Administration Quote by Rick Atkinson
“I think the Bush Administration had basically inherited a policy toward Iraq from the Reagan/Bush Administration that saw Iraq as a kind of fire wall against Iranian fundamentalism. And as it developed over the 1980s, it became a real political run-a-muck... even though the Iraqis were known to be harboring Palestinian terrorists.”
About This Quote
Source Speech: Interview on Iraq policy, 2003
The Bush administration continued a Cold‑War‑era strategy treating Iraq as a barrier to Iranian extremism, despite Iraq’s own extremist ties.
In simple terms: US kept Iraq as a barrier against Iran, ignoring its own extremist links.
Key Takeaway
Re‑evaluate policies based on current realities.
Themes
foreign policy
Middle East
strategic thinking
Mood
cautious
analytical
Type
historical
political
When to use this quote
- policy analysis
- academic research
- government briefing
Key Concepts
realpolitik
proxy wars
regional stability
Questions to Reflect On
- What are the long‑term effects of treating states as geopolitical buffers?
- How can policy balance security with ethical considerations?
A Different Perspective
The approach oversimplifies complex regional dynamics and may ignore human rights concerns.
![“In fact if you look at Reagan's global war on terrorism it very quickly turned into a massive terrorist war: [by us] Central America, South Africa, the Middle East, all U.S.-backed terrorism. That's one of the reasons why it disappeared from history and why the standard line is that Bush 43…” quote by Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/59c/noam-chomsky-42_america_in-fact-if-you-look-at-reagan-s-global-w_3214393.jpg)
