Many in the CPAC audience Thursday were surprised to see a panel entitled “Too Many American Wars? Should We Fight Anywhere and Can We Afford It?” stacked 4-1 with war hawks.
The panel, moderated by GOP Iowa Rep. Steve King, got almost no applause here at first day of annual Conservative Political Action Conference in suburban Washington.
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The discussion failed to connect with many of the under-40 conservatives in the audience, as well as some of the older attendees, who contend the U.S. keeps mounting wars despite not having won a war outright since 1945.
A member of a following panel on “Iran and the Islamist Threat to America and the West: What is — What Should Be — Our Strategy” defended the hawkish views of the earlier discussion.
“The problem is there are those waging war against us. Ignoring them is not a viable option,” said Clifford May, president of the neoconservative Foundation for the Defense of Democracy.