The Atlantic

A Short Guide to John Bolton's Government Career

The incoming national-security adviser has advocated for war with North Korea.
Source: Mike Segar / Reuters

It is only fitting that, within the same week the United States marks 15 years since the 2003 Iraq invasion, John Bolton has been named the president’s national security adviser.

Bolton advocated for another U.S. invasion of Iraq, following the first Gulf War, as far back as the 1990s, President Clinton to oust Saddam Hussein. Later, as under secretary of state for arms control, during President George W. Bush’s first term in office, he the BBC the U.S. was “confident that Saddam Hussein has hidden weapons of mass destruction and production facilities in Iraq.” The evidence used to go to war in 2003 might have that deposing Saddam was worth the effort—even if the decisions made after the invasion weren’t always right.

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic4 min readAmerican Government
How Democrats Could Disqualify Trump If the Supreme Court Doesn’t
Near the end of the Supreme Court’s oral arguments about whether Colorado could exclude former President Donald Trump from its ballot as an insurrectionist, the attorney representing voters from the state offered a warning to the justices—one evoking
The Atlantic4 min read
Your Phone Has Nothing on AM Radio
This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here. There is little love lost between Senator Ted Cruz and Representative Rashida Tlaib. She has called him a “dumbass” for his opposition to the Paris Climate Agre
The Atlantic7 min readAmerican Government
The Americans Who Need Chaos
This is Work in Progress, a newsletter about work, technology, and how to solve some of America’s biggest problems. Sign up here. Several years ago, the political scientist Michael Bang Petersen, who is based in Denmark, wanted to understand why peop

Related Books & Audiobooks