DESC: Rashid Khalidi demonstrates the integral connections between the current crises in the Middle East and the generations of the Cold War enacted by the United States and the Soviet Union. According to Khalidi, in their struggle for world dominance, both America and the Soviet Union immediately targeted the Middle East, due to its wealth of natural resources (i.e., oil) and critical geographic location. The U.S. established several military bases there, which continue to serve as the heart of current military operations, and began funding supposed anti-communist groups with money and weapons. To demonstrate the confusion and absurdity of these efforts, at various times, both the Soviet Union and the United States were arming both sides of the Iran-Iraq conflict. Khalidi's cogent analysis clearly illustrates the cause-and-effect succession of strategic actions which began with the end of World War II and eventually led to George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq as part of his "War on Terror."