Stay Informed
Sign up to receive the Middle East Bulletin!
Support Middle East Progress
Original Commentaries
Setting the Record Straight
U.S. Policy Strengthens Iran
"Simply put, without permanent bases in Iraq, a nuclear capable Islamic Republic cannot be contained."
—Michael Rubin, resident scholar, American Enterprise Institute, "Can a Nuclear Iran Be Contained or Deterred?" Middle Eastern Outlook, November 5, 2008 
“[B]y attacking Iraq, we automatically made Iran a regional power. We took out their major adversary in Iraq, and we neutralized, if only temporarily, the Taliban, on the other side. And so now we see not only that they are regional powers, but clearly indications of aspirations to be perhaps a hegemon in the area, their role in Iraq, their role in Syria, in Lebanon as well. And I can tell you, and I think you’ve heard it already, that there is real fear among the GCC countries about where all of this is going. All of them have minorities, in one case it’s not a minority, it’s a majority of Shias, and as the Sheika correctly pointed out, they can’t exchange Iran for some place else.”
—General Joseph P. Hoar (USMC, Ret.), former commander of U.S. Central Command (1991-94), National Council On U.S.-Arab Relations, 17th Annual Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference, October 30, 2008
Middle East Analysis
September 19, 2007
"We will not allow the American scheme which we buried last July to come into being again through the upcoming presidential elections."
--Sheikh Nabil Kawook, Hezbollah leader in south Lebanon, August 21, 2007
“We don’t want a war with Hezbollah and Syria. But we want everyone to be responsible for their own actions. Lebanon should not be a battlefield for Israel against Iran. Or Syria against Israel. Or Iran against Israel. Or anyone for that matter.”
-- MP Saad Hariri, head of the Future Parliamentary Bloc and son of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri who was assassinated on February 14, 2005, Portfolio.com, September 2007