The fantasies of power

Interview | The United States has a complex history in the Middle East, says author Michael Oren, and it goes back to the beginning of the republic | Marvin Olasky

Michael Oren's Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present (Norton, 2007) tells in 778 pages the fascinating story of a 230-year-long U.S. encounter with Muslims and Israel. For example, Woodrow Wilson's key advisor, Col. Edward House, examined the seeds of Arab/Jewish conflict and called the small land "a breeding place for future wars."

Oren has his own colorful history. Born in New Jersey in 1955, he graduated from Princeton and Columbia universities but then moved to Israel in 1979 and became a paratrooper in the Israel Defense Forces, reaching the rank of major. He now lives with his wife and three children in Jerusalem, where he is a senior fellow at the Shalem Center, a Jerusalem research and educational institute.

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May 19, 2007, Vol. 22, No. 18

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