Please help me understand what they think they stand to gain. I'm soliciting informed opinions here.

In wartime, the country normally rallies around the leadership. They put aside their differences, and they don't ask the hard questions.

Right now there's a top White House aid on trial, an inquiry into bias in intelligence reports which led to the Iraq war, and a UN report on global warming. If Bush attacks-- errr, I mean, if Iran forces Bush to attack, people will forget about everything else.

While those are all 'valid' (want of a better word situation going on!) reasons for starting a new war there's more to it than that.
Currently the alied forces, let by the US, are fighting on 3 fronts - Iraq, Afganistan and Samalia - and threatening war on another - Iran. And they're playing (and I do mean playing) diplomat in North Korea (just look at some of the readers comments in the Washingtom Times online to see the dividens that one's paying!). It's a perfect cover to be seen as the good guys, to be seen as weak even. You think they haven't planned that all along just like they've been planning a war in Iran for the last 6 years? (See http://www.alternet.org/stories/47921/ )

Ok, here's where I get radical... Who here's heard of the Third Reich? That's right, I'm talking about empire building.
The neo-cons (lets call them neo-nazi's shall we..? Tell it like it is!) wont come out and say that's what they're doing. Of course they wont, people might take exception to that. But while they blind-side the people of Amnerica, and the world, with talk of a war on terror they are actually building themselves an empire just filled to bursting with little, powerless, peope. Or at least, I believe that's the plan...

One world government anyone?
'Terror'fying!!!

Israel security.

Why would Israel's security be important enough to Cheney that he would sell his soul to protect it? He's not even Jewish, as far as I know.

The soul was sold a long, long time ago.

The pro-Zionist agenda has been entrenched with deep loyalties that now turn a blind eye to injustices perpetrated by the Zionist state of Israel. This has nothing to do with being Jewish. It has everything to do with political policy and government agendas.

Israel refuses to disclose IF they posses nuclear weapons yet have made threats against Iran to use nukes upon Iran, and the West looks the other way.

Israel continues to treat Palestinians as hostile when Israel continues to aggressively take Palestinian land that does not belong to Israel. And the West looks the other way.

Israel invades other countries and uses U.S. made weapons on civilian populations outlawed through international treaties. And the West looks the other way.

AIPAC, http://www.aipac.org/ a legitimate lobby group, has an aggressive agenda thrust upon U.S. legislators through bullying and shame. AIPAC is endorsed by PNAC and AEI. The current White House policy toward Israel is heavily influenced by the association of AIPAC/AEI.

Waging war against Iran by the U.S.A. not only weakens the strongest military of the Middle East but in turn it makes Israel the strongest military.

Personally, I call them part of the Axis of Evil; The U.S.A., Great Brittan, Israel.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-America at all, or anti-England or anti-Israel. Just the policies that support the killing, murder, wars, occupations, invasions, etc, etc, etc. Never again means never again. PERIOD!

PNAC and the neocon agenda set before 9/11, or Iraq, is the seminal topic of this forum and Iran has been on the neocon menu from the beginning. These are exerpts from the longer article:
http://www.antiwar.com/roberts/index.php?articleid=9749

The Neocons have a long-stated goal of establishing American influence in the Middle East and directly challenging any other power who threatens U.S. influence. That stated, they have wanted to contain Iran from the start using any means necessary. But I believe the main reason why they want to wage war with Iran now revolves around the situation in Iraq. The U.S. is losing the Iraq War, and the American public and Congress are turning against it more and more every day as U.S. casualties mount and progress does not occur. At some point the loss of support for the war will reach a critical mass, and then there will be a demand for the pull-out of U.S. troops. IMO Bush/Cheney want to do something big to change the status quo in Iraq, and Iran presents a tremendous opportunity to do that. An attack on Iran would change the dynamics of the Iraq situation greatly, and would extend the time Bush actually had to worry about being forced to wthdraw troops during his term while the entire country was distracted by another conflict. Of course it would be a highly immoral and criminal thing to do to start a new war to save an old one, but there has perhaps never been such a highly immoral and criminal Administration in power than the one we have now. I would put nothing past them. Nothing.

A lot of it is also about who the real thinkers hidden behind the masks of the neocons are fearing in the near future.

China.

Because China will be the only Country able to REALLY crush the US, militarily AND economically, and the peculiar unipolar neocon, Straussian vision of a planet dominated by a kind of "we're the GOOD guy's" fascist American Empire relies on having a kind of vague "Enemy" which is "nebulous and hydra-like" and so can be "Anywere, and can strike at ANY time, so be AWARE, and be VEWY, VEWY AFWAID !!" (I used my best Elmer Fudd voice here, because the "evil terrayarist who hates our freedumb" idea is a bit laughable, but STILL the people buy into it !?)

Having China as an enemy would be no fun at all, because they have REAL WMD (lots and lots of nooocleeyar missiles), and a BLOODY BIG army, with lots of non-nuclear nasty big weapons, big logistics capability and a sophisticated space program and defence system too. Not to mention a population that are still a little under the thrall of Mao, and whilst opening to the West, are still a long, LONG way from being an open and Democratic Nation. The Chinese people may just even be as easy to fool as the American people were....and there are lots more of them...

The only problem China is currently facing is a lack of raw ressources and materials. It needs oil, lots of it, and has relatively sod-all in the way of natural mineral wealth, so she needs to branch out. Without easy access to raw materials, the Asian Tiger "will remain a paper one.
Why did the USA stage the recent "Ethiopien" invasion of Somalia, for example ? Because the Islamic Court that had taken over the running of the country from the US supported but hopelessly corrupt Warlords, and who were in the process of signing mineral exploration and foraging rights with, er, China. And oil and gas is a plenty in Somalia, as it is in Sudan, where the Chinese are already installed, and in Ethiopia, where the American oil companies have already staked their claim. Africa will be the next phase of the "Global War to Steal the Oil Before the Chinese" waged by Amerika.
As well, the geographic "chokepoint" of the horn of Africa is strategically important. As is the Straight of Hormuz. The dream of the neocons is to see The Persian Gulf as a kind of "American lake gone East", and to offer near total control over the distribution of the Middle East oil and mineral wealth. The Chinese are not yet strong enough to be able to attempt this themselves, and whether they really even WANT to is a matter for speculation, but it seems to be the neocon's biggest threat to their total hegemony over planetary power.
Russia is too divided, and whilst militarily still fairly well equiped, there is little inclination to go head-to-head with the US War Machine. They have plenty of oil and gas at home. A Sino-Russian alliance, or even an alliance with India (another Superpower in the making) is fairly unlikely, but anything is possible....I sometimes think that Strauss had been utterly inspired by "1984", and all his thinking and philosophy is orientated around bringing into existance Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia, and a state of perpetual war. Guess who wants to be "The Party" ?

The neocons had totally underestimated the difficulties they would face in their attempts to create a New American Century, partially because they are reality-challenged arrogant shits, but also because this type of aggressive Empire Building died out for a very good reason, but possibly no-one thought to inform the Straussians in their little funk-hole think (snort !) tank. Oops.

Israel's security is also high on the list of neocon aims, although maybe not so important globally as some people tend to think. True, the AIPAC is corrupted and corrupting, and many of the neocons are "Jewish", and all are most certainly pro-zionist.
One of the real motivations, for example, for the next war with Iran, is Israeli fear that Iran will get the bomb, and although this is a bit laughable and simplistic, the big spinners in Israel are churning this up, pushing all the buttons they have in the US Congress and the halls of Washington power, misquoting President Ahmadinejad's speeches, confusing themselves over the Iranian "Holocaust" forum, and generally whipping up peak frenzy and hate ready to justify sacrificing OPK's (Other Peoples Kids, BTW) for a war without sense, for some kind of generalised threat that may not even exist, and certainly WOULDN'T exist if they started behaving like humans and not arrogant schmaltzes to their neighbours. Accepting the UN resolutions and making an effort not to be pricks would make a huge part of the tension in the Middle East fade like a fart in strong wind....

Iran is also a menace to US interests in the region, in that it has a big, well trained and modern army, and could give the Saudi's a lot of headaches, especially as the Persians and the Arabs don't always see eye-to-eye. An Iraq in flames, a big US army pinned down and ridiculed, a war going completely wrong, all ENTIRELY the fault of neocon PNAC morons like Bremer and the other idiots, the only solution seems to be to pull US forces out of inner city Iraq and throw them at the Iranians, (letting the Iraqis go head-to-head with each other and leaving the US free to step in later for the oil, the aim of all this inter-sect hate terror after all..) pushing Blair to commit the British Army, and laying the ultimatum "It's us or the Chinese, make your bets and cash in your chips now or never.." to the rest of the Western nations who have been perhaps more realistic in their appraisal of the situation, but risk to be drawn in anyway. Mainly because if Iran gets attacked, hello the New, improved Crusades. And no-one will be able to sit on the fence this time.
The UN is a gutted, limp, wet squib, thanks to the neocons, major elections are looming in several European Nations, many of which have neocon-selected candidates running, bolstered by the "Global Media" of Murderoch and company, yup, it's going to be a make or break year for any hope of Strauss's warped vision coming true.

The "Great Game" is up and running, the dice are rolling, and what will make or break the efforts of all civilised, intelligent and aware, alert and informed people to avoid total disaster, is how well the mass corporate media sell the idea to the drones who outnumber us badly, and how well we can undercut them ! Never before have the voices and actions of people, ordinary, normal people, but people who believe that a BETTER WORLD is possible been so important ! That a World with respect, integrity, honesty and courage IS possible, without resorting to forcing "Democracy" on people out of the barrel of a gun, a World where hate and fear are the exceptions, and not the rule, and a World where developed Countries leading by example IS possible.

I don't like singling out the neocons as the "Root of all Evil", but over the last 20 years, they seem to have had their oily little fingers in lots of pies, and it's almost impossible to ignore their subtle propaganda and neffarious influence, not only in every aspect of American life, but everywhere else in the World. They have a vision, a conviction, and a clear dogma urging them on. They are completely wrong, of course, but being wrong never stopped the nazis either...

"Phew !" I'm off to change my fingers, I seem to have worn them out.....

Impressive!

OK, I can understand the neoconservative goal of extending the grasp of an American empire into the resource-rich middle east and down into Africa for the same reasons...$$$$$$$. And power. Control of world markets and untold wealth. These people are the worst of buccaneers. Noted. What I do not quite grasp is why, or how, a strategy that has failed to this moment can be expected to suddenly succeed by spreading the resources of aggression even thinner and over a broader front, or multiple fronts. Are these people as stupid as they are vicious? And do they think everybody else is even stupider than them?

Because they do not see it as a failure. They see these as obstacles to be overcome in their broader long-term goals. If they cannot reach their objectives using one method, they will try some other method. They do not "learn from their mistakes", as one would hope. They do not make mistakes. They will keep trying until they are removed from positions of power so they can no longer try. They are very determined and very certain of the rightness of their causes. Just because the American people do not understand what they are trying to do is not going to stand in their way at all. Until Bush is out of office, they have a green-light to spread the PNAC "love" around the world, at least as much as they can get away with.

Can you imagine what the profits will be on rebuilding half of the Navy?

Bush knows that if he just keeps piling up crisis after crisis, without ever taking responsibility for a mistake, the blame will fall on someone else. Who's gonna raise taxes to pay the debt? Who's gonna order a withdrawal from Iraq? Not the Republicans!

He's the stuntman who thinks he can jump the Grand Canyon. If someone stops him, he can blame them for "being weak on defence." If he fails, he can blame the opposition for "emboldening the terrorists." The one thing he will never do is accept responsibility for his own failure.

Put another way, think of two parents. One of those parents gives the children everything they want. New toys, sure! Don't like spinach, fine! Doing your homework is optional!
The other parent always gets the job of making the kids clean up and behave responsibly. And always has to deliver bad news. (like why Daddy is in jail.)

People love the "Daddy party."

Failure? Halliburton is way up.

During wartime, people expect less pay for more work. The upper class benefits, even though the underlying strategy is a losing one.

Bravo! Bravo! These responses are all that I hoped for and more. Keep them coming! Most of what's in the MSM about this is fairly simplistic, lacks explanatory power, and doesn't go nearly far enough. I am of course familiar with the PNAC agenda: it's there on their website for all the world to see and tremble. It reads like the outpourings of a diseased mind, the plot of a horror movie. It's so insanely fanatical, grotesquely unrealistic, and monstrously evil that my mind keeps refusing to absorb the truth that these folks are in power and they mean what they say. I keep asking myself, are they crazy or am I? I struggle with myself not to keep slipping back into denial, because these folks are so mortally dangerous, not just to the US, but to the world, that it terrifies me. If I have this much trouble seeing and believing what's happening, I must believe that most Americans are denying it too. They fear terrorism, hate the war, and grasp the obvious fact that we're losing. But it seems that very few people really get the whole picture as it's being laid out here at POAC. Otherwise how could the 3 top contenders for the Democratic nomination get away with making belligerant statements about Iran's supposed threat to the US, while raking in AIPAC money hand over fist? They can't believe it because it flies in the face of everything we've ever been taught and ever believed about the United States of America. I think there's a need for POAC to hold continuous teach-ins to educate and warn the American people, who're asleep at the wheel. Slogans are not enough. Please keep your very thoughtful and well-informed answers coming!

Iran was/is a stepping stone in nothing less than a New World Order ala the PNAC.
If Iraq, and even Afghanistan had gone the way these incompetant emperor wanna be's had invisioned, we'd already have pacified and brought "democracy" to Iran and they'd be tossing flowers at us as we patrol in our M1 Abrams battle tanks.

We would by now certainly be preparing to bring "democracy" to the other contries in the middle east, and the far east, with eyes on China it's self!

The PNAC intention that they called a New World Order, was/is nothing less than bold faced Imperialism!

Excellent synopsis !

And 'Zooks, I think they are just as stupid as they are vicious.
From the first time I ever saw and heard William Kristolnächt warbling his plasticky, smirking lips and representing the PNAC view on TV, years ago, to the gradual disbelief of listening to Cheney spin and spout his smirky venom, and to the incredulous horror of watching the Reichstag Trade Centre fall to the ground in a blaze of flames and the close-on-its-heels entry by the grand door of Democracy of the patriotic "Enabling Act" and subsequent slide into fascism, then war, I've felt that the seething menace these shills proffer is the most important issue facing the Planet.

Global Warming will NOT be dealt with, or even addressed, as long as they are present anywhere in the power structure, and not only of America.

The "menace" of Islamic fundamentalism, dying out and on it's last unnatural gasp BEFORE Bush flamed the puttering embers, will NOT be resolved by peaceful and natural means while they still draw breath close to the Mil/Ind complex.

The eternal quest for a peaceful and Humanitarian solution for Palestine and Israel will NEVER be found as long as they continue to propagate their foul, unipolar obsessions by grace of a slave-like unquestioning drone media.

The solutions to poverty, economic slavery, corporate rape of the planet, people and resources will NEVER, EVER BLOODY EVER be addressed while one single member of this nihlist clan of plastic gonks is to be found lurking anywhere near ANY World financial institution (let alone RUNNING the fucking thing !!)

The wine in my cellar will CONTINUE to turn to vinegar as long as a single one of these Straussian disciples of Purgatory draws breath anywhere near Human civilisation. (Although I guess we could keep them penned up somewhere, and use them to scare kids who misbehave, and as examples of what pathological and psychopathic illness, coupled with egos the size of Uranus and a complex series of issues about their fathers, and a growling inferiority/superiority complex sharing the same skull space can do to men who would otherwise have become drunken bums, right-wing "conservative" talk-show hosts, or serial killers.)

Actually, showing these smarmy, smirking, plastic men to children might qualify as torture under the Geneva Convention.....

Do you mean to say you have taken a vow of sobriety for as long as the neocons are in charge?

My vow is easier than that -- hair growth. It reaches my shoulders now.

In a theocracy there is room for a miracle or two, NO?

And the inexorable unfolding of manifest destiny.

Manifest Destiny of world order

Maybe this explains VinegarTaster's handle. But I agree with almost all of what has been said. These American neo-conservatives represent the greatest threat to world peace (and to America itself) that we have ever seen. It is absolutely essential that they be removed from all positions of governmental power and kept from those positions. All of the policies they have endorsed must be rolled back after Bush is no longer President. These are our future challenges.