We often hear that Americans know little about other nations; a bigger problem is that we know too little about ourselves, our history and our national character. When it comes to U.S. foreign policy, in particular, we were all born yesterday, unaware of how present policies and attitudes fit into persistent historical patterns. So when a brilliant, lucid historian such as Michael B. Oren does bring the past back to life for us, revealing both what has changed and what has stayed the same, it is a shaft of light in a dark sky.-- Review: How America Met the Mideast, Jan. 21, 2006.

Michael B. Oren, author of "Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present," was online to field questions and comments about his book and his years of research on the topic.

A transcript follows

Historian Michael Oren is the author of "Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East." He served as director of Inter-Religious Affairs in the government of Yitzhak Rabin, who as Israeli prime minister, was assassinated.

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Michael Oren:"Power, Faith, and Fantasy" aims to be the first comprehensive history of American involvement in the Middle East, from George Washington to George W. Bush. While there are many books on the history of the French of British involvement in the Middle East, there aren't books about America's long engagement in the region. I think Americans today are being asked to make decisions about the Middle East, decisions that will impact not only their future, but the world, and they needed a historical context for those decisions. The book aspires to provide that context.

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Stewartstown, Pa.: It is clear that the U.S. and the Arab world have serious misunderstandings about each other. Who is the more misinformed -- the U.S. toward the Middle East, or vice versa?

Michael Oren: That's a great question. I think it's pretty mutual. Though Americans and the people of the Middle East have come to know each other much better in the post-9/11 world, there is still widespread ignorance on both sides about their respective cultures, traditions, systems of government. Americans, for example, routinely fail to understand the power of Islam and the meaning it holds for many Middle Eastern peoples, and their desire to protect the traditional way of life from Western intrusion. Few people in the Middle East, have even a minimal grasp of the dynamics of American democracy and its provisions for freedom of speech and the separation of church and state. Much is left to be done to enhance mutual understand between the United States and the Middle East. My book, I hope, will contribute to this process.

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Alexandria, Va.: The Middle East situation reminds me of the Balkans before WWI -- a lot of small, disgruntled proto-nations. Instead of nation-building by the U.S., why not have a containment strategy where they fight amongst themselves and we ensure that a wider war doesn't break out.

Michael Oren: I've always been skeptical of America's ability to succeed at state-making in the Middle East. Many Middle Eastern states -- Egypt, Turkey and Iran are exceptions -- are essentially situations of single-family or single-clan rule and are held together with a preponderance of central force. The United States is constitutionally and culturally impeded from fulfilling that kind of role. The United States, in removing Saddam Hussein and his family from power in Iraq, has found itself in a situation of either exerting brutal force to preserve the country or gradually withdrawing. I agree, a better strategy would be to contain Middle Eastern threats to American security by maintaining rapid deployment American forces close to the region, by investing heavily in intelligence services (particularly in educating a generation of Arabic and Farsi speakers) and by keeping channels of communication and reconciliation open to Middle Eastern regimes.

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New York, N.Y.: What proportion of anti-Americanism stems from the export of American cultural products, do you think, rather than from American foreign policy?

Michael Oren: While there is resistance to the spread of popular culture, especially among Islamist and traditional sectors, American culture -- music, dress and film -- are wildly popular throughout much of the Middle East.

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Harrisburg, Pa.: What role, if any, did Christian missionaries play in the attitudes of Muslims in the Middle East, i.e. were they helpful in explaining Christianity or did they offend more than help?

Michael Oren: The major role of missionaries in the Middle East was not to explain Christianity, but to impart American ideas. Embarking for the Middle East in the middle of the 19th century, missionaries discovered that few people were interested in converting to their brand of Protestant Christianity. Instead, they devoted their energies to building elementary and secondary schools. They constructed the area's first modern universities, including the American University of Beirut and Robert College in Istanbul, and instilled in their students the idea of American-style patriotism and civic virtues. The graduates of these institutions later became pioneers in the Middle Eastern nationalist movement, which in the following century threw off the yoke of European rule. Today, nearly 200 years later, this legacy is being challenged by religious extremists who reject this nationalism and the American ideas that helped inspire it.

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Washington, D.C.: Do you think our educational system has failed in educating our youth about the history and culture of the Middle East making it easier for our leaders to get away with fiascos like the Iraqi occupation? Are we not only a nation of sheep, but ignorant sheep as well?

Michael Oren: American schools have indeed invested very little in educating their students about the nature and history of Middle Eastern societies. Certainly, an in-depth exposure to the realities of the Middle East would enable students to make more informed decisions about their countries future policies toward the region.

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Annapolis, Md.: If we consider the history of, say, U.S.-Latin American relations we see many missteps and a few shining moments of possibility. What are the shining moments in the history of U.S.-Middle East relations, and could we adapt them for policy decisions in the future?

Michael Oren: Americans were instrumental in promoting trade, in developing infrastructure in the Middle East, in building elementary school systems and the region's first modern universities, and in helping to secure the independence of many Middle Eastern nations, including some of America's nemeses, such as Syria, Libya and Iran. Certainly, the achievements can serve as precedents for a more fruitful American relationship with the Middle East.

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Washington, D.C.: Hello Mr. Oren,

Thank you for doing this chat. Wondering if you can talk about the U.S. involvement in the creation of Israel and if Truman (and his predecessors) were very much in support of Israeli statehood. Thank you.

Michael Oren: Truman's support for the partition and creation of the state of Israel constitutes a unique chapter in the history of American foreign policy. Never before had the entire foreign policymaking establishment of the United States -- the State Department, the Defense Department, the Pentagon -- united so firmly against a decision. American recognition of a Jewish state, officials warned, would result in the Arabs defection to the Soviet camp and the cutoff of vital oil supplies to the West. Europe would fall to Soviet domination. Worse, approx. 300,000 U.S. troops would have to be sent to Palestine to defend its Jewish inhabitants from being massacred at the hands of invading Arab armies. Sec. of State George Marshall , the most revered American of his day, told Truman that if he recognized a Jewish that he (Marshall) would not vote for the president in the 1948 elections. Truman, a Baptist, versed in the Bible, ignored all of these warnings and at 6:11 p.m. on May 14, 1948, he made the United States the first nation on earth to recognize the newly created state of Israel.

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Philadelphia, Pa.: Has there been much contact from the West -- the British, the French, and Americans -- with people in the Middle East that was not designed to change their thinking? Doesn't this breed resentment that Westerners insist their cultural ways are superior to those in the Middle East? Have efforts at offering cooperation proven more effective?

Michael Oren: Paradoxically, the West has probably aroused more resentment in the Middle East, not by telling Middle Easterners what to do, but by supporting the status quo in the region, particularly in supporting autocratic regimes that suppress their peoples.

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Bridgeport, Conn.: Every Arab country is dedicated to the total destruction of Israel. Why do the major powers invent "Road Maps" without the Arab countries willingness to accept the very existence of Israel? Isn't all the diplomacy a super waste of time?

Michael Oren: A great many people in the Middle East no doubt dream of a region devoid of Israel. Some Middle Eastern governments, most notably those of Turkey, Egypt and Jordan, have maintained tolerably peaceful relations with the Jewish state. That establishes a sequential process through with Palestinians must first cease terror operations before the peace process can proceed, establishes, I believe, a prudent framework for advancing toward peace, while ensuring Israel's security.

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Alexandria, Virginia: Good Afternoon, Mr. Oren.

Do you agree with the commonly-held belief that "History is written by, and for the victors"? If so, why is History the least-taught and most-despised subject in many public schools?

Many thanks!

An unemployed History Major in Alexandria

Michael Oren: America is far from being victorious in the Middle East, and yet I and many other Americans are writing the history. I don't think victory is a prerequisite for exploring or learning from our past.

If history is ill-taught in American schools, I think it's often the fault of the history books, many of which are inaccessible or uninspiring to students.

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New York, N.Y.: From what I've heard about your book, you make the point that many American leaders were religiously convinced that the Jews should return to Israel. Do you think any of these feelings were tinged with anti-Semitism?

Michael Oren: Many of the sentiments for restoring the Jews to Palestine existed side-by-side with anti-Semitic sentiments. The Biblically enjoined love which many 18th and 19th century Christian restorationists expressed for the Jewish people was not matched by similar love for Jews.

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Hamilton, N.Y.: Hi Michael,

I haven't gotten to your book yet but it seems to me (and I hope you'll clarify this) that much of your analysis lends partial credit to a segment of Walt and Mearshimer's thesis: that the U.S. has been, to its own detriment, far too preoccupied with Israel and our idea of what the Middle East should be like. What do you say to this? You were very critical of M&W in The New Republic, but it seems like you agree with them when they argue that our role has not been motivated by liberal, political goals. There is, of course, still a great deal of distance between their position and yours!

Michael Oren: I do suggest that you read the book. I demonstrate that America's support for Israel is not, as Mearshimer writes, a product of undue influence exerted on American policymakers by an amorphous Israel lobby, but is rather deeply embedded in American religious thinking and self-conception dating back to Puritan times.

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Glenmont, Md.: America had a war with Islamic terrorists 200 years ago called the Barbary War. Would you consider Stephen Decataur's heroic attack on Tripoli to be America's first victory against Islamic terrorists?

Michael Oren: Actually, the first victory occurred in 1801, when the U.S.S. Enterprise defeated the pirate ship Tripoli in a pitched battle in the Mediterranean. The exchange took place almost 200 years to the day to a devastating attack by Middle Eastern terrorists on American soil.

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