Former Ambassador Says Obama 'Overlearned' Iraq

10:59

February 24, 2016

Dennis Ross, pictured here in 2004, says President Obama's handling of Syria stems from his experience with the Iraq War. (Luke Frazza/AFP/Getty Images)

Dennis Ross was a foreign policy adviser to Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. He tells Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson that when it comes to Syria, President Obama "overlearned" the lessons of Iraq.

"Every time he looked at Syria, he saw Iraq and feared this would become a new Iraq," the former ambassador says. Ross argues the administration's "policy of avoidance and then containment" contributed to a vacuum that ISIS has filled.

Guest

Dennis Ross, fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former ambassador. His most recent book is "Doomed to Succeed: The U.S.-Israel Relationship from Truman to Obama." He tweets @AmbDennisRoss.

This segment aired on February 24, 2016.

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