It's easy to forget how much of the neocon fearmongering before 9/11 was centered around China. Indeed, Gary Hart, based on his experiences with Lynn Cheney, says he's convinced that 9/11 actually prevented a catastrophic confrontation with China by completely distracting us. Which is scary to think about. Invading Iraq was bad, but conflict with China could prove world-ending. The real takeaway here is that no matter how crazy and reckless you think the leading neocons are, they are in fact substantially more crazy and reckless than you imagine.
