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The George W. Bush Administration and the Failure of Containment

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Abstract

For Iran watchers in Washington, Ahmadinejad’s election was a surprise compounded by lack of information about a politician the press dubbed the “virtual unknown.” The underlying scramble to figure out who Ahmadinejad was produced some hazy comments about a “hard-line” political faction taking over; allegations that Ahmadinejad was among the American embassy captors in 1979, however, were quickly discounted. Mainstream media also expressed hope that Ahmadinejad would be concerned with internal economic problems and thus soften Iran’s stand on the nuclear program. The Washington Post quoted Ahmadinejad’s spokesman who described the president-elect as a “moderate man” and offered hope for a “durable stable relations” with the United States.1 A better understanding of the internal dynamics of the regime, of course, would have made it clear that Iran was headed toward a radical hardline that would became known as the Third Republic.

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Notes

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  1. Ofira Seliktar
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© 2012 Ofira Seliktar

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Seliktar, O. (2012). The George W. Bush Administration and the Failure of Containment. In: Navigating Iran. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137010889_9

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