The events we marked on 9/11 were not isolated. They have their roots deep in the history of American foreign policy. At the heart of that policy lies our dependence on Middle Eastern oil, the economic crises we faced as a result in the 1970's, our support of the Shah and decisions made by Presidents' Nixon, Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. To better understand this lineage, we need to look closely at the history altering chain of events that saw its apogee on 9/11 and from which we've unfortunately learned very little. Andrew Scott Cooper lays it all out for us in his new work The Oil Kings: How the U.S., Iran, and Saudi Arabia Changed the Balance of Power in the Middle East.My conversation with Andrew Scott Copper:
