The volatile Middle East is a region of vast resources, frequent crises and long-standing conflicts, as well as a major source of international tensions and a key site of direct US intervention.Noam Chomsky, the preeminent critic on US foreign policy, and Gilbert Achcar, a leading Middle East specialist, bring a keen understanding of the Middle East and the role of the US, covering such key topics as terrorism, fundamentalism, oil and democracy, as well as the war in Afghanistan, the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the origins of US foreign policy.