Out of the Blue? Historical Scholarship on U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East

So begins the official account of the worst terrorist attacks ever carried out on American soil, a brief weather report to evoke the routine calm of just another working day and the sudden violence that shattered it. Despite the unprecedented tragedy of September 11, the events and their aftermath followed a pattern similar to other instances when the Middle East collided with the United States seemingly out of the blue. As with the 1973 oil embargo, the seizure of hostages in Iran, and Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, a crisis event provoked Americans to confront an easily identifiable, personalized enemy, until the emergency dropped off the front page or other events diverted the nation's attention (1). What is missing from such a crisis-driven understanding of U.S. involvement in the Middle East is context. Though historians of American foreign relations have barely begun to address September 11, their scholarship...