In 2002 , Lewis wrote an article for the '' Wall Street Journal '' regarding the buildup to the Iraq War entitled " Time for Toppling " , where he stated his opinion that " a regime change may well be dangerous , but sometimes the dangers of inaction are greater than those of action " . In 2007 , Jacob Weisberg described Lewis as " perhaps the most significant intellectual influence behind the invasion of Iraq " . Michael Hirsh attributed to Lewis the view that regime change in Iraq would provide a jolt that would " modernize the Middle East " and suggested that Lewis ' allegedly ' orientalist ' theories about " what went wrong " in the Middle East , and other writings , formed the intellectual basis of the push towards war in Iraq . Hirsch reported that Lewis had told him in an interview that he viewed the September 11 attacks as " the opening salvo of the final battle " between Western and Islamic civilisations : Lewis believed that a forceful response was necessary . In the run up to the Iraq War , he met with Vice President Dick Cheney several times : Hirsch quoted an unnamed official who was present at a number of these meetings , who summarised Lewis ' view of Iraq as " Get on with it . Do n’t dither " . Brent Scowcroft quoted Lewis as stating that he believed " that one of the things you ’ve got to do to Arabs is hit them between the eyes with a big stick . They respect power " . As ' ad AbuKhalil has claimed that Lewis assured Cheney that American troops would be welcomed by Iraqis and Arabs , relying on the opinion of his colleague Fouad Ajami . Hirsch also drew parallels between the Bush administration 's plans for post-invasion Iraq and Lewis ' views , in particular his admiration for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk 's secularist and Westernising reforms in the new Republic of Turkey which emerged from the collapse of the Ottoman Empire
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Bernard Lewis