One of the founders of the neocon movement, Reed Irvine, died last month. Those of you who have read "Republican Noise Machine" are familiar with the name. Shortly after Spiro Agnew's 1969 speech blasting a so-called "liberal media", Irvine became a conservative media watchdog and was instrumental in furthering the myth outlined by Agnew with a new organization called "Accuracy in Media".
In 1999, Irvine wrote an op-ed item blasting President Clinton for bombing an encampment held by Osama bin Laden:
Osama bin Laden’s camp in Afghanistan consisted of shacks and tents, hardly a fit target for a missile that costs nearly a million dollars per copy. These targets were chosen and approved by a very few people who had limited or incorrect information. The missiles were launched more to divert the attention of the public in the U.S. from the Clinton sex scandal than to seriously hurt possible terrorists.
That opinion was widely parrotted. If the neocons hadn't been so captivated by President Clinton's pants, who knows where we'd be right now.