‘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 whom he accuses of misapplying the principles which, it seems, he still