.)

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Then, she dropped the hammer: “We’ve witnessed such recklessness before. In 2003, John Bolton and other senior Bush administration officials blew past diplomacy and rushed to war in Iraq. After almost 4,500 American lives lost and nearly a trillion dollars later..."

Another Obama campaign official elaborated on the critique in an interview, saying that Bolton "embodies the reckless neoconservative thinking that was largely responsible for getting us into Iraq on false pretenses, degrading our alliances around the world, and hurting our standing overseas." The official went on to say Romney was "embracing" Bolton's policies.

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The Iraq association may stick to Romney, as he's surrounded himself with other faces of the deeply unpopular war and occupation. His other top foreign policy advisor, Dan Senor, is best known for his job as spokesperson for the Coalition Provisional Authority, co-hosting what correspondents used to call the “Five O’Clock Follies” each day at Saddam’s old palace. (Romney’s ill-fated choice for foreign policy spokesperson—Ric Grenell—was the Bush Administration spokesman at the U.N. through Bolton's tenure.)

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http://www.thenation.com/article/167683/mitt-romneys-neocon-war-cabinet

Mitt Romney's Neocon War Cabinet
Ari Berman May 2, 2012 | This article appeared in the May 21, 2012 edition of The Nation.

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Romney is loath to mention Bush on the campaign trail, for obvious reasons, but today they sound like ideological soul mates on foreign policy. Listening to Romney, you’d never know that Bush left office bogged down by two unpopular wars that cost America dearly in blood and treasure. Of Romney’s forty identified foreign policy advisers, more than 70 percent worked for Bush. Many hail from the neoconservative wing of the party, were enthusiastic backers of the Iraq War and are proponents of a US or Israeli attack on Iran. Christopher Preble, a foreign policy expert at the Cato Institute, says, “Romney’s likely to be in the mold of George W. Bush when it comes to foreign policy if he were elected.” On some key issues, like Iran, Romney and his team are to the right of Bush. Romney’s embrace of the neoconservative cause—even if done cynically to woo the right—could turn into a policy nightmare if he becomes president.

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