‘The risk the administration took [in Iraq] was not absurd, especially in light of what was believed about the WMD threat at the time.’ ‘Walking away from Iraq now without creating a strong and stable government there will leave a festering terrorist sanctuary in the Sunni triangle.’ ‘We do not want to replace national sovereignty with unaccountable international organizations; the United Nations is not now nor will it ever become an effective, legitimate seat of global governance … it is doubtful that any set of reforms currently contemplated or politically feasible will solve the organization’s problems … Regimes that treat their own citizens unjustly are likely to do the same to foreigners.’ ‘American power remains critical to world order; the United States is not just a giant version of Sweden or Switzerland on the world stage.’

Excerpts from an address by George W Bush? From a press conference by Donald Rumsfeld? From the latest neoconservative manifesto by William Kristol and Robert Kagan? No, these are excerpts from Francis Fukuyama’s new attack on the neoconservatives