American Civil War led to the Creation of the Suez Canal - Who Knew?
Keith_Indy on Feb 20 2007 at 7:21 pm | Filed under: Books, Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, History, Keith's Page
Well, some historians obviously did. Michael J Totten interviews Michael Oren, author of the book “Power, Faith, and Fantasy”, “a sweeping history of America’s involvement in the Middle East from 1776 to the present.”
So, read the whole interview, it’s very interesting to see the connections between America and the Middle East, and how, what we are dealing with now, is not without historical precedent.
Read Orens views on the Iraq War below the fold…
http://www.pajamasmedia.com/2007/02/power_faith_and_fantasy_in_the.php
Sphere: Related ContentMJT: You have taken the long view of American involvement in the Middle East perhaps more than anyone else in the world. Having done that, are you more optimistic or pessimistic about the future?
Oren: As a historian I’m optimistic. Listen, I view the war in Iraq not as a war, but as a battle in a much more protracted war. Iraq is America’s Bull Run in the war in the Middle East. It’s our first losing battle.
It is not Vietnam. You cannot withdraw from Iraq and be confident that the enemy is not going to follow you. Because the enemy is going to follow you. America can’t detach from the Middle East because the Middle East is not going to detach from America. And America’s going to have to learn to fight this fight to win in a much more prudent and effective way. And there are ways America can fight it more effectively.
MJT: What do you suggest?
Oren: I suggest America invest very heavily in intelligence and training an entire generation of service women and men to speak the languages, be conversant in the languages and the cultures of the Middle East. America has to invest much more heavily in intelligence gathering. America has to invest much more heavily in rapid response forces in the Middle East and retain them there.
America has to get involved in theology. We’ve been fighting a theology with an ideology. It doesn’t work. We have to get in the business of promoting a reformist Islam. It’s important. It’s controversial, but important.
MJT: How do we do that? Do you mean by promoting the moderates who already exist?
Oren: Well there are some moderates who exist. They don’t have any places where they can go out and speak and speak free of harm. We can help disseminate their ideas. Right now the extreme Wahhabi interpretation of Islam predominates in schools across Europe. The West has basically given up the field to these people.
4 Responses to “American Civil War led to the Creation of the Suez Canal - Who Knew?”
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Well put sir. This is a viable and necessary strategy. Much of the public is so poorly informed on the issues involved with shaping the regional mindset of the Middle East.
Many believe that we can pull out unscathed in the long run and history shows us what consequences occur when we don’t invest in intelligence gathering and when we don’t take threats and the actions of extremists seriously.
When will America listen? How many more attacks need to occur outside of our borders (indeed within them) in the name of religion and it’s oppression of the peoples of Islam before we do heed the warnings?
Hey bro, you owe me pictures!
Like hello..who actaully designed the Suez Canal? im doin a project on it now at school..and i need to know who built the damn thing!!!
Hayley, I think that Ferdinand de Lesseps designed the modern canal, but there has been something of a waterway there for centuries. Don’t know if that’s what you’re looking for.